Honing my chops

In Spring 2009 I enrolled in a short course at UNC’s Friday Center for Continuing Education. It was called Applied Improv: Creativity and Communication, and my thought was to embed myself for the benefit of my project, much like I did for a graduate ethnography course when I participated in the music department’s improvisation class (which led to Jazz Class, included here). Prior to the first applied improv class meeting, I had approached instructor Greg Hohn about bringing my video camera into the space. He brought it up during that first night, and sent an email to the students to gauge interest. A few members objected to my proposal and Greg said he would respect that choice. I of course complied, but I stuck with the four weeks of classes because I believed it would get me closer to understanding aspects of my topic.

I had a hunch that the folks who expressed concern over being taped were the same few who dropped the course after hearing what was to follow that first night. Yet I did not pursue bringing my camera into the room; in fact it seemed more useful to me to participate in a way that operating video equipment would not allow.

Applied improv is kind of the intersection of the old and the new in improv’s understanding. It takes activities and principles from theater and applies them to other areas of life—business, team-building, families—anything really. Do you want to be more confident in front of groups? Are you needing to improve your presentations? Want to be less nervous when placed in social settings with strangers? This course is for you. If you want to become funnier, however, you may find that you had a bit of a misconception about improv.

As Hohn calmly explained the first night, humor works best when you aren’t trying. It may be an outcome but more likely you will find yourself focused on the others in the activity. You step outside your own expectations, Hohn explained, and on some occasions, yes, you may make someone laugh. In other words, the class is not meant to teach comedy skills any more than it teaches how to play a trumpet solo.

Hohn talked about the benefits of improv both in and outside theater arts. One can begin to think more quickly on their feet and become more fluid in responding to unexpected or unfamiliar situations, he proposed.

Well how did it work for me? Aside from the ethnographer’s ongoing balancing act of participating fully and stopping to take notes, I believe the course did give me some tools. The low-pressure environment gave me permission to be silly. Using theater games such as Yes And and Interview the Expert, plus warm-ups that got our timing and attention in focus, I was impressed with how the sessions made me feel open to letting go. The group effect lessened the spotlight on any one person. I was often still conscious of my thoughts/word choices, for example, but that is several decades in the making. There was a palpable tension for me in knowing intellectually that trying to let go is anti-improv—the more you try, the more you hold on.