It is interesting. I have been doing improv for almost a year now and finally feel like I am growing. It is also becoming something I want to explore more of. Find other classes to take online or in person. There is another improv group in the area that offers classes and it might be interesting to explore that. I also like the idea of the improv coffee house and think that could be a real thing.
As I mentioned that I felt like I was growing that is because I silently disagreed with the instructor last night. One of his mantra’s has been don’t start with a problem and I started a scene with a clogged Roomba and introduced a problem, and I don’t think I was wrong to do that. Where I went wrong was where I always go wrong. Not letting my plans be derailed.
That is my biggest weakness. I often enter a scene with a plan. A complete roadmap and other people don’t always react the way I want them to. I need to adjust to that more. I need to learn to go with the flow rather than forcing my idea onto other people.
I have that force of will at times. I think it is the reason I am good at justifications and weak in letting a scene develop organically, and also might be why I am a decent business owner. Our business is at its best when people can feel my force of will. It allows things to grow or more forces them to.
Improv does allow us to explore our strengths and weaknesses. Examine the more flawed parts of our psyche in a safe environment, because performing in front of an audience, even a small one, is terrifying. That moment of stepping out and initiating is the moment when we are at our most vulnerable. We have an idea, we are tossing it out there, and seeing how it grows. Or more importantly how us and our scene partner grow it.
