When people talk to me about improvisation workshops, they talk about the number of years they have been working at improvisation. They say, “We are just beginners. We’ve only been at it for a couple of years.” Or they say “We are advanced and want to push ourselves more. We want an advanced workshop on …” and then they list all the topics they should be taught.

It’s a bit frustrating to hear the titles mixed with values – “we aren’t good because we are beginners.” Vs. “We are good because we are advanced.” There is a bias with age and ability.

Confucius says, “ Respect your elders because they are old and wise.“ He never met a majority of the current politicians or financial ‘experts’. And young people are supposed to be limited, and ignorant of how things ‘should be’ done.

I would choose the idealism of those who stand for ‘ideal’ moral values over those who would benefit on the lives of the weak any time.

The Arab Spring has altered political situations in many countries. Look at the protesters. Most of them are the young students who shouldn’t know what “truth”  is. With luck, their kind will rule the earth very soon.

But I digress… In a class where I am told to teach specific things because the group is advanced… I almost always run into trouble because the only thing advanced is the ego. These groups and individuals who talk about ‘higher knowledge’ OFTEN (not always) seem to be compensating for a lack of understanding.

Give a man a bottle of aspirin and tell him to give them to people with headaches. You have taught him a procedure to affect a condition. If he then believes he is a great healer, he misses the point. He sells himself as a great doctor  but his pills don’t always work and so he asks for other pills to prescribe.

Is he a doctor? No. He keeps looking for new tricks to solve headaches but he doesn’t understand anything at the core of the problem. What causes headaches? What exactly do the medicines do?

In improvisation, those who are bored are generally those who have not discovered how to improvise. The packages that they play with have become dirty and there’s nothing inside of substance.

I just watched a taping of an improvised television show here in Santiago, Chile. Three of the improvisers are the senior improvisers who put the group together and along with a new, young improviser who is part of their group, they brought in a few guests who were their students.

The new improvisers were bright eyed and present. They saw the others on stage while the older improvisers had a look of sometimes being cool and sometimes being bored.

When I talked to them after the taping I was told that some of them had grown ‘accustomed’ to their positions. Some of them felt a little bored or tired. Some wanted the others to do the work.  Another excuse was that some were protecting their positions that they had developed over the years as the city’s best improvisers.  These are my friends and I like them very much but the pattern of behaviour is predictable.

And what does that mean? That means that their audiences start getting bored and look to the ‘younger’, ‘fresher’ improvisers for the work that inspires.

In a classroom with some new improvisers, some more advanced improvisers and some in the middle, there is a rich learning experience IF the improvisers can keep their egos aside and their minds open. Newer improvisers bring fearlessness. They aren’t trapped by rules. They lack some awareness and experience. Experienced performers bring a stability from knowledge but often bring an ego. They bring other baggage as well that makes them protect themselves from failure.

Imagine if you got laughs all your life for a behaviour that you could do whenever you want. Wouldn’t you use that tool when you felt the show was suffering or you were having an off night?  And then the danger of taking it easy on yourself by relying on that one skill becomes very tempting.

Some older ‘experienced’ improvisers are slowly breaking their bones with the weight of their own success. They use crutches that have worked before instead of going through the ‘pain’ of learning new things.

It’s no wonder we learn slower and less effectively as we age. But don’t get me wrong… I like working with all the improvisers. I get tired of being around any one type of improviser or person for too long. Variety is good.

Death and Life was a theme in Bogota.

Ahhhhhh Bogota Colombia. My time has ended here but the memories give birth to inspiration and new ideas. The International festival featured individuals from Germany, Argentina, Colombia and Canada.

One of my fondest memories was the show on Friday night.

If you have never heard an audience truly  connected in varied states of emotional reaction then you haven’t really felt the power that improvisation has.  There were moans of sadness, screams of anger, oceans of laughter and other varied pockets of emotions for the show. It’s everything an improvisation group would hope for.

The audience left with big smiles and a warm glow. Many audience members stayed behind to meet the cast and hang out with each other at the front entrance of the theatre. Creating the environment where people don’t want to leave means they will likely return.

On stage an Improviser comes up with an idea.  IT’S A GREAT IDEA!  But… the story on stage changes and no longer fits with the story in the improvisers mind.  The greedy improviser holds on to his personal vision and the scene dies.  The smart improviser kills his idea to make room for the birth of the new story.

One of the nice elements in the show was the balanced fight for the integrity of the scene versus the playful nature of the improvisers. It’s exciting when there is danger that the whole train might go off the tracks and over the edge of mayhem but it is pulled back just in time.

