Improv again last night here on Bowen Island. It is such a rich learning space for me in many ways. Last night, one of our group kept bringing scenes back to the Olympics, and especially the luge. At times it was funny but it became tiresome in other cases, and in an extended game of freeze tag, when he stepped in, everyone knew where the scene was going. My learning from that is what it looks like when we come to a situation prepared, with a pre-conceived idea of what will work, being attached to an offering, but insensitive to …
Sunday afternoon a small group of my neighbours here on Bowen Island gathered to inaugurate an improv group. All I had was a bunch of exercises culled from the web, some eager players and a space. And that was all we needed. After a few warm ups, we got into some evxercises and then played a few scenes. At least half of the group of eight were experienced actors, several of whom were comfortable with the openness of the structure and others who struggled a little. It was cool to see us hit some real high points (especially during on …
Happy New Year! Some random pickin’s from the feed: Psychology and Security Resource Page . Learn about FEELING afraid and FEELING safe. The Conferences that Work blog. Cool, even though it seems like he has reinvented Open Space. jack/zen blogs the 7 principles of improv.
Just off the phone with a friend of mine, Jackie Minns. Jackis is a fabulous actor and yoga teacher and masseuse (I do live on a British columbia island you know!) and she and I have been scheming up some ideas to start an improvisational theatre group here on Bowen Island. Our first gathering will be on February 7 and so in doing some research I came across some great collections of improv games and exercises. Learnimprov.com has a great list and a random workshop generator. The Living Playbook is encyclopedic in nature and is the basis of the free …
My friend Robert Oetjen was a key member of our hosting team at Altmoisa. He brings a lovely capacity to the work, being the head of an environmental learning centre in southern Estonia, he understands the deep connection between human and world, and is a practitioner of the most ancient arts of human kind: tracking and fire building. He is a man who is a beautiful learner from his environment. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, he moved here in the early 1990s as a Peace Corps worker, teaching English in the days in which Estonia was hungry to claim …