Slide / Numbers
Instructions (see video)
I hosted a Hand-Clapping Meet Up to create a sample video of this game. I have also attempted some instructions below:
Participants pair up and face each other
Participants clasp each other’s hands–alternating hands–before they slide them apart
Imagine: from outside of the hand sandwich, left hand, right hand facing inwards and then the other side left hand, right hand facing inwards.
Begin round 1
Each participant claps their own hands in front of their chest
They extend their right hand to their partner’s and clap one another’s palms in the middle (like the opening sequence in Miss Mary Mack)
Each participant claps their own hands in front of their chest
They extend their left hand to their partner’s and clap each other in the middle (like the opening sequence in Miss Mary Mack)
Each participant claps their own hands in front of their chest
Smack the back of both hands against the backside of their partner’s back hands
The clap each other’s palms
Each participant claps their own hands in front of their chest
Begin round 2, repeat steps one, three, and five twice (detailed below):
They extend their right hand to their partner’s and clap each other’s palm in the middle
Each participant claps their own hands in front of their chest
They AGAIN extend their right hand to their partner’s and clap each other’s palm in the middle
Each participant claps their own hands in front of their chest
They extend their left hand to their partner’s and clap each other’s palm in the middle
Each participant claps their own hands in front of their chest
They AGAIN extend their left hand to their partner’s and clap each other’s palm in the middle
Each participant claps their own hands in front of their chest
Smack the back of both hands against the backside of their partner’s
They clap each other’s palms
Each participant claps their own hands in front of their chest
AGAIN, smack back of both hands against the backside of their partner’s
Smack back of both hands against the backside of their partner’s
Each participant claps their own hands in front of their chest
Begin next round
Repeat each movement three times until the sequence is complete, then four times, and so forth (add another iteration of each movement each round) until someone makes a mistake
Modifications:
Figuring out how to explain the “instructions” of Slide / Numbers feels like an engaging activity in itself. Consider challenging participants to draft a set of instructions in their own words after they have mastered the pattern.
Praxis (why + theory):
Adding [even more] to the theory outlined in Down By the Bank, Slide / Numbers in particular is an instructive tool for facilitating participants’ understanding of how adaptability and accessibility are co-constructed processes. You must move at a pace that is accessible for both partners which may involve slowing the pace, or counting aloud to keep coordinated pace. Essentially, partners must learn some information about the embodied experiences and needs of their partners before they can be successful.
When I studied abroad as a sophomore in college, we visited an orphanage for girls just outside Lima. We were sort of left to figure out what shape our interactions would take as there was a minimalist agenda. The only Spanish I could fluently and confidently speak were the numbers up to forty. That was enough to play the hand clapping games that we initiated with the girls in the program. We were playing a modified version of Slide / Numbers as we partnered up and found a pattern that worked in our individual pairs and started counting. We must have been playing hand clapping games for at least an hour. No one wanted to stop–there was an incredible amount of laughter, hugs, and cheers, that fostered profound intimacy between us amidst a seemingly vast language barrier.
