How to improvise like a Samurai

By Heather Urquhart
of The Maydays

I was teaching a while ago when one of the students started to look at me in a strange way, with an almost mystical look in his eye. When I asked why he told me that the excercise I was describing was almost exactly what he had been taught by his Aikido instructor a few weeks before. We talked after class and this led to me investigating a little further into what I have found to be the many links between Japanese Martial arts and improv (the links between Buddhism and improv have already been well documented), so what follows are my top 10 philosophical and strategic martial arts concepts which can also be applied to your scene work:

1. MUSHIN – Without mind.
‘Achieved when a person’s mind is free from thoughts of anger fear or ego during combat OR everyday life. There is an absence of discursive thought and judgement so the person is totally free to act and react towards an opponent without disturbance from such thoughts.’ Surely this is the state that all improvisers should strive for, the best improv happens when you stop listening to your inner critic and just inhabit the scene or character in the moment. I think when improvisers start out, it’s almost impossible to achieve this state, as they are constantly worrying about what they are doing wrong. The beauty of improv is that you can’t do it wrong.

2. AIKI – Joining energy. Energy matching.
Oh, how I was excited to see the term energy matching used within a martial arts context. This is the exact term The Maydays use to describe the technique of mirroring from within a scene. Here it is in the context of your opponent, but in improv matching your scene partner’s energy, demeanor, stance and point of view can be an extremely strong place to start your scene. Quite often we’ll go for conflict right at the top of a scene, whereas sometimes it’s nice to just see two characters in their world going about their business. How often do we see conflict in everyday life? We see energy matching everywhere in groups of people e.g the football fans, the Hen do, the WI meeting. It’s always interesting to watch.

3. KOKORO – Heart, character, attitude.
It’s essential to enter any scene with a strong point of view, whatever that is, even if you’re working from nothing. ‘Character’ also doesn’t necessarily have to be about your ability to play different roles. Del Close spoke of wearing characters like a thin veil. While 'character' is a great tool, some of my favourite improviser’s only ever play themselves. However they will play themselves afraid, agitated, happy or themselves as they really would be in space. An attitude to what you’re doing will transform the scene.

4. GOHO/JUHO
There are hard (Goho) and soft (Juho) methods of initiations - just like improv! We talk about hard initiations as verbal offers or clearly formed premises. Whereas a soft initiation might involve starting a mimed physical activity or merely making an emotional noise with NO idea of what your scene is about. How do you initiate your scenes? Do you always come on with a fully formed idea or do you always follow your scene partner? While in this case Juho method refers to a counter attack, it can often feel sometimes in a scene that one improviser will wait to ‘counter’ the opening scene offer of the other. Does every scene need an attack and counter attack? Probably not, but it is always good to notice if you are habitually doing one or the other. Interestingly Shorinji Kempo say ‘as the degree of training increases, Goho and Juho progress toward becoming a single body of techniques.’ Hopefully, as we become more experienced as improvisers it also becomes imperceptible (at least to an audience) which role each improviser is playing.

5. FUDOSHIN - Immovable mind, immovable heart.
In improv terms this really reminded me of the old adage of ‘don’t drop your shit.’ (Incidentally, the internet attributes this saying to Susan Messing of The Annoyance in Chicago). Not dropping your shit can be an incredibly powerful tool for making your character’s more grounded, believable and invested. We often talk about the importance of allowing your character to be changed but it can be equally important to stay with the offers you made at the top of your scene. If you do or say anything, the audience sees it and wants to believe that every move has a special significance to the scene. I will be blogging about ‘not dropping your shit’ again soon.

6. ZANSHIN - Awareness – of relaxed alertness.
This idea seems to parallel well with the importance of listening in improv. So many listening excercises aren’t necessarily about hearing but about a deeper awareness of noticing every signal being given off in a scene. I stumbled across this saying; "When the battle is over, tighten your chin strap." This refers to constant awareness, preparedness for danger and readiness for action - I love this!

7. SHOSHIN - Beginners mind.
This term is used also used in Zen Buddhism and encourages openness, eagerness and a lack of preconceptions. I hope this is especially relevant to very experienced improvisers. We are lucky enough to be striving for the holy grail of the perfect scene or show but no matter how long you do it, you’re never guaranteed to have cracked it. This impermanence is what makes improv especially exciting as an art form and also means that wherever we are on our improv path there is always a level playing field in the scene.

