Improvising Manifesto
training to be in a world that is on fire.
Improvisational spaces are where I get to take part, play, agitate, confuse my self, listen to my own impulses, desires, frustrations and judgements. It’s a practice ground for curiosity, exploration and cause and effect.
Improvisation is where I test my own response-ability. My ability to stay responsive to what is happening in real time and make choices amongst chaos. And be in relationship with other people making their own choices, or not.
I watch and observe cause and effect, attraction, avoidance, convergence, conflict, resolution, non-resolution, influence and resonance. And sometimes, the magical moments emergence and devolution of a collective mind and body.
This is a non-exhaustive list that I have written for my self. All I’s and you’s are to and of me.
I here by reserve the right to change.
Be a person. - There is something really strange that happens in improvisational spaces. Many aspects of quotidian human nature just seem to evaporate. Don’t do that.
Know when I am “Performing”. - I am always performing. But when am I…Performing. When am I asking very poignantly, to be perceived?
Where is my spine? - This has to do with knowing my own center, and being clear about where I am in space. If I am tracking my spine, I have a sense of my nervous system, my body, my tone, and my proximity.
Why am I moving? - Don’t just float around in space. Unless you are intentionally, floating around in space. Mindful movement is different than an improvisational practice.
Am I listening? - Am I listening to the whole room? Am I listening to my self? Am I listening to the person or people I am improvising with? While listening and choice making can happen at the same time, it shouldn’t be happening at the same time all the time.
How am I in relationship? - Am I giving, receiving, taking, allowing? Am I attracted, repulsed, moving towards or away, influencing, being influenced, agitating, agreeing, supporting, joining, disagreeing, contrasting, avoiding, forgiving, wanting. etc.
What am I oriented towards? - The question of what am I oriented towards invites the vast-ness of what I am oriented away from. Where is my energy? What am I focusing on? What am I not seeing, sensing, aware of?
Is my choice clear? - What ever I’m doing, is it clear? It doesn’t have to make sense, but is there some amount of confidence behind what ever it is I am doing? This does not mean big or loud, it can be subtle and still clear.
How do I arrive? - “It matters the way we arrive… arrival is magic.” - Sarah Ahmed, Queer Phenomenology. Arrival happens just before the beginning… then during and after. I am constantly arriving, over and over and over again.
How do I end? - Like arrivals, endings happen over and over again. Sometimes they are clumsy, sometimes they are abrupt, and sometimes they can’t come soon enough, but they always come.
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