don't think about the zip-zap-zop
Feb. 28th, 2011 11:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
orangerfulAttended my first Improv Class today at the DC Improv. As predicted, the scariest part of the entire thing was the damn drive into the city. Stupid 16th St. circle screwed me! I paniced and missed the turn onto M then got stuck and pulled off on the wrong street...oh I hate you, streets of DC, with your random crosses and illogical one ways!!!!!
So, yeah, I was about 20 minutes late even though I left over an hour ahead of time. *sigh* But I think I know how to get there for next week with no problems.
Anyway, luckily I only missed a little bit of the introductions. Really great group of people, so much variety in jobs and life stories. I love that stuff, I always feel like some sort of anthropologist when I listen to people talk about themselves. Couple of military brats like myself, a few Maryland natives, some who clearly have improv in their blood already, others who are just testing it out for fun.
For the first bit of the class, the teacher (who is a regular there at the DC Improv) babbled about the origins of modern improv. He swore that would be the last time he talked to us at length about anything like that. Starting next week, we show up and we do warm ups and then we start improvising! Still, I was fascinated since I know so little about the history of the thing. Got at least one book title to look up later...
We did the basic three warm-ups today, all of which are about teaching ourselves to NOT THINK! This is, of course, quite tricky! But after a bit of practice, you can start to just words fall out of your mouth and not plan ahead. It was a sort of free association thing, just saying random colors or words until the pauses between us saying them went down to less than a second. It was very cool to experience.
The final warm-up had some singing involved, so I channeled all those hours of Rock Band into a really over the top rendition of "Don't Stop Believin'". See, the first person was supposed to start singing a song and then another person was supposed to jump in and tag them out, either continuing the song or starting a new one. The crowd encouraged the singer by singing along. It was a lot of fun and I made myself jump in before I was the last one.
Honestly, this reminded me of how shy I can be when I'm around new people. A lot of you have only seen me when I'm with people I know, and then I'm pretty outgoing. But when I'm plopped into a group of all new people, I tend to just observe for the first few hours we are together. But this is a really great group, I can tell already, so I think after the next session, I'll feel more comfortable just being me.
But now I'm going to sleep! This day was freakin' LONG! And they just "fixed" the heat in the library so it was running like crazy even though it was already 50 degrees outside, I think all that standing and sweating wore me out before the day was even done!
So, yeah, I was about 20 minutes late even though I left over an hour ahead of time. *sigh* But I think I know how to get there for next week with no problems.
Anyway, luckily I only missed a little bit of the introductions. Really great group of people, so much variety in jobs and life stories. I love that stuff, I always feel like some sort of anthropologist when I listen to people talk about themselves. Couple of military brats like myself, a few Maryland natives, some who clearly have improv in their blood already, others who are just testing it out for fun.
For the first bit of the class, the teacher (who is a regular there at the DC Improv) babbled about the origins of modern improv. He swore that would be the last time he talked to us at length about anything like that. Starting next week, we show up and we do warm ups and then we start improvising! Still, I was fascinated since I know so little about the history of the thing. Got at least one book title to look up later...
We did the basic three warm-ups today, all of which are about teaching ourselves to NOT THINK! This is, of course, quite tricky! But after a bit of practice, you can start to just words fall out of your mouth and not plan ahead. It was a sort of free association thing, just saying random colors or words until the pauses between us saying them went down to less than a second. It was very cool to experience.
The final warm-up had some singing involved, so I channeled all those hours of Rock Band into a really over the top rendition of "Don't Stop Believin'". See, the first person was supposed to start singing a song and then another person was supposed to jump in and tag them out, either continuing the song or starting a new one. The crowd encouraged the singer by singing along. It was a lot of fun and I made myself jump in before I was the last one.
Honestly, this reminded me of how shy I can be when I'm around new people. A lot of you have only seen me when I'm with people I know, and then I'm pretty outgoing. But when I'm plopped into a group of all new people, I tend to just observe for the first few hours we are together. But this is a really great group, I can tell already, so I think after the next session, I'll feel more comfortable just being me.
But now I'm going to sleep! This day was freakin' LONG! And they just "fixed" the heat in the library so it was running like crazy even though it was already 50 degrees outside, I think all that standing and sweating wore me out before the day was even done!
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-02 03:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-01 04:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-02 03:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-01 07:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-02 03:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-01 11:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-01 11:59 am (UTC)What a great thing to enjoy.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-01 06:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-01 07:13 pm (UTC)