Love this piece about the relationship between doing improv and doing digital advertising, creatively speaking. A while back I wrote about taking an improv class myself and how it changed my thinking. Sean Kernan writes often about how improv and other theatre techniques help his creativity and its teaching. And I think it still is one of the best things you can do for your own creativity.
It’ll also get you over any fear of public speaking in about 30 seconds. And it won’t hurt a bit.
Anyway, in this piece from Creativity, the emphasis on the “yes…and” exercise is well placed. When you shift your approach from defensive (no…but) to collaborative (yes…and) the entire dynamic of the discourse changes. The relationship shifts. Friendships are built and possibilities get explored. There is really no downside to doing this, except that it goes against many (most?) people’s nature…at least at first.
There are many groups teaching improv now. I encourage all of you to try it. You never have to go any further–you don’t have to give a performance or the like, just let go and try something that will liberate parts of your mind and reduce your fear overall.
And like I’ve written over and over, fear is one of your biggest obstacles to success.
Yes, yes and one more yes!! The advanced drama courses I took in high school provided invaluable training for all the critical areas of my life but especially those involving creative arts.
We are not photographers, we are story tellers who use images to deliver our lines. This sort of practical advice on specific ways to become a better story teller is one of the most overlooked but important areas in photography training today.
I wrote a guest post on the Jason D. Moore blog some time back titled “Stop, you are not a photographer!” This is just the sort of info I was fishing for when I asserted that, “There is a massive volume of quality training available to today’s emerging photographer but most of it lacks an emphasis on the how-to and why of compelling story telling. That is surprising, because it is the single most important element in creating engaging and enduring images.”
Improve is such an obvious answer to that need that I can’t believe I never thought of it. What a great idea! Thank you for passing it along Leslie.
Excellent post & link & advice.
Funny coincidence, I recently blogged about saying yes, as well:
http://galezucker.blogspot.com/2010/07/on-saying-yes.html
Improve_ great tool for building confidence, self acceptance, learning about boundaries, personal growth. For those of us who prefer kinesthesia vs. verbal improve. The answer is still always yes. Ecstatic Dance_ 5 Rythyms, Soul Motion, Conscious Movement are all forms of movement meditation. The practice evolved out exercises used by modern dance luminaries for warming up and as a creative prompt for building choreography. ( My understanding.) All movement is an aspect of dance, it’s not about looking pretty. Great physical and existential exercise to recognizing our potential and place in this world.