Improv your life

I'm always a little surprised at how seldomly people taking improv classes think about how their new skills can add to their life. I was therefore happy to find this brief blog entry by an improv student applying to her life what any improv actor quickly learns on the stage:
JANE CHIN » Blog Archive » What Comedy Improv Taught Me About Life

What I learned in comedy improv has helped me live life the way I want to live life. Each opportunity to get up and perform is like applying life skills in a sliver of time. In addition to having an environment where I can exercise my extreme quirkiness, I’ve learned that…

1. I can spend a lot of time going over what I could have done or should have said to be “funnier”, but what truly counts is what I actually do and say in my turn.
   
   
2. A true skill of improv and in life is to be with the fear when fear comes, listen intensely to what I am given, and trust that something comes to me in the nanoseconds I have to respond in the scene.
   
   
3. Being a good audience member, clapping and cheering for my fellow improv’ers when they’re on stage is as important as being a good improv’er when I’m on stage. I enjoy being a good audience member as much as performing on stage.
   
   
4. When I bomb and fail miserably, I know that it will be all over in minutes. A classmate suggested that we can aim to fail on stage early on, and get over that part of our mindtrash so we can go on to enjoy ourselves.
   
   
5. Yes, and. Yes, and. Yes, and. The mantra for comedy improv is “yes, and.” Whatever I get, I say, “yes, and.” Whatever happens to me in life, I say, “yes, and.” I accept everything that comes by saying “yes”. I create my own experience from what I’m given by saying “…and…”

Powered by ScribeFire.