You Don't Have To Improvise Online To Validate Yourself As An Improviser
I recently made two episodes about people who have chosen not to do online improv. When I asked for people to participate I had an overwhelming response, more than I have ever encountered for a podcast episode. The response afterwards was equally overwhelming these episodes are already two of the most listened-to episodes I have ever produced. Why?
What struck me was just how much people who were sitting out online improv wanted to talk. It was so evident that they missed performing but that online improv didn’t do it for them. The result of this was that some felt excluded or even shame for not taking part. These people are seeing lots of posts about online improv but, of course, they are not posting about the improv shows that they’re not doing. Equally, the levels that some people have gone to in order to say “good improvisers adapt and we’ve adapted by going online” made some feel like they were in some way ‘lesser’ improvisers. They are not!
My fellow Mayday, John Cremer, had some wise words on this. “There are spaces that we inhabit and sometimes to step out of that space means that someone else can expand or shift or change and then the company itself has a new dynamic and if we don't do that from time to time I think things can get a little bit ridged and a bit gritty, and people sort of grate up against each other rather than expand and develop as improvisers and human beings.”
People taking a break from improv because online improv isn’t a good fit for them is good for us all. We all expand and adapt in different ways. I am suspicious of anyone who tells me they know the way we “should” approach our art form. A lot of judgement comes with “should” statements like that and where there is judgement there is usually an agenda. I’m wary of the almost toxic levels of positivity around the move to online improv given how those who choose not to participate are left feeling.
For what it’s worth, if you are taking a break from improv right now, good for you. It does not mean you are not adaptable. Would an adaptable person keep doing something they don’t enjoy in spite of everything? I don’t think so. The adaptable person would recognise that they needed to do something else. If you have decided online improv isn’t for you, it’s not because you’re a bad improviser who can’t adapt, it’s because you’re a human that can.
I have done some online improv, I have taken some online classes and I have taught a couple of online improv sessions. I have enjoyed it albeit not as much or in the same way as a live show. For some people, online improv has provided great connection with improvisers they know and love. For some it has also meant playing with people who, due to geography, they would never have got to play with. I think online improv is probably with us to stay and it is absolutely worth celebrating. We have another way of expressing our art form and that’s glorious. For those of us who are in the online space, let’s remember to have the backs of those who have not made the journey into the online space, and to honour their choices.
Hear both episodes below…