“Reclaim Your Body” TC, May 4-10 2026, in Bermejales, Granada, Spain

Reclaim Your Body: A Journey through Physical Theatre in Erasmus+

The Erasmus+ project “Reclaim Your Body” brought together participants from Spain, Italy, Greece, Romania, and Hungary. This training course took place in Bermejales, Granada, Spain, from May 4 to May 10, 2026, and was co-funded by the European Union. It aimed to empower youth workers and educators through physical theatre techniques, promoting emotional well-being, body awareness, and creative self-expression.

A Week of Movement, Connection, and Expression

The project unfolded through a series of carefully designed activities based on non-formal education and physical theatre methods. These activities fostered trust, creativity, and non-verbal communication among participants from different cultural backgrounds.

Breaking the Ice and Building Trust
The journey began with playful ice-breakers such as the name game and group challenges. These helped participants get to know each other and establish group norms, including a shared contract of mutual respect and punctuality.

Exploring Body Awareness and Movement
Participants engaged in exercises focused on walking at different speeds, leading with different body parts (“leading centers”), and creating characters through movement. These activities strengthened body awareness and introduced key tools of physical theatre.

Contact and Connection
Trust-building continued through partner work emphasizing hand-leading, pressure sensitivity, breath communication, and shared leadership. These exercises developed sensitivity to non-verbal cues and physical dialogue.

Movement Memory and Amplification
Activities such as “Palms” and “Amplifying Movement Traits” developed concentration, physical listening, and creativity by transforming subtle gestures into exaggerated characters, showing how small details can express strong identities.

Storytelling without Words
In “The Statues,” participants sculpted one another into frozen images that communicated emotions and narratives. This enhanced visual storytelling, observation skills, and group interpretation.

Playfulness and Improvisation
The “Children” activity encouraged participants to rediscover childlike curiosity and explore social roles through movement. This was complemented by “Worst Dancer in the World,” which promoted freedom, humour, and spontaneity in expression.

Collective Musical Movement
Activities such as “Circle of Music” and “Swing Dance Battle” used music and group energy to explore improvisation, leadership, memory, and intercultural exchange through dance.

Emotional Exploration
Exercises like “Colors in Motion” and “Bus of Emotions” allowed participants to embody emotions physically, increasing emotional awareness and understanding of group dynamics.

Animal Character Creation
Participants explored movement qualities inspired by animals to create original characters, connecting instinctive behaviour with human expression.

Performance Creation
The week concluded with group performances, where participants combined all tools and experiences from the course into original physical theatre pieces, followed by reflection and feedback sessions.

My favorite activity was the bus of Emotions

Among all activities, “Bus of Emotions” stood out as particularly impactful.

Structure of the Activity

The activity had two phases. First, participants discussed how emotions such as joy, sadness, fear, anger, and confidence are expressed physically through posture, breathing, rhythm, and facial expression. They then moved through the space embodying these emotions as they were called out.

In the second phase, a symbolic “bus” was created using chairs. One participant acted as the driver, while others entered the bus one by one, each fully embodying a specific emotional state. The entire group adapted to that shared emotional atmosphere. Upon exiting, participants transitioned into the opposite emotion.

Reflection

This activity functioned as a microcosm of emotional influence within groups. It demonstrated how emotions shape collective behaviour and how strongly they can affect non-verbal communication and group dynamics.

Participants noticed that emotions such as joy and confidence were easier to express physically, while fear and sadness required greater vulnerability and introspection. The exercise also revealed emotional contagion—how one person’s embodied state can influence the entire group.

Overall, the activity highlighted the importance of physical awareness in emotional expression and reinforced key principles of physical theatre: empathy, presence, and non-verbal storytelling.

Cultural Nights: Celebrating Intercultural Exchange
Beyond the physical theatre exercises, the project placed significant emphasis on intercultural exchange through evening cultural nights. Participants shared traditional dances, music, and cuisine from their respective countries, creating a vibrant atmosphere of mutual learning and celebration.
These cultural evenings provided an informal yet profound opportunity to deepen intercultural understanding and strengthen social bonds. Dancing together allowed participants to experience non-verbal communication across cultures, while sharing traditional foods fostered appreciation of diverse culinary heritages. The cultural nights complemented the project’s core objectives by nurturing a sense of community and respect for diversity.

Conclusion

Throughout the project, participants discovered the body as a tool for emotional resilience, creative expression, and intercultural connection. Coming from Spain, Italy, Greece, Romania, and Hungary, they not only learned physical theatre techniques but also built meaningful connections through shared movement and collaboration. “Reclaim Your Body” stands as an example of how physical theatre can be used in youth education to support emotional well-being and community building across Europe.

Βερόνικα Κούσκου