Improvisation
Improvisation is the act of making something up as it is performed. This term is usually used in the context of
music,
theater or
dance.
Improvisation is an important aspect of
folk,
classical,
popular musics,
jazz and
blues. Musical improvisors often understand the idiom of one or more musical styles - e.g. blues, rock, folk, jazz - and work within the idiom to express ideas with creativity and originality. Improvisation can take place as a solo performance, or interdependently in ensemble with other players. When done well, it often elicits gratifying emotional responses from the audience.
Improvisation is a common tool for many actors. It is a staple of drama and theater classes at most colleges and high schools. According to the dominant acting theories of
Konstantin Stanislavski, an actor improvising a scene must be trusting his own instincts. According to Stanislavski (see
Stanislavski System), an actor must use his own instincts to define a character's response to internal and external stimuli. Through improvising, an actor can learn to trust his instincts instead of using
mugging and
indicating to broadcast his motives. Improv is also useful in its focus on concentration. Obviously, in an environment in which anything is allowed to happen, the actors must be capable of keeping their concentration throughout, even in difficult and stressful circumstances. Concentration is a staple of acting classes and workshops; it is vital that an actor be capable of concentrating on the scene or action at hand. Actors who fail to keep up with an improvisation are said to be
blocking.
Contact Improvisation: a form developed 30 years ago that is now practiced around the world. Contact improvisation originated from the movement studies of Steve Paxton in the 1970s and developed through the continued exploration of the
Judson Dance Theater. It is a dance form based on sharing weight, partnering, playing with weight and unpredictable outcomes.
The director
Mike Leigh uses lengthy improvisations developed over a period of weeks to build characters and storylines for his films. He starts with some sketch ideas of how he thinks things might develop but does not reveal all his intentions with the cast who discover their fate and act out their responses as their destinies are gradually revealed, including significant aspects of their lives which will not subsequently be shown onscreen. The final filming draws on dialog and actions that have been recorded during the improvisation period.
See main article - Improvisational comedyImprovisation is also performed as an art form itself in theatres around the world, sometimes with dramatic intent but more often in comedic form (the most famous is
Chicago's
The Second City). Extemporizing on the methods of pioneers such as
Viola Spolin,
Paul Sills,
Del Close, and
Keith Johnstone, actors improvise often wildly funny scenes with amazing character work and believable behavior.
In the
1990s, a TV show called
Whose Line Is It Anyway? popularized
shortform comedic improvisation. The original version was
British, but it was later revived and popularized in the
United States with
Drew Carey as a host. More recently, television shows such as HBO's
Curb Your Enthusiasm (starring
Seinfeld co-creator
Larry David) and
Bravo series
Significant Others have used improvisation to create longer-form programs with more dramatic flavor. Another improvisation based show is
i's "
World Cup Comedy." In Canada, the
Global Television soap opera
Train 48, based on the Australian series
Going Home, uses a form of structured improvisation, in which actors improvise dialog from written plot outlines.
Even more recently, Australia's
Thank God You're Here is a gameshow where celebrities are put into scenes they know nothing about and have to improvise.
Role-playing games often involve a casual form of improvisational acting; A player's character may be pre-defined, with game statistics and a history, but the character's response to game events and to other players is improvised. Some players are more interested in the depth of the "acting" than others, while others enjoy elaborate plots, emotional investment in characters, and intense or witty
repartee. Some earlier role-playing games emphasise combat and
game mechanics over role-playing; howewver, modern
storytelling games are often more plot-driven, and
Live action role-playing games are often more acting-focused.
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Commedia dell'arte*
The Business of Improvisation Improvisation applied to corporate skills.
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Improvisation in Business Theatre Improvisation in Business Theatre
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Jazz Improvisation Jazz Improvisation
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Blog Improvisation et theatre en entreprise Blog Improvisation et Théâtre en entreprise (in French)
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IMPRO.INFINI improvisation et theatre en entreprise French improvisational theater