8. SHUHARI - 3 stages of learning.
Shuhari roughly translates to "first learn, then detach, and finally transcend." It's a way of thinking about how you learn a technique. The idea is that a person passes through three stages of gaining knowledge. In improv we are ultimately striving for a state of mindfulness when we are on stage but this can be hard at first. While there are many accepted rules for improv it is easy to ask the question ‘How can there be rules for something that is made up?’ There are some principles that will help and guide us in the beginning that we need to stick with it at first (e.g avoiding questions, saying yes). Sometimes once an improviser has heard that you must say yes on stage it’s likely that they’ll delight in telling you when you haven’t. First off, it’s never cool to pass judgement on someone else’s work (unless they’ve asked you to!). Secondly, once you’ve been improvising a while then I actively encourage you to break the rules.

9. SUKI – Timing.
Suki is all about timing. In martial arts Suki refers to the moment a mistake is made by your opponent and provides your opportunity to strike. In improv these ‘mistakes’ are gifts and provide an opening for us to discover what is unusual and interesting about the scene. If a word is stumbled over for example then in improv this could be the invention of a whole new word. From my tiny amount of research this also relates closely to the concept of ‘maai’ - meaning the level of engagement with your partner - another concept which is essential for improv.

10. KENSHO
Is described in Japanese martial arts as ‘an early glimpse into Enlightenment’. Carrying on with my mixed religion holy grail metaphor I would describe Kensho as the feeling you get in improv after HAVING A GOOD SHOW!

Stay tuned for part two when we do Aikido with a bunch of improvisers, and improv with a bunch of Aikido masters and find out just how inaccurate this blog really is!

Lindy Hop vs. Improv Comedy

Cat Foley is an improviser and lindy hop dancer. She regularly performs improv with the Impropriety crowd up in Liverpool and recently took part in the 33.5 hour Liverpool Improvathon. This is taken from her regular Lindy-hop blog at RockStepTriple.

"As well as being a keen swing dancer, I’m also a comedy improviser. This term can mean many things, most of you will recognise this as being what they do in “whose line is it anyway”, well imagine that… but better J Add to this an image of ‘long form’ as being an extension of one of the whose line games, where players will take one character and run with it for anything from 10 minutes to 50 hours (yes- that does really happen!). So the reason for this most recent of my blog posts is that more and more in my mind the two have been fusing, and I have been exploring how the fundamentals of each can be used to explain the other.

So here it goes,

The Fundamentals of Lindy Hop explained via the Fundamentals of Improv.

YES AND…

This is an improv game whereby 2 players will engage in a scene, speaking one statement each at time that must begin with “Yes…and”. For example

Player 1: Lets go to the shop
Player 2: Yes and lets go by bike

Player 1: Yes, and I’ll sit on the handlebars
Player 2: Yes, and we can sing less than Jake all the way

The converse of this exercise is “yes… but”

Player 1: Let’s go to the shop
Player 2: Yes, but my foot hurts
Player 1: Yes, but can’t you try and walk
Player 2: Yes, but it really hurts etc. etc.

So the ‘yes but’ exercise involves the players blocking each other, they shoot down ideas and create excess negativity - it can still work as a scene, but has none of the energy of “yes, and” where the players accept each idea and build on it making it even more awesome. The same is true for linty hop. If you take what your partner offers to the dance, and build on it, true magic can happen. If you are constrictive and try to reject offers made by your partner you may still get through the dance, but at least one of you is going to feel rubbish about it. I personally love those dances when you can’t quite tell who started having the boss ideas, but by the end you are both doing sick variations that really hit the music and you end the dance grinning like an idiot.

FIND THE GAME

In any improve scene, no matter what the ‘game’ being played is, there will be an internal ‘game’. For example the characters may be in opposition, physically or emotionally, one may copy the other, one may be ignored etc etc. Really good scenes may include these games implicitly and this will definitely be happening in your lindy, even if you have never thought about it. Say for example a follow throws a musical variation to hit a break on the end of a swing out- you know the same musical break is going to happen 3 times in a row in this track, so you lead 3 swing outs to allow her to hit those breaks… that’s a game! Or you copy the follow… that’s a game. Or the follow leaves the next break for the lead, in a call and response fashion… that is most definitely a game. This can make for really great social dancing, as it requires a connection between lead and follow that is not purely physical. However, they game should always be a fair one - a leader playing ‘lets see how many tension changes I can put into this 3 count send out to try to catch my follow out’ or a follow playing ‘what if I make my connection really heavy so the lead actually can’t move me?’ that ain’t no fun for anyone. Invite your partner to play a game that you are involved with too..

Check this out - and look for the game at 1:16 – brilliant.

PIMPING

There is such a thing in Improv as ‘pimping’ whereby you will give someone a lead in to a scene that will really give them something to go on, i.e. “oh here comes spaghetti armed Joe” rather than “oh here comes Joe” because then Joe has an immediate character providing a strong physical offer to the scene, and he will (hopefully) get an instant laugh!

