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There are five pillars of movement practice that I think translate quite neatly into improv practice.
They are:
**Stillness Joint Articulation Coordination Improvisation Voice**
Over the next few weeks I’m going to look at each one in turn. This week …
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This is the strength, flexibility and range of movement in each joint. In practice, it’s about intelligently and diligently moving a little further each day. Listening to your body and going right up to the edge of where you’re comfortable.
Crucially, you are not pushing past that point into a place of discomfort. The real magic happens on the boundary between the two. You want to position yourself perfectly so that you sometimes fail but know that you’re also capable of some mastery.
And if that’s not an improv lesson, I don’t know what is.
Neither cruising along deep in our comfort zone, nor stranded so far outside it that we’re lost and panicking.
In improv, we need to put effort into developing individual skills.
It’s about finding exercises that allow you to flex your storytelling muscles … or see how far you can stretch away from your normal voice and posture to totally inhabit new characters. Viewpoint, stage picture, identifying and playing game - the list is nearly endless.
Find your edge and then take one further step.
Before we can use our skills in harmony, we must first isolate them so we can work on them individually and efficiently.
Like going to the gym, but for whimsy.
Next time: Coordination.
<aside> 💡 Hey, my name’s Chris Mead. I write an article about improv almost every week. You can get the latest in your inbox by subscribing to my newsletter. Or check out the archive.
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