The improvised play where a man battles death and finally embraces it after a long battle had the audience emotionally engaged on many levels. Equally engaging was the gibberish play in Japanese Gibberish of a man looking for the meaning of life and finding it in love only to lose it and find it again in death.

The audience was given the choice to see the ending of just ONE of the two plays above.  They wouldn’t alow that choice to exist.  They yelled until they saw both.

During one of the workshops, one of the students came to an understanding that Improvisation can be more than gags and cheap laughs. He asked how they could re-train their audience to see the worth of a complete meal of improvisation where they had become used to evening of just candy.

I suggested they shouldn’t be scared to kill their audience.

By working towards what would inspire themselves to grow, they might lose some audience members but would eventually gain a crowd that would come back more healthy week after week after week for something that fed them on many levels rather than something that became predictable.

The Theatresports match on Thursday was a great learning experience for the audience and cast. The show built slowly and in a perfect arc that shows should have. The audience went from passive theatre watchers, to people who yelled at judges and cheered for their favourite performers.

Seeing people who have never performed before bravely risk standing on stage,  giving birth to what will hopefull be long lives of stage improvisation was a pleasure.

In the note session after the show there was some comment from people feeling they didn’t get enough time on stage.  In the discussion that followed  I hope that there was a realisation that the show was for the audience. Where the performers can kill their ego and fear to enhance the audience experience, then the improvisers will have grown to a stronger state.

Everyone involved in Lagata’s international Impro festival felt a sense of loss at the end at the same time they felt gifted with the tools of new inspiration to create new and equally inspiring work.

Now it’s done. What comes next?

For me…  Peru.

If you remember, Feb 22, 2011, Christchurch was devastated by an earthquake that killed many and destroyed a large chunk of the city.

The Jester’s home at the Court Theatre (http://www.courtjesters.co.nz/) didn’t survive the quake.

Emma Cusdin, a member of the Jesters, had been living in Calgary and exploring the Loose Moose when she had the idea to put some spontaneous entertainment together to raise cash and bring the plight of her home back to the public’s attention.

We hear about the initial devastation and then we move on to the next sexy disaster, forgetting about those still in the messes of Earthquakes, famine, disease and any other disaster.

Improvisers are in a perfect position to help those in need.  We can mobilize quickly and adapt to almost any condition to put on a show that people will willingly come to.

It’s a common belief that performers are generally a self centered bunch, happy to get their time on stage and complain when their dressing room is missing a stocked bar.  We know this isn’t true (of everyone).  But it is a little surprising at how rarely we donate a show, a moment or a piece of our time and talent for a good cause.

Consider an idea being developed at the moment at the Loose Moose.  “Thursdays for a Cause”.  One day of the month would be given to a cause to aid in benefitting the community at large. In reality it takes little effort on the theatre’s side because the benefitting organization will take up the administration and the performers just need to drop in for a couple of hours and entertain.

There is a movement growing that looks at the win/win mentality of idealistic partnerships in the corporate world.  Altruism is not all that it appears to be.  When we give to others, the obvious outcome is a financial boost to a needy group and a focus of attention on their cause.

The unseen benefits include a broadening of the theatre’s audience base. (Consider the massive mailing list that the Cancer foundation or Alzheimer’s society advertises their programs to.)

There’s also the media possibilities as your company benefits from the ‘altruistic’ connection you are creating. There are other hidden benefits that make this more than a “freebie” but in fact turn it into a beneficial marketing venture.

And in the end, the idea of building a strong relationship with the community will only benefit you in the long run.

“Improv Meets Autism”  was a successful  fund-and-awareness raising Improvisational event put together by two German improvisers Christiane and Deniz Döhler whose son Luka has autism.  http://www.artistsmeetautism.org/English/index.html

Reading about the SonRise Program which had great success with autistic children, Christiane and Deniz noticed that the program had similar qualities as improvisation; support, seeing offers and adding to them.

“After having overcome an initial shyness, I started by telling one workshop participant about the parallels between the pro-gram and improv and she immediately volunteered to come and play with our child. Two months later, it was ten improv players and we always explained the program in improv lingo. We kept looking for appropriate improv games and techniques that could help us reach our goal. And Luka’s development skyrocketed.

Search the internet and you will find numerous improvisation groups tackling issues and concerns to make the world a brighter place for everyone. Consider reaching out and offering your skills to a cause.  You might discover that your own benefit is greater than the expense.

