I signed up for an improv class a few weeks ago and tonight was the first session. Throughout junior high I did improv through the Drama classes I took. If we’re talking about sheer fun, those were the best classes I had in public school. If I can be bold for a second, I will say that I got quite good at it. Of course, it’s been decades since then but the memory of those good times encouraged me to sign up for this class. Also, with all this free time, it would be a waste not to work on some personal development.
Since it had been so long since I did improv, I decided to sign up for the intro class. It would be a great opportunity to re-learn and refresh some of the concepts that I might have forgotten. When I arrived, I saw there were about 12 people in my class, slightly more women than men. I was sure I’d be the oldest person in the class but there was an older gentlemen who took that title.
As expected, we learned some of the core concepts of doing good improv. Things that make a scene work and how to support your partner or partners. Our instructor had us to do some simple improv exercises to ease us into it. I remember doing similar exercises back in grade eight when I was a very shy lad. Back then, it seemed like our teacher was making us do some really odd things but now I understand why these exercises are important to allow people to “stretch” from a performance point of view.
As some of you know, I have no fear of speaking/performing in front of crowds of any size. This is mainly due to the great Drama classes I had in junior high. Nothing changed tonight as I did not get stage fright at all during the evening. I will say there was much for me to improve on for next class. I wasn’t pleased with my timing. In improv, a scene works much better when you hit the beats correctly. I also thought I wasn’t making the most of the scenes or pushing them to their full potential. I remember in my junior high days how it felt when you’re just doing so well with your scene partners and it’s just clicking, that’s the goal for me.
The class is two hours every Monday and I have two more classes left. I’m really looking forward to next week!