What Is Improvisation?

Improvisation is an art form. For some players, it is a fun hobby that allows them to express their creativity in a friendly environment where the challenges are just slightly out of their comfort zone. Some of our students ‘discover their tribe’ and impro becomes a life-long journey of discovery and exploration.

Why Improv?

Improvisation creates a safe and playful environment for a person to engage in experiential self-directed learning. A better improviser, becomes a better communicator. When you gain skills in improvisation, you gain skills in assessing a situation quickly, identifying the subtext of conversations and public speaking.

Benefits of Impro

The experience and insights that you gain from going through our courses can enrich you in a variety of ways including:

• Increased Confidence and Ability to tap into one’s intuition

• Improved Public Speaking Skills

• Enhanced Performance/stage Abilities

• Increased Ability to Brainstorm

• Improved Listening and Observation Skills

• Ability to communicate non-verbally.

• Methods for Creative-Thinking

• Improved Decision-Making Abilities
• Team Building and Development Skills
• Increased self-awareness; emotionally, physically, spacially, empathethically, egotistically etc

Why learn improvisation? 

Improvisation is theatre for anyone and everybody. Improvisation’s raw material is the honest reactions, emotions, recollections, experiences and passions of each performer and those in the audience. It is instant theatre built on a platform of accepting anyone’s ideas and working collaboratively with them to create .

Impo skills are  in an accepting environment – skills that have a positive effect on those who acquire them, and skills that help break down barriers to communication, strengthening diversity and integration of communities. Theatre Language Studio believes that if people can improvise together and laugh together, they can do anything together.

Why learn improvisation? How does it benefit my everyday life?

Improvisation increases ones ability to quickly access information and concepts from every corner of your mind and being and apply these ideas to new challenges and scenarios. It is theatrical jazz. Improvisers that have never met can immediately launch into scenes, songs and rich narratives because they learn how to remian in the moment accepting and running with whatever ideas are offered up.

Impro games such as some played in Theatresports may apply a structure and or skill challenge to the scenes but the basis for the all impro (or improv as it is known in some places) is a ‘Yes and…’ approach to collaborating on stage.

Impro improves the mind’s ability to form ideas and present them in a clear, relevant way. Most professions, sports and creative endeavours can see immediate benefits. from someone increasing their ability in these skills.

A few of the valuable skills that impro courses can improve are:

Active listening – Basic to any actor training, but especially to improvisation, the ability to hear and truly accept and build upon another person’s ideas is crucial.

Concentration skills – Improvisers are able to ‘tune in’ to aspects of communication and become hyper aware of their surroundings. Impro ‘offers can come in many forms, visual, tonal, physical, musical, emotional etc. and players must be able to pick up on them, no matter how bold or how subtle. Professional improvisers develop a sort of sixth sense whereby they can almost feel where an offer will come from or provide one just as another player requires it.

Think on your feet without panicking

Recognise opportunities as they arise and have the ability to act on them immediately.

Be flexible in your thinking – Improvisers are constantly observing, reframing and adjusting their actions and behaviours to remain flexible enough to embrace and run with any surprises they encounter.

Delight in playing with your team mates. It’s a real buzz to bounce ideas, stories and characters off another player – completely in the moment and at ease despite neither of you having a clue where the scene is going. Its a mental dance along a theatrical ledge demanding an atmosphere of trust and openness. Scenes you perform in are often hysterically funny, sometimes poignant and almost always surprising.

Embrace risk – Improvisers attempt to stay on the theatrical crest of the wave, never quite in control, but discovering and  the exhilarating ride. Our students tell us that impro classes help reduce their fears of being embarrassed or looking stupid, because as they soon discover, to fail in impro is a necessity and to be applauded. Learning how to embrace your mistakes and turn them into positive opportunities becomes a skill that improvisers carry with them into all aspects of their lives.