There’s a final note about the Christchurch fundraiser.  Unexpectantly,  Emma’s father passed away a few days ago and Emma was on the first flight home.  She tossed in the towel for the benefit show.  There was too much to do and she understandably wanted to be near her family.

Before her plane set down in her home of Christchurch, a group of improvisers in Canada had already taken up her cause.  The show will go on for Christchurch.  Take care Emma.

It was 7:30 in the morning and I had to cross the city to teach a group at an elementary school.  I ran to the bus, knowing that it would be packed and I would be standing for the duration of my trip.  It would only be twenty minutes travel time but still, there’s a status symbol to have a seat while others stand.

In the past, I’ve been the only one standing on a rush hour bus and I’ve seen the condescending eyes of those blessed with their uncomfortable  plastic seats.  How they look at you all proud of their little possessions.  (All kidding aside, you know what I realllly hate?  I hate insensitive people who take up two seats when the bus or train is full.  It’s usually them and their bag sitting beside each other, an inconsiderate couple on their little journey together.  How can you do that?  Or am I being insensitive to the needs of book bags and backpacks?… but I digress)

SO, I got on the bus and guess what?  Yes you are right – A SEAT FOR ME.  “Congratulations Shawn – Thank you very much”.   Oddly, others were standing and not jumping on this little treasure.  So be it.

In the seat next to mine was a sleeping young man with his head covered by his ‘hip-hop hoodie’.  His arms were crossed and legs spread out into the aisle so that people moved around to avoid bumping him.   Ahhh Not me.

I mean really, his feet are right there, stretched into the aisle with a sense of ownership on this common walking space.    That didn’t seem right, fair or considerate… So I bumped into those dirty running shoes as I got to the seat.  His feet moved slightly and then readjusted to the same point in the middle of the aisle.

Good enough, I made my point.

Then I realised why others might not be sitting in the seat beside him.  As I took MY seat and prepared a glance around to connect with fellow travellers, I recognized that the kid’s left knee was firmly pushing into my space.  And not only pushing into my space but jutting into my leg.   His elbows were obviously over the line of what would be allowed by any organisation that might regulate that sort of thing…. which there isn’t… except in my mind.

No one would be comfortable sitting beside the little seat hog.  So I decided to take a stand for all those who have suffered under wide knee expansion on busses and trains and movie theatres everywhere.  (Hey, did you know that on the windows on trains in Japan they have stickers of a stick man image – a man sitting on a seat with his legs spread wide apart, taking up all the space with a red line through it? “Men with legs spread apart, close it up!”  http://artpad.art.com/?kjis1a5xofs is a funny example of what I’m talking about    )

So I pushed back against his leg with some slight resistance just to the point where his seat and mine joined.  I didn’t want more seat than I deserved -  just what I paid for.

WOMP! His knee pushed back.

What the…   Really??? And so I pushed back again.  And again his leg came back at mine more forcefully.  Amazing!! For the next five minutes a little status game of physical domination ensued until finally, this little beast sat up, took hid hood off, turned to me and said “You are a rude man.”

With his hood down, I realised that my adversary was a teen about 15 years old with Downs Syndrome.  His ability to perceive the problem was about the level of  a 5 or 6 year old.

Yeah.

Well I showed him!

My problem was that I showed no empathy outside of the reality that I had become accustomed to on early morning busses in my area.  My assumption that everyone around me was equal in thought, comprehension and consideration mislead me.  The reality that I was living in was not the  reality of the moment but the reality of my past.

I got off the bus to the stares of the other passengers.   It made me think of the story about Douglas Adams and the cookies.  If you don’t know Douglas Adams, he’s the late great writer responsible for the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy and other fun books.   This is what happened to him:

THE COOKIE STORY BY DOUGLAS ADAMS

This actually did happen to a real person, and the real person was me. I had gone to catch a train. This was April 1976, in Cambridge, U.K. I was a bit early for the train. I’d gotten the time of the train wrong.

I went to get myself a newspaper to do the crossword, and a cup of coffee and a packet of cookies. I went and sat at a table.

I want you to picture the scene. It’s very important that you get this very clear in your mind.

Here’s the table, newspaper, cup of coffee, packet of cookies. There’s a guy sitting opposite me, perfectly ordinary-looking guy wearing a business suit, carrying a briefcase.

It didn’t look like he was going to do anything weird. What he did was this: he suddenly leaned across, picked up the packet of cookies, tore it open, took one out, and ate it.

