Pretending to… Performativity and theatre games for the embodied learning

A group of children gather and decide to play by impersonating roles. Teacher, superhero, parent. A group of adults get together and, through the role played in their lives, each performs according to the context. Doctor, patient, teacher, friend, politician. Playing pretending to... is a process of embodied simulation that is common to all human beings and is a lifelong learning tool. Pretending to ... is a symbolic game, as Piaget calls it, which he sees as one of the main tools of cognitive development used in childhood. It is also the process at the basis of performing arts and actor training useful for mimesis awareness and training. In fact, one of the founders of performing studies, Richard Schechner, maintains that human beings operate through retrieved acts, acting by imitation and performing deeds and roles learnt from others. Through reclaimed acts, each person interacts with society, constructs his or her own path and life experience, can embody different roles and change his or her reality when needed. This workshop will highlight some transdisciplinary experiences using embodied simulation as a learning medium. It will involve participants in two performative games that use embodiment and performativity for learning in developmental age and adulthood. It will provide bibliographical sources useful for investigating the field of performative didactics.