The Whose line? Game ‘Superheroes’ is a great example of this:

In your dance you can do this- as a lead- if you know your follow can shake that thing- give them some room to do some kick ass swivels. As a follow, be grounded so he can use you for those cool compression spins or rides, and give the lead the limelight to show off occasionally. Never thought I’d say this- but PIMP YOUR DANCE PARTNER- do this selflessly and you will both feel fecking awesome!

Juan beautifully executes a neo-swing pimp on Laura here at 0:26

DON’T TRY TO BE FUNNY/CLEVER

Classic Improv error- trying to be funny

Classic swing dance error- trying to be complex

If you go onto a stage as an improviser (particularly if you are in a scene with others) trying to be funny, either you will alienate or fail to connect to the other characters and therefore be intensely not funny, or your gags will flop if the scene doesn’t go the way you intend.

If you are dancing, the same is true. Say Max and Annie taught you 385762 footwork variations at Herrang last month… great- good for you, but dancing them AT a beginner, who is going to be thrown off by them and can’t cope with your many changes in connection- not cool. Also dancing them with anyone and looking smug at how amazing you are, scoffing at their lack of fancy footwork- also not cool. Stressing about always having to fit every variation you know into a dance and generally feeling shit about your dancing if you don’t- incredibly not cool. Chances are, if you stop thinking about it and really listen to the music, it will happen… as if by magic. Also, respond to your partner- if their connection is awesome and you’re feeling great- throw loads of the things in, you’ll probably end up inventing a load of new ones together. Not trying to be cool/ clever/ funny generally makes it happen anyway.

And here is Skye- keeping it so simple and chilled – incredibly cool without over-complicating it.

LISTEN

This is a fairly obvious one, but definitely worth mentioning. If you are in a scene with someone else and you don’t listen to what they are saying, chances are the scene won’t make sense and whoever you are improvising with will be quite put out because they have nothing to work with. So when you dance with someone, it should not be 2 people shouting at the top of their lungs, one person shouting at the other so they can’t hear the other whispering, one shouting whilst the other ignores them, or two people blankly staring into space thinking about whether anyone will ever use cassette tapes again. The partnership should be listening to one another, speaking at the same volume mostly, with moment of excitement (like someone announces they are engaged) or that quiet moment where one reveals a secret to the other. The conversation may still be polite and formal, but so long as both are listening, this is no bad thing. If the dance ebbs and flows like a conversation where both parties have something to say and listen to what is said then you’ve hit the jackpot in my book.

DON’T PLAN MATERIAL

If an improviser rocks up to a gig with planned material- the audience will know, the other players will know and generally you could ask yourself what is the actual point of you being here, why aren’t you doing stand up?
So routines are stand up right, and social dance is improvisation- so do that. I get when you are starting out you know sequences of moves, and that is great- practice them at every available opportunity. However, always improvise at least SOMETHING - stand in closed and wiggle a bit- this way every dance has something different in it that very importantly hits the music- coz that’s swing! You don’t need moves to be a good leader, you need good connection- to your partner and to the music!

TAKE RISKS, BE FREE TO FAIL AND IF IT’S BAD - MAKE IT WORSE

In Improv, my colleagues are always telling me, when I get nervous or cut up about a scene I feel I have just fluffed, that it is pretty much impossible to ‘break’ a scene. Even if you weren’t funny or you said nothing and broke character and did an interpretive dance about a manatee… you did not ‘break’ improv.

So- Dax (or equivalent celebrity super-lead/follow) is in the room. Dance with him- why not?! It is virtually impossible to break a dance too! Say during this dance you miss a few leads, you turn yourself the wrong way, you slap him in the face, lose a shoe and end the dance in the splits. SO WHAT?! You have not broken the lindy hop- get back out there and dance with someone else. Or go into a jam circle and totally make an idiot of yourself if that is what floats your boat. Obviously you don’t have to take such risks if you don’t want to, but never ever feel like you can’t take them because you aren’t good enough- everyone wants to grow and learn (few are more critical of themselves than advanced dancers) so get in there and BRING IT… if that is what you want to do. Or find your own understated ways to push yourself and take risks in order to improve - nothing ventured, nothing gained!"

A New Generation Of Punk Rock

In a divorce settlement between me and sleep, I would cite the following three documentaries:

Westway To The World (2000) directed by Don Letts
Dogtown and Z-boys (2001) directed by Stacy Peralta
The Filth and The Fury (2000) directed by Julien Temple

Each one has struck me that a group of passionate individuals can come together and by sheer grit and determination will eventually find success, despite the world around them acting disinterested and/or aggressively negative.

