Good improvisers seem telepathic; everything looks pre-arranged, This is because they accept all offers made—which is something no ‘normal’ person would do.
Interpretation
Good improvisers create seamless performances by fully embracing every idea presented to them.
In this quote, Keith Johnstone highlights the extraordinary ability of skilled improvisers to make their performances appear effortless and cohesive. This phenomenon occurs because they remain open to every idea and suggestion, allowing for spontaneous creativity and collaboration that surpasses typical interactions, which often involve resistance to new ideas.
In practice
A theater workshop on the importance of acceptance in improvisation.
At school any spontaneous act was likely to get me into trouble. I learned never to act on impulse, and that whatever came into my mind first should be rejected in favour of better ideas. I learned that my imagination Wasn’t ‘good’ enough. I learned that the first idea was unsatisfactory because it was (1) psychotic; (2) obscene; (3) unoriginal. The truth is that the best ideas are often psychotic, obscene and unoriginal.
Ordinary people waited till life disclosed to them its secrets, but to the few, to the elect, the mysteries of life were revealed before the veil was drawn away. Sometimes this was the effect of art, and chiefly of the art of literature, which dealt immediately with the passions and the intellect.
The artist beholds in nature more than she herself Nature is conscious of.
In certain ways writing is a form of prayer.
Writing for other artists helped me figure out that magic you have to capture to make everyone connect with a song.
Photographers deal in things which are continuously vanishing.
At one time, I was very angry. I even treated fashion like a kind of crusade: you were either with us or against us, that kind of feeling. Now I know we need ideas, not kicking down a door.
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