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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
Here’s my thoughts about all five in one place.
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Before we move, we have to learn how to be still.
Can you stand and be still? Beside a stage or even on a stage?
There is often a surfeit of nervous energy when we perform and that’s something we have to learn to master and channel productively.
Because without stillness we aren’t able to put our focus where it belongs, on our scene partner. Without stillness we’re too in our heads, too nervous, too centred on ourselves.
All the best performers have a quality of stillness.
It puts me in mind of the table tennis metaphor. That a ball needs to bounce on both sides of the net to be valid. In the same way, we don’t want to just volley lines of dialogue back and forth between us. They need to land. They need to have impact. This is what stillness grants us in practice.
And even more importantly, stillness is diagnostic.
How am I feeling today? Where do I feel stiff or blocked or restricted?
I like the thought model that we wake up a brand new person every morning - our bodies feel different, our minds are full of new information. Stillness gives us a moment to reconnect with ourselves, to work out who we are today.
And that moment can make all the difference as we step on stage.
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.