Improv.

20 Life Lessons You Can Learn from Improv

       

May 15th, 2011

Taking part in an improv class or — for the bolder — an improv team benefits far more than just performing artists hoping to fine tune theatrical skills and swell acting resumes. Participating in this unique medium comes packaged with some expected (and unexpected) lessons one can’t always pick up in a classroom. And, of course, it’s an awesome way to meet cool new people! Even if the idea of giving it a chance sounds intimidating, anyone overcoming their stage fright will be met with some valuable experiences that completely transcend the stage. Or at least the walls of room B209 in the learning annex.

1. Resourcefulness: Improv games involving props force participants to rethink the possibilities found in everyday objects. Most people probably won’t walk out of their classes or performances with MacGyver-esque skill sets, but chances are, to some extent they’ll better hone their ability to think on their feet using what they’ve been given. Chairs are an extremely common component of improv, for example, and participants have to find numerous fresh ways to use them in a manner both funny and creative. Speaking of which…
2. Creativity: Along with learning how to work with what’s around — oftentimes without the hope of anything else joining the fray — improv buffs have to bolster their creativity if they hope to succeed. Without a keen mind exploring the potential of every person, object or line of dialogue, the performance grows stale and disengages the audience. Learning to move away from cliches, nurture the imagination and consider possibilities does nothing but help all corners of one’s career. Yes, even those outside the arts.
3. Cooperation: At some point in everyone’s life, they will have to work with other people. Even ones they just plain don’t like. Most improv involves collaborative efforts to get to a desired destination. The ability to work well with a wide variety of individuals is a necessity in all professional and personal spheres, so even those just taking a weekly class at the learning annex will still get something worthwhile out of the experiences.
4. Humility: Ditching the ego remains key to getting along well and working successfully with others. For more serious improv artists, they have to face the reality that some audiences just won’t dig their performances. Still others need to make sure everyone on stage (or "stage," as it were) enjoys their chance to showcase their own talents and ideas. All situations force participants to learn the valuable life lesson of humility and the understanding that sometimes one just needs to sit back and have things not always be about him or her.
5. Bravery: Public speaking and other events involving standing up in front of a crowd is a common pants-wettingly terrifying experience for many people. Enrolling in a low-key improv class makes for an excellent way to start alleviating some of the anxiety. Considering most involve comedy, the presence laughter also serves as a calming agent. Overcoming a comparatively minor fear such as audiences makes for a nice stepping stone to conquering more serious ones.
6. Spatial awareness: While spatial awareness is probably not as important a lesson as some of the others listed here, it still remains a valuable component of life all the same. Improv generally doesn’t put anyone in any real mortal danger — at least, if participants are doing it right — so it provides a nice way to learn more about making sense of space. And making sense of space has plenty of safety applications many don’t think about at first.
7. Accepting failure: Not every audience is going to laugh. Not every improv partner is going to respond to queues. As in all things, the practice involves successes and failures. Considering how little risk comes with beginner’s classes, learning how to accept, learn from and move past less-than-satisfying improv moments paves the way for doing so in more pressing situations. Sadly, this is a lesson even mostly mature adults still need to learn.
8. Patience: Improv participants vary in their talents, and the best classes and troops know how to work with all of them. Individuals with a particular knack for it must absolutely adapt to those who try their hardest, but may not necessarily display the same timing or creativity – hopefully even do their best to help their peers improve. All performances and rehearsals require patience, a sterling virtue necessary for success in all things.
9. Tolerance: Along with patience, working in conjunction with so many different people also requires exposure to different ideologies, backgrounds and life experiences. Obviously, there’s certain discriminatory things that shouldn’t go ignored, but in general practicing tolerance helps propel performances forward. And tightens up group dynamics, of course, making it far easier to accomplish goals than petty bickering allows.
10. The value of diversity: Exercising both patience and tolerance help nurture a love and appreciation of diversity. If everyone in an improv class or organization possessed the exact same perspectives, ideas and experiences, things would quickly grow very repetitive, very quickly! A broader pool of people means more content and creativity from which a performance or project can grow and change. Homogeny belongs in milk, not the theatre.
11. Pacing: Timed improv games do for pacing what prop-related ones do for resourcefulness. And even beyond that, most public acts are going to fall within a specified length. Looming temporal budgets are the reality for far, far more individuals than those in the performing arts. Any training building one’s ability to get things efficiently done within deadlines is good training.
12. Following orders: Nobody’s immune from having to take orders at some point in their adult life. Improv isn’t going to be any exception. Making it work well means giving and taking, with rules governing how games and performances have to go down. The art’s fun revolves around flexing creative muscles within minimal boundaries, so ditching them completely because of a desire to act all iconoclastic and nonconformist kinda sorta defeats the purpose.
13. Leadership: At the same time, though, improv isn’t exactly going to always mean complete capitulation to the rules and restrictions covering games or performances. There’s no shame in stepping up during sags and moving the story around a bit. Or making suggestions and offering advice to fellow class- or teammates. One must, of course, keep to some of the other virtues listed here when doing so, but most of them are already qualities found in great leaders.
14. Self-expression: Spending enough time in the performing or visual arts not only challenges creativity and imagination, but fosters a heightened ability to express one’s emotions and ideas. Whether making a career in the theatre or clinching a client over drinks, the ability to process (and subsequently convey) what’s going on upstairs is an undeniably essential life skill. One does not have to actually perform improv in front of an audience to reap its personal and interpersonal rewards.
15. The value of knowledge: Diversity allows for multiple people to pull from multiple perspectives and create a fresher theatrical atmosphere. Knowledge allows for individuals to improve their own personal performances. Reading up on current events and even keeping up with pop culture (to some extent, anyways) not only creates a nice, broad pool from which to form improv ideas, but also opens up the mind in a general sense.
16. Why humanity needs humor: Because if humor wasn’t a thing, everyone would succumb to the throes of all sorts of horrible things too gruesome to mention here. Good comedy will never cure clinical depression, of course, and anyone arguing otherwise could use a hearty punch in the jaw. But it can offer up a healthy, hearty laugh at the end of a terrible day. Whether participating or just sitting back and watching, improv dishes out a reminder at the importance of laughter.
17. Self-control: On creatively fruitful days, improv participants may want to keep jumping in and steal the show with their brilliant verbal barrages of comedy goodness. But practicing restraint allows others an equal chance to shine — an integral component of collaborative efforts. And such discipline certainly enjoys its own applications in life’s other facets as well.
18. Communication: Communication takes long walks along the beach at sunset with self-expression. They have so much in common; it makes sense that the both of them receive similar bolstering from improv performances and classes. Self-expression allows participants to find an outlet for their feelings. Communication makes sure they get to the intended audience clearly. Awww. Don’t they just make the best couple?
19. Projection: Improv moments exploding with earth-shattering comedy and insight into the human condition mean absolutely nothing if muttered into the speaker’s chest. Projection not only conducts clearer communication, it also inspires more confidence. Even on a subconscious level, a strong, coherent voice builds up one’s poise. Try it sometime. Just don’t, like, Black Canary a loved one’s ears off or something.
20. Ummm…improvisation?: Spontaneity is the soul of improv. This essential life skill makes it easier to handle those clich– little curveballs as they get pitched, regardless of whether or not positive or negative results pop up. It ties in with pretty much every other quality listed here, obviously, and forms an essential cornerstone when piecing together a productive, healthy existence.
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