Now this, I have to say, is the sort of thing the British are very bad at dealing with. There’s nothing in our background, upbringing, or education that teaches you how to deal with someone who in broad daylight has just stolen your cookies.

You know what would happen if this had been South Central Los Angeles. There would have very quickly been gunfire, helicopters coming in, CNN, you know. . . But in the end, I did what any red-blooded Englishman would do: I ignored it. And I stared at the newspaper, took a sip of coffee, tried to do a clue in the newspaper, couldn’t do anything, and thought, what am I going to do?

In the end I thought, nothing for it, I’ll just have to go for it, and I tried very hard not to notice the fact that the packet was already mysteriously opened. I took out a cookie for myself. I thought, that settled him. But it hadn’t because a moment or two later he did it again. He took another cookie.

Having not mentioned it the first time, it was somehow even harder to raise the subject the second time around. “Excuse me, I couldn’t help but notice . . .” I mean, it doesn’t really work.

We went through the whole packet like this. When I say the whole packet, I mean there were only about eight cookies, but it felt like a lifetime. He took one, I took one, he took one, I took one. Finally, when we got to the end, he stood up and walked away.

Well, we exchanged meaningful looks, then he walked away, and I breathed a sigh of relief and sat back. A moment or two later the train was coming in, so I tossed back the rest of my coffee, stood up, picked up the newspaper, and underneath the newspaper were my cookies.

The thing I like particularly about this story is the sensation that somewhere in England there has been wandering around for the last quarter-century a perfectly ordinary guy who’s had the same exact story, only he doesn’t have the punch line.

(Excerpted from “The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time” by Douglas Adams)

This entry is getting long… You get the point.   We get blinded by what we “KNOW”.

When knowledge gets in the way of knowing what’s REALLY going on we mess it up for those who are willing to be present  and open to the world.  See reality as it exists and not just as it exists for you.

Now back to work, or cheese making or whatever it is you were doing.

Have a good day,

Shawn

Hey… So, I know I’m slow with these things but I finally got the other site up.

Which site?

Oh, you didn’t know?

Know what?

Know that there’s another site of mine that got hacked and I had to take down.  And it was down a long time.

Like two years?

Yeah something like that.  And now it’s back and I will be posting Improvisation information there.

Like what kind of Improvisation?

I don’t know.  Stuff.

That’s pretty vague.  Doesn’t make me want to go see it.

Ohhhh man… OK like stuff about Improvisation… Improvisation stuff.

Fascinating.

For example  I just put up a little comment about a show I did in Baden.

You mean Baden Baden…

Noooo… As a matter of fact I don’t mean Baden Baden.  That’s Germany not Switzerland.  It’s just one Baden.

Totaly fascinating.

Just go read it.  And there will be stuff about various groups I do workshops with andd shows with and hang out with.

If you get around to it… Hasn’t it been two years to get the site back up and running?

Yeah Yeah… Lazy me.  Here’s the website   www.improworldtour.com/
—

To be clear, this flight was initially delayed over an hour because Frankfurt wouldn't let them fly in from London (something about an unclean runway) and now is up to an additional hour because "something" seems to be broken.

This has been an interesting observation in how the immediate world around copes with change, adaptation and torment.

Suprisingly, those that seem best able to cope with it are the oldest ones around me.  There have been two incidents of near throttling of service staff and both have come from individuals under the age of 30.

I'm wondering from the look on the faces of many however if there isn't a little anger supression going on in the 30 – 50 year range.

Ohhh look, they are bringing us treats to calm us down.  And smart on them, there's chocolate in one of the treats.  That will affect our emotion (it's clinically proven… they've given out chocolate at the closing time of Bars in London and managed to cut down post partying vandalism by 30%).  Do they know that's what theyre doing?  I don't think so.

I think they are just trying to give us stuff to make us less angry.  Hard to keep a frown when you accept a gift, even a small one. 

I say that they're not aware of this because their first offering was fizzy drinks… caffeine and sugar which no doubt gave people a little buzz to fight with.  (I was sleeping when the pop came by as were many but the little sip of coke that I eventually grabbed has me up and buzzing and ready to riot with everyone else).

SO… the captain came back, noting that he was 2 minutes over his requested 15 minutes and said that they have to switch over a couple computers and if it doesn't fix the message, then "it will be a long delay"… 

Really?  from 5 1/2 days up to 5 1/4 days.  Actually what he hinted at near the end of his message was that rescheduling flights for "TOMMORROW" will become the next issue…

So the children are running around. They are fine.  The old people are falling asleep or reading.  And most of the young people are laughing or angrily rubbing their heads and packing their carry on so they can be the first ones off.

