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…
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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…”
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