An improviser calls
We are all improvising, all of the time. It’s what makes life happen in real-time, and it creates a world full of choices, options and possibilities. And yet are we improvising well? Are we taking life’s opportunities? Are we bringing other people with us? Are we being here & now when it matters? To improvise […]
Beyond the art
Improvisation covers a number of art forms from jazz, dance, and contact improv through to improv comedy and theatre. It usually makes us think of talented, clever people who have some kind of extra ability to do things without a plan, script, or musical score. But it’s more than an art form. The ability to […]
The high wire
One of the main things that holds people back from taking an improvisation class, and a more improvisational approach to life, is fear and anxiety. As learning designers and facilitators we are SUPER tuned in to this. Cultivating trust and safety is the essential first step in everything we do. We all know the feelings […]
Wish you were here
Everything stops when you find a postcard on the doormat. Immediately you immerse yourself in it. The the message, the handwriting, the stamp, the picture they have chosen to send you. It’s like having them with you, knowing that their thoughts and feelings are with you, and that it has passed from hand-to-hand to reach […]
Who can I be?
Liz Allen is a wonderful teacher (one of the best in my view) and I was very lucky to take some improv classes with her recently when she came to London. One of the things I picked up from Liz was this idea: When you’re improvising, just ask: ‘Who can I be?’ Liz put it […]
I know.
Jill Bernard’s Cute Little Book of Improv has a memorable idea: that we all walk around with imaginary placards that say ‘Perpetual self-doubt.’ This was true for me for a long time and cost me in quite a few opportunities not taken, relationships that didn’t grow and roads left untravelled. Doubt has it’s value of […]
Momentum matters most
Improv connects ideas and feelings to create momentum. Momentum is something we can choose to increase or decrease, and we have skills and tools for that. Yes helps to create momentum. It can take some effort to keep on connecting ideas and feelings with ‘Yes, and’ x 100 but the payoff is exponential. You get […]
Improvising in flow
Improvisation is about flow. What is all this about flow then? According to flow researcher and author Stephen Kotler: “Flow is a state of rapt attention where action and awareness merge. Time speeds up or slows down. You feel and perform your best. You are present in the moment without reference to a separate sense […]
What’s in your backpack?
George Schaller is an American conservationist and writer and is recognised as one of the world’s preeminent field biologists. In 1959 he travelled to Central Africa to study and live with the mountain gorillas and his groundbreaking research was continued by Dian Fossey who wrote Gorillas In The Mist. George was renowned for being able […]
Bring a brick
A few years ago in an improv class I was asked if there was a specific skill I wanted to work on. I said I wanted to get move involved, to be more committed as I had a lifelong habit of holding back and editing myself. The teacher was Jules Munns and he looked me […]