Now I'm Just writing to write.  Can't remember or care what my purpose is.

When you can't do anything about the world that is doing things to you then you are in a world of torment. 

Traffic
Political insanity
Death
Ageing

But there's something nice in a situation like this when you accept it and look (sometimes very hard) for the good side.

I was actually pretty happy to have the oppurtunity to spend a relaxed Christmas in Germany and not around the regular North American commercialism. 

There's that link with Buddhism and Impro again.  Non-attachment.  Don't hold onto the desire.  Let go of the story in your mind.  See what the story is NOW.

The story is that NOW I am being given this chance to write a little note when otherwise I would have been too"busy" moving from one activity to another.

So… it's OK… for now.  But I'm ready to jump into the rebellion if it seems like it might be a fun role to play.

Hmmm that reminds me of a phrase from the writing of Carlos Castaneda books that I read as a teenager –   "Controlled Folly".  Some Buddhists might say that there's no reason to be upset because it does nothing to move you forward but, the 'enlightened hero' of the book said that sometime we choose the folly for our own entertainment. 

We are creatures of emotions.  Capable of a wide range SOOO why not feel them AND why not understand that we CAN control them when we want.  It's not an issue with being angry or sad,it's an issue with the Anger or the Saddness or any emotion BEING us. We are lost to it if we let it become us.

You know you can turn the movie that you watch on or off.  You can choose to watch the comedy or the tragedy.  You know that the outcome will occur and you can enjoy the ride that it gives you.

Can we learn the lesson of our desire to experience life vicariously in movies and apply it to life.  Can we actually take the same appreciation of life we get from watching a tragedy and apply that feeling to the true tragedies we have in life.  bahhh… hard.

Anyway… Mr Pilot says he hasn't forgotten us.  Says wait a minute and he will have the full story…?  Whatever that means.

Who has the full story?

Ohhhh now he explains that the de-icing fluid has probably got into the wing mechanisims and they have to bring in the ENGINEERS… and we are given a choice (which is good tactic to give us some control)…

Choice one – get off the plane, they will dig out our luggage then deal with German passport control.
Choice two… get this… Stay on board with our friendly pilot while they try to fix this… which… might take…. up to….. THREE HOURS.

And he says he is willing to stay for three hours with us (thank you my friend) but at that point they will not be legally aloud to fly.

Ohhhhh… the lid is off and like dominoes people set each other off.  Many people move to the door.  One guy holding a baby asks in a tense tone "Why they couldn't they have made this announcement two hours ago…"

Now this looks at unfulfilled promises.  On stage if you set up an expectation and don't fulfill it, the audience is very unhappy.

This audience is very unhappy.

And interestingly enough, where people smile or make a joke, others follow.  Where people raise voices and furl eyebrows so too do those around them.  It's easy to act like a mob.

The one girl rushing to the door angrily says, "This is how I spend my christmas holidays – IN AN AIRPORT".  Expectations and desires unfulfilled creating torment and drama.  (I'm not judging.  I feel bad for her.  I'm just observing the movie).

ohhhhhhhhhh Now the boarder police won't let the passengers off until they can ensure that they go through a particular gate (or if they were poodles, jump through the right hoop!)

Now the announcements are coming from a different voice.. and the voice will only speak German.  That's another way of isolating someone: limit communication. 

When the problem heats up, there's the inevitable group connection – WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER – AGAINST THE SAME FOE!!! and communication occurs between the allies but the 'foes' grow more distant with weakening communication and misunderstanding.. 

THe initial contact between strangers is usually quite nice.  Smiles on faces and comisseration in the shared torment  but then it seems that whoever has stronger status most strongly affects the emotion of that particular group.

Ohhhh the german police still haven't arrived (Mr. Pilot has come back.  It seems he has defeated the evil German speaking villain who took over his microphone- AND I am guessing was the cause of the problem with the airplane in the first place.)

OK… a different voice.  The Steward with a weak, non-authoritive voice (trying to sound like the authority – he so looks up to Mr Pilot) says the police are ready.  Those who want to get off  the plane can go…

The exodus begins.  I so hope the parents of the child want to go.

Now…

it is the last of the survivors.  AND the last scavengers. Possibly 100 people left on the plane  where there were closer to 300.  Occasionally passengers sneak back to their seats with big smiles on their faces after scavenging the galley and bringing back crackers or a pudding (the 60 year old woman who stole 6 fruit deserts and gave them to the people around her was quite a hero.)

