Chris here….
I was at a birthday party for a friend yesterday. Out of the 25 or so guests, only 2 of us were improvisers. We decided (in the moment) to improvise a birthday song. There was already a guitar there, after all.
So we got a suggestion of a country where they don’t speak English (Thailand), and I improvised a song in Faux Thai, and the other improviser “translated” it into English. This is a very fun improv game.
When we finished, a small group gathered around us asking questions. The first question was of course, “did you rehearse that?”
“No. AND….” we went on the explain the improv skills/principles that help us create in the moment. Things like making your partner look brilliant. And staying open and present. Deferring judgment. Tenets of improv that I’ve talked about in past posts.
The conversation went on, and very happily was focused on the skills, and how to practice them, where they might be useful in life/work, and not so much on the “funny” aspect of improv.
Deep and fun, is this work that we do.
Deep and fun.