Listening calisthenics

You've heard of active listening? "Sometimes known as empathetic listening, active listening is where an individual confirms that they have heard and understood by paraphrasing the information back to the speaker." Today I saw calisthenic listening. Two women were sitting across from me. One asked the other a question. When she answered (I couldn't hear, only see) the questioner began with the Ohs and Ahs, then the hand waving, head nodding, finger pointing, knife slicing (the air) body bending, earring bobbing, eye blinking, eyebrow lifting, hand clapping, facial contortion, loud laughter and subtle giggles. It worked; the other woman soon said nothing.