Everyone who comes back holding a couple cans of pop or biscuits holds them in a way that weakly hides them but you can tell who the theives are because each one has a unique and big smile.

Like children who have gotten away with something they've done wrong they seem a little boastful and also there's something in the face that might say to a parent who could catch them – "don't punish me, I am a happy sweet creature".

I went the honest route (as most people did) and ASKED for some cola (thought the caffeine would help my headache) but there was none left.  I noticed a gingerale and she gave it to me.  The girl behind asked for one as well but I got the last one so, I gave it to the girl and took a different drink.  Not to tout my own good deed but that miniscule little 'good' had extra power and made nicer feeling around because of the contrast of the situation we were in.  Contrasts are interesting in situations of strain or struggle.  Crumbs are feasts to those who haven't eaten in a week.

An experiment that I wanted to do was to ask the poor stewardess how she was doing.  As you can imagine all the problems are her fault in the eyes of those who are being tortured by circumstance.

The interesting response was "what?"

I knew I was loud enough.  I knew that she was an english speaker… and an idea that came to mind was that she had a hard time hearing what was not in the circle of expecations. 

The questions she'd been experienceing were:  What is going on? When are we going?  Why is life treating me so poorly?  So, future questions should have a similar tone, right?   When the comment is concern for  her emotional state, it's too far out of the circle for immediate comprehension.

Like a story.  We move too far out of the circle of what is possible and something in the mind of the audience "cannot hear".

So now… Beer and wine is starting to flow.

The remaining people are a different breed.  They are throwing chocolates at a makeshift basketball hoop, drinking beer and wine, talking to people they haven't met before and generally enjoying themselves.

And guess what?

Mr Pilot says they have fixed the problem.  As you can guess… the extreme strain is lifted, the promise and hope which had been fading was realised against all odds… and the emotions of the survivors erupts into cheers…

But then – not another problem.  Not yet anyway, but those who were let off, start streaming back onto the plane as the pilot speaks.  Their faces are not like everyone elses faces who stayed.  Their faces are frustrated and annoyed with the insanity and the flying chocolate.

It's a funny story to watch.

Chaos here…

The others who have come back on are scaveging our food. And now they are happy to be part of the mess.  But really do they deserve what we fought for…

Staff just went through everyone's online baggage now to make sure we don't have anything dangerous left on board.

I'm hungry.  I didn't get one of the pirated sandwhiches or solid foods.

The staff are smiling in the corner and hugging each other a little.  I think they are happy they made it through their own story.

Hmmm maybe I have some chocolate in my coat.

Mmm chocolate.

Another wave of passengers returns. They are in a worse mood than the first.  It's all about community and they were most out of the community, fighting alone, stuck in their own worlds.

And they cause mose problems when they are back fighting for their original seats… (as if ANYONE is sitting in their own seat anymore.  OK I am…  I haven't left my seat.  Welll once.  Twice.  Still, it's my seat! STAY AWAY!!!)

So… it looks like I have deffinitely missed my connecting flight to Calgary.  Poor stewardess seems so hurt by that information.  I hate to cause her such pain.  She tells me there will be hotels for us and staff waiting to help when we arrive.  She pats my back as I walk away.  She's Spanish.  Spanish people are like that.

Well…. the battery is low and the story goes on.  I hate to close the computer but I want to save my power for what comes next!

7 hours late and we are finally on the aerial road. One final delay as they picked through our bags to get rid of the the 12 pieces that belonged to the 14 people who didn't rejoin us.  My thought is they probably got a few extra pieces just for good measure to torture one or two more people when we get to London without their christmas presents and underwear.

  Lidia, the head of the cabin crew seems like family and says we will all remember this christmas and regardless of how it's worked out, merry christmas she wishes us all.  Also, she says we are flying as fast as we can.  (we are shaving seconds off of our hours of lateness!)

When the plane started moving there were cheers.  When the crew showed us how to attach our seatbelts there were cheers and yells to "put on the vest".  When the accompanying video broke down there was a sad moan from the audience.  I've never seen anyone pay so much attention to the flight safety talk.  And there were smiles from the crew as they displayed the exits, confirmed how to use the air masks and life vests.

And then more cheers as we were up in the air.  There were some  jokes about the strange sounds and less cheers and finally we smoothed out the flying.

I'm suprised that they are serving us something to drink… I thought we drank it all.  But it's all free.  Lots of booze beer and champagne.

So where was I… Yes, I was in a plane for 7 hours in Frankfurt.  Got to London and the hour long line up at passport control was not so bad, knowing that a nice warm meal and Bed were waiting for me compliments of British Airways.

