The Perils and Power of Improvisation

As an expert or enthusiast in any topic, it may be difficult to fully get a sense of just how much knowledge you may have gained along the way from novice status to experienced participant. I've been working with students recently with movement improvisation. In working with the group, I've been confounded on just how difficult the process has been in facilitating improvisation experiences. Improvisation has been such a staple in my creative process for so long that I feel I have lost touch with what it felt like in the beginning, to feel the challenge that improvisation first presented for me.

In helping the students discover the power of improvisation, I've rediscovered that power for myself. Working with this group has brought me an empathy for the students in how potentially challenging the world of improvisation can be. I can remember the feeling of discomfort. As a young woman who was coming out of a culture of "universal" rights and wrongs when it came to being expressive with the body, it was a huge challenge for me. Coming out of a culture of ballet, beauty pageants, and dance competitions, improvisation was a huge and challenging breakthrough to the world of individual voice and choice. It was a discovery a place where experience was valued over product, where risk and exploration were valued over safety and protocol.

Working with this group has reminded me of the power inherent in improvisation. As I facilitated the class I found myself speaking aloud the virtues gained from improvisation, partly to spark an interest in the students, partly to remind myself. I mentioned the power of moving and being in your body with no apologies or judgment, with no cultural or social expectation being imposed. Improvisation is also a practice in exploratory rebellion, a rebellion that moves one closer to their unique stylistic identity and movement or conceptual fingerprint. No improvisation session is ever the same. And each individual experiences their own process of discovering movement ideas or conceptual ideas differently.

I spoke about how improvisation is about pushing the borders of the rules established in the improvisation score. Take for example, my direction given to do something that feels both important, impulsive, true, and uncomfortable or unusual for you as a mover. A student then asked me what would happen if that for her meant leaving the room. I explained to her that if I did not dictate the class remaining in the room, she was totally entitled to leave the room as long as she has a clear intention or curiosity she has committed to exploring. I hoped to provide a space in facilitating these improvisation scores that provided a safe space for the group to explore movement they dare not do in any other circumstance. I hoped to provide a space where their bodies were safe to physicalize whatever it was their bodies chose to purge or express. I hope to provide a space where it was okay to step outside of the boundaries and expectations of their other classes.

The fear of stepping outside of the bounds of conformity and expectation through improvisation is a place of power for me. It is a skill necessary for the creative ingenuity and innovation on which our country prides itself. It is a rebellion against our culture of testing, competition, productivity, and benchmarks wherein a person is free to be exactly what they are in every moment of the movement. The world of improvisation is not however a place of indulgent sensation with no critical motivation or processing. Instead it is a research process that requires people to create their own "scientific method." It is a rejection of the idea of being trained to conform to someone else's movement or someone else's expectation of productivity. It is a recuperation from the high stakes that our students often face with the pressures of school these days. But whether you are a student or an adult, I think it is a recuperation from what we currently value as a country. It is a rejection of thinking en masse, of idolizing the famous or powerful, of self-loathing, of looking to others to validate us. Instead, improvisation allows a person to think for themselves in every moment, to celebrate and to appreciate their own personal expressivity, to value who they are just as the are, and to look inside ourselves to discover our unique worth.

I would like to thank the students I teach. They have reminded me of just how powerful and yet foreign improvisation can be to the novice. The challenge that improvisation presents only confirms for me the value it provides in the lives of those who experience it.