What is improv?

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For quick clarification, improv comedy is different from stand up comedy.  Stand up consists of usually a single person in front of an audience telling jokes that have previously been written, whereas improv is usually a team of people making things up as they go along.  The TV show "Who's Line is it Anyway?" is an example of short form improv. 

Improv, which is short for improvisation, is a state of being and creating action without pre-planning. This can be when an individual or group is acting, dancing, singing, playing musical instruments, talking, creating artworks, problem solving, or reacting in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings.

This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or new ways to act. Improvisation can be thought of as an "on the spot" or "off the cuff" spontaneous moment of sudden inventiveness that can just come to mind, body and spirit as an inspiration.  Improvisation in any life or art form, can occur more often if it is practiced as a way of encouraging creative behavior. That practice includes learning to use one's intuition, as well as learning a technical understanding of the necessary skills and concerns within the domain in which one is improvising.

The skills of improvisation can apply to many different abilities or forms of communication and expression across all artistic, scientific, physical, cognitive, academic, and non-academic disciplines. For example, improvisation can make a significant contribution in music, dance, cooking, presenting a speech, sales, personal or romantic relationships, sports, flower arranging, martial arts, psychotherapy, and much more.  Colloquial terms such as "let's play it by the ear", "take it as it comes", and "make it up as we go along" are all used to describe "improvisation".

The simple act of speaking requires a good deal of improvisation because the mind is addressing its own thought and creating its unrehearsed delivery in words, sounds and gestures, forming unpredictable statements that feed back into the thought process (the performer as listener), creating an enriched process that is not unlike instantaneous composition [with a given set or repertoire of elements].

Another improvisational, group problem-solving technique being used in organizations of all kinds is brainstorming, in which any and all ideas that a group member may have are permitted and encouraged to be expressed, regardless of actual practicality.  As in all improvisation, the process of brainstorming opens up the minds of the people involved to new, unexpected and possibly useful ideas. The colloquial term for this is "thinking out-side the box."

Within Executive Improv, improvisation is a series of exercises and games used to mold people and teams into better listeners, better communicators, and more innovative participants.

-  watch our introduction video

-  learn the benefits of improv

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