So after the Passport control… Ahhh yes, the bus.  Before the passport control was a fairly long line which I was lucky enough to be near the front of and people helping those who missed their flights.  BUT… these were no ordinary people… OH noooo…  These were BRITISH PEOPLE with sympathetic tones in proper polite voices that would make the kindest grandparents seem vulgar and mean spirited.

I almost wanted to applogize to short grey haired British Airways Service Attendant, Victor for taking up any more of his time than was necessary.  And so many choices to make.

Do you want to leave at 16:10  or 15:00 tomorrow?  British Airways or Air Canada? 

Whatever the earlier flight is.  That's Air Canada? Well then I will do that – (do I notice a dimming of the lights in Victors eyes).

Would you like a complimentary overnight package of necessities?  Do you want to pick up your luggage to take to the airport or shall we shuffle it along to the next flight? 

Hmm a thought strikes me.  If you send my luggage over to Air Canada is there a bigger chance that the luggage will get lost?

It's funny how he doesn't answer but just swallows.  So I ask, Do you think it would be better to stick with British (ohhh there's that spark in the eyes).  Of course, I agree as much to save me the stress of potentially lost luggage as well as to bring some light back into the eyes of my friend Victor. 

Victor smiles and changes all the plans and adds, "I'll move you up to the front section – world traveller" 

At first I think it's a term of endearment but then understand that's what they call the first 10 rows.  "WORLD TRAVELLER".

So Victor and I part company and my 7 hours in an airplane and a 2nd missed flight home…

And the piste d' resistance and what I have been waiting for all these 3 months of travel???  Extra leg room, fancy headphones, priority seating and the slightly disdainful glances but also partially jealous looks from other passengers wondering what I did to deserve such a posh spot on the plane.  I heard though that the safest spot is just over the wing.  Ahhhh damn safety, I have LEG ROOM!

It's interesting to see this happen.  And, it happens a lot.

Here's one of the stories:

We were doing a workshop on "True Stories" – Improvisation based in real life stories.  We had 24 hours to create a new format (not my favourite way of working).  The format we worked on used directors to move their stories forward.  One difficulty was to get the group to understand that in many 'directed' formats – Gorilla, Micetro, Super Scene/ Director's Cut, etc etc – that the danger is the improvisers stop taking risks.  They don't take initiative to do things in scenes because they feel too reliant on the Director to move them forward.

 I said that they should take lots of risks.  They should act like  IMPRO GODS where each one of them could do or make anything happen whenever they want.  IF they made a 'mistake', they could trust that the other improvisers would pull them back.

So, I gave them an example.

I suggested that during the opening, if the people opening the show forgot something or were getting the information wrong, then people from backstage could rush out and playfully restart the show and try to do it better.  It's an improvised show so WHY not?  Play with ideas and make them better and support the show.

The problem happened when the show started and it was going fine but from backstage there came an improviser who took over from the people introducing the show.  There was no problem with the first introduction.  They used this "tool" I suggested and it had a negative impact on the show.

When you hear something, DON'T JUST LISTEN TO IT… THINK about it.  It's not a rule you are hearing.  It's a tool.  The tools you have are not to be used because they look nice.  They are to be used when they are REALLY NEEDED.

A sledgehammer is a useful tool.  You can use it for many things – knock a wall down, crush bricks, etc.  You don't use a sledgehammer to open a jar of pickles. The tool is not wrong.  The use is.

A funny moment happened in the workshop.  One person said something like "I went to a workshop with Keith Johnstone once and he said 'Don't  gossip on stage'." 

I explained that Keith has also said that SOME gossip can be useful in creating platforms.  I told the class, "Don't always Listen to Keith".  I immediatly regretted it because of the jokes that followed – "Shawn says Don't listen to Keith".  It was all in fun… and I think that people SHOULDN'T just LISTEN to people.  You neead to HEAR what is being said.  You need to THINK about what you are doing and why you are doing it.

EVEN THIS…

If you spend all your time thinking and you improvise from your head, you won't be a good improviser.  Tools have their time and their place.  One answer can be correct at one moment and it can be a curse the next. 

Think about it at the right time.  Use it at the right time. Forget about it at the right time. 

When is the right time?  Do it.  Figure it out.  If it succeeds, it was the right time.  If it has a negative impact in the work, it was the wrong time. 

Immediatly as the girl was interrupting the people in the show we did, she said she learned that she was using the right tool at the wrong time.

