Levitous Leadership
Looking for information on improv classes and shows? Go to www.fulltiltcomedy.org.
Improvisation Training
For Individual and Team Development
Corporate Training
Serious Play
Get out of your head
& into your impulses
Whether you are looking to build your team's trust and communication, nurture innovation, bolster extemporaneous speaking, or harness lightening fast thinking, IMPROVISATION skills put all of this into practice while being fun and supportive along the way. Creating and "playing" together as a group requires listening, reacting, changing, caring, and building upon ideas. The result is a unique creation, built entirely in the moment, and almost always hilarious and surprising.
​
What is improvisation?
It's what we do everyday, all day...we wing it!
Improvisation, whether in music, comedy, or life, is creating something of value out of what is already present. Comedic improvisers create a scene or story inspired by a suggestion given by the audience. The story is linked, thoughtful, and satisfying, and most importantly never preconceived.
Playing at our highest intelligence
Participants will learn the foundational tenets of comedic improvisation and how this relates to navigating life professionally and personally. Although every workshop is customized according to a team's individual goals, these key concepts are inherent in the learning/playing:
​
- Building consensus
- Active listening and connecting
- Being and staying in the moment, Mindfulness
- Taking risks
- Using play for collaboration and discovery
-Formulating narrative and harnessing storytelling
-Expanding the sphere of innovation and what is possible
-Real-time adaptability training
​
But how does it work?
Integration of the brain
Playing in an improvised scene is the ultimate sky-diving experience without leaving the ground. The thrill of free-falling in a scene, not knowing where you will land, is an act of trust in yourself and your fellow players.
"I got your back," is the mantra of every improv troupe before entering the stage.
​
Playing at the top of one's intelligence, at lightening speed, in an effortless fashion, is the improviser's superpower.
​
Successful improvisers have trained their brain for flexibility of mind and malleability of solutions and outcomes. This mental gymnastics is achieved through connection and authentic openness and value of another's ideas.
When we are in the moment and connecting with a scene partner, we override our reptilian reactions of fear, and we stimulate the limbic part of the brain. This part rules our emotions and empathy. This limbic brain is the gateway to our neo-cortex, where our highest level of thinking lives. Reason and logic are the specialty of the neo-cortex. Now, instead of a fight on stage, we see two people in agreement, puzzling out the situation and coming up with clever solutions.
This is improvisation at its best...magic happening in front of our eyes!
The integration of brain functioning to override an argumentative or defensive disposition are useful tools in building relationships with colleagues, customers, and partners, and also nurturing creativity and innovation. We can recognize when our own brain, or others, are working on a base level, and apply strategies to lift our thought processing to a more productive plane. By connecting with others through an empathetic lens, we harness our highest thinking capacity collectively for innovation and change.
​
Uncover and sharpen YOUR superpower!
