Work with what’s happening
Improvisation
Improvisation is not an art form in itself. It is a way of working – a discipline of attention, action and creative responsiveness. For some, it means performance games or a weekly social activity. For others, it becomes a craft: a method of composing in real time with the body, the imagination and the reality of the moment.
Impro Supreme belongs to the second category.
What interests me is improvisation as a serious creative practice: not the fast, clever version built on verbal reflexes, but the deeper work of choice, clarity and presence. Improvisation that begins in the body, unfolds through purposeful attention, and leads to something real and alive on stage.
What improvisation actually trains
Improvisation trains the ability to create from what is actually happening – not from preconceived ideas, templates or automatic habits. It asks the performer to notice, to choose, and to act with clarity.
Improvisation is technique: awareness that becomes action.
When practised seriously, it becomes a discipline that strengthens all performance work, scripted or unscripted.
How Impro Supreme approaches improvisation
In this work, improvisation begins in the body – in sensation, feeling and physical presence. You train yourself to notice what you are doing, understand how it reads, and compose from that reality.
The imagination is not a separate layer added on top. Neither is emotion. Both arise from the body’s shifts, tensions, rhythms – and they shape the direction of the moment.
This is where theatre appears.
Once you engage with sensation and feeling, the work naturally generates relationships, atmosphere, character, narrative direction – not through invention, but through interpretation. Not because anything was planned, but because it grew out of the physical and felt reality of the moment.
This approach trains a way of creating that stays rooted in perception rather than speed or habit.
Articles and writings
Insights into improvisation as embodied creative work — from practical details to broader principles.
- Improv emotions: what improvisers really feel
A practical mini-dictionary of improv emotions that uncovers what improvisers really feel on stage – and how those feelings shape their improvisation.