Live and learn. 

(But do Learn.)

Shawn Kinley, will facilitate 2 impro workshops in Rome.

Early in the 1980's, already performing mime, mask work and physical theatre in various countries, Shawn stumbled into the world famous Loose Moose Theatre in Canada, becoming one of the most appreciated and inspiring performers and teachers at the Moose.

The 2 workshops will focus on improvisation techniques. More details will follow.
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Workshop 1
Class one will look at getting into a physical state for improvisers. We will cover such elements as Gibberish, Contact Improvisation, Stage fight, Mime and Cartoon Mime. We will look at techniques that trick the body into becoming active when there is a tendency to stop and get stuck in talk. We will use the body to inspire the mind into better ideas and give the audience greater variety and enthusiasm for our work.

Dates: December 10th-12th 2010
Where: Rome

Workshop 2
Class two will approach the mind of the improviser. We will look at such things as inspiration through stress and removing of stress, breaking the rules to make the scenes better, exercises on how to think about our partner and make stronger connections and inspired reactions. There are specific ways our brain gets in the way of our doing this work. Improvisation should be easy. We will work on clearing the path our mind has cluttered with fear, pre-conceived ideas and ‘intellectual-isms’. We will be doing exercises that make you feel the fun and not think about it.

Dates: December 17th-19th 2010
Where: Rome

Per info e prenotazioni tonisan@gmail.com

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But WHY? you might ask (and probably didn’t ask,) was the site down?     Well my fine reader of banal information, my site was absent because hackers who believed that they can go around using everyone elses work to somehow earn themselves a few dollars by re-directing other people to their porn and replica watch sites in Russia hacked into my site which caused viruses to infect my audience’s computers.

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I wonder where the world is headed?

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No,  it’s not just my little site I’m worried about.  It’s all the little things where we look out for ourselves, look out for our interests, look out from our eyes and forget that there are other ways to see things.

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Culturally it’s interesting to wander from country to country and see those that take, take, take, with little consideration for the presence of others compared to the cultures who give, give, give and share the world compassionately.

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I’d feel bad to talk about the cultures that seem more TAKE oriented because I know that it’s dangerous to fling around stereotypes BUT… I can tell you that countries with MORE (wealth, potential, etc) aren’t necessarily the giving countries and those who consistently share are not always the people who have a lot to give.

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Recently in South America, I was given more than could be expected from people that did not always have a lot themselves.  In Thailand when there’s only rice in the house, it will likely be shared with a hungry guest.

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So, it’s not about the monetary wealth we’ve accumulated.  There are people who have learned that it’s better to share and build the community than to “take” and build yourself at the expense of your neighbor.

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I’m lucky to live in Canada.  It’s not just ‘birthright pride’.  There’s something else that makes me stay here (besides the laws of most countries that say I cannot move to their territory because I have no marketable skill!).

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When I’m on a bus in Calgary and the bus comes to stop to pick up and drop off people, what would you expect to hear?  Engine sounds?  Breaking sounds?  What about gratitude sounds?   Yep, every few stops from the back of the bus as the passenger leaves he/she yells out “THANK YOU!”.

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Why?  The bus driver is just doing his job.

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Why not?!  It’s nice.  It’s just a nice thing to do.  Friends from other countries are amazed.  I only became aware of the fact that it was even happening about a year ago when a friend visiting from Germany pointed it out and asked, WHY? And the answer:  because it just is the thing to do. (not “right” or “good”…) It wasn’t just nice.  It was the standard.

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I don’t mind being considered a “Nice” country, a country that comes in second place in almost every area except Hockey.  Nope… I like that (for the most part) we are liked because we are “nice”.  And I like that some of the “nice” things are not done because we want to be liked but because it’s simply the standard.

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So, be nice and set a higher standard because as we crowd this planet more each day, we are going to have to learn to curb our anger, to share crowded spaces and bowls of rice with the other people, animals and plants of the planet.

Be nice… don’t hack my site.

OTHER PAGES:

• WHO is Shawn
• PERFORMANCE History, information, etc
• WORKSHOP Topics, information for schools, theatres, businesses, and others.
• PRESS & PROMO stuff written about  Shawn and pictures from the Press
• FRIENDS & OTHER FUN with links, loose bits and lost socks
• SCHEDULE for… my uh… schedule
• CONTACT which will allow you to compliment, complain and cwestion… question

And the BLOG below this entry will be filled with STUFF.   Me, Me, Me… This all seems a little  self centered or what?

Shawn Enjoy