I couldn't help but draw comparisons between the plight of early punk-rockers and skaters - struggling to have their art-form recognised - and the community of improvisers that surround me who are working hard on putting on brilliant shows while possible audience members wander unknowingly by.

Joe Strummer, the front-man for The Clash, was an intellectual and brilliant man with a passion that could rip a hole in parliament. Watch Westway To The World and you can't help but be struck by how focussed he was in achieving his goal. Hang the punk conventions on the wall, this guy avoided mind-limiting drugs and people who would lead him astray. Punk Rock was his addiction, his religion and his reason. I could list plenty of improvisers who feel the same about their art.

The Clash went on for longer than most bands have ever managed, and produced brilliant songs throughout their time; songs that everyone knows. A rare accolade for any band, and certainly one that won't be managed by any current popular television-age act I can think of.

There is footage of the Z-boys Skateboarding Team in Dogtown where they unleash their stunts on an unsuspecting crowd at a 1970's skateboarding competition. Until that moment skateboarding had been a balletic sport performed by pretty-boys in tight white vests and finely coiffed hair-dos, who did graceful handstands on their boards and balanced with stiff backs. Then the Z-boys appear from nowhere, hitting the deck with slides and skids and jumps, screeching round the park as close to the ground as they could with threadbare jeans and t-shirts that flapped in the wind. Skateboarding was suddenly exciting. No longer were the stars made up of people who could stand-up straight, they were those who took risks and flooded the competition with unpredictability. The Z-boys were pioneers, and despite the dejected looks from the skate-stars of the day, the crowd had now been subjected to the future of skating.

I couldn't help picturing Michael McIntyre in a tight white vest after that, much to the horror of my own sub-conscience.

You can see where I got my inspiration for the website design from. I genuinely believe improv is a new punk-rock. We are doing comedy our way, the way we believe it should be done. We do improv because it is exciting, new, ever-changing and not tied down by existing conventions. It worked for stand-up comedians twenty-five years ago, and now look.

We will do this whether we get an audience or whether we don't; but do you remember the names of the politicians that tried to get The Sex Pistols removed from the country, or do you know The Pistols as one of the most iconic bands in music history? Improvisers are passionate people who are doing good stuff. I take solace in believing that once it kicks off, impro will forever be a leviathan on the British comedy timeline. I know where I want to be when that happens.

God save the Queen.

(v)?

A few people have asked why I went for the American spelling of 'Improv' and not the British 'Impro'. Some even seemed a little hurt that I'd betrayed my impro roots and defected to the other side (of the Atlantic). One tiny little V holds the potential of some serious debate, so lets clear things up.

Eleven years ago when I first came across improvisation in the form of Baby Wants Candy at the Edinburgh Fringe festival, I remember over-hearing a couple of friends of mine arguing about whether it should be shortened to Improv or Impro. I thought at the time.. what's the difference? It's only a word.

The two are quite different, I think. In general (and this is very general), Improv from over the pond is fast-paced, snappy long-form, aimed at being funny and crazy. It's had more years to become an established form of entertainment, with bigger audiences made up of people wanting to see the latest graduating class of Harold training or improv-trained alumni. The list of American and Canadian improvisers is as long as an Improvathon with big Hollywood names like Bill Murray and Amy Poeler. And Chevy Chase.

British Impro is - for a start - still finding it's footing. You won't find a TV Special of The Upright Citizens Brigade with huge comedy/film stars like Tina Fey, but you might find an episode of Showstoppers on Radio 4 and re-runs of Whose Line Is It Anyway? on Dave (at least half of which performers are North American). Non-commercially there seems to be a deeper investigation in to character depth and progression, realistic story arcs and reference to the longer heritage of British theatre. And I'd much rather watch Clive Anderson present 'WLIIA?' than Drew Carey.

Of course, this is totally general and I wish no disrespect to anyone working hard at this awesome, explosive, wonderful art-form. This is my passion and anyone who is putting effort into doing this stuff well would get a big fat cuddle from my chubby arms. There are similarities at every turn and the basic rules of good improvisation don't change. For every Die Nasty Improv Soap Opera there is an Austentatious Impro Novel. For every Curt Hatred there is a Reckoning. For every BassProv there is a Katy & Rach. Brilliant groups, all with individual styles, but with nuances of similarities.
For every 'Yes and...' there is a 'Yeah and...'

Yeah, and... they're all ace.

I called the site London Improv solely for internet search reasons. That's it. London Impro would only be found on Google if you searched for 'London Impro'. London Improv can be found if you type in London Impro and London Improv. I'm not betraying my routes, I'm just improving our Search Engine Optimisation, and that's better for everyone. And also geeky as hell.

Picture courtesy of Rapid Fire Theatre, Edmonton