But since this isn’t my usual audience, I can make a confession here that I wouldn’t make there. I’m actually very shy. Few people believe me, even among my closest friends, but I identify as an introvert. I’m an introvert who can address an audience of 20,000 people every week, speak with spontaneous panache at a convention, and talk your ear off at a party. This is not a paradox. Shaking a stranger’s hand, I’m simultaneously relaxed and confident, and anxious enough to chew my own arm off to get away. The trick I’ve learned is simply faking it well; often well enough to forget that I’m faking it myself. And how did I learn to fake it?

Improv comedy.

I think everybody should learn to do improv. Especially the people who know with total certainty that they could never do improv. I had my formative experience with it in Georgia Tech’s theater group, DramaTech. We started with a few weekends’ worth of workshops, which became a performing troupe, the Let’s Try This Players — they’re still around 15 years later. Tech’s an engineering school; I’m not the only geeky introvert this troupe converted to a social mayfly.

The thing about improv is that it always looks much harder than it is. In truth, the hardest part of it is simply letting go of the belief that it should be hard. Once you learn to allow it to be easy, to let it flow, it’s easier to keep it going than to turn it off.

I learned two basic principles in improv that can be applied to any social situation anywhere. Together they’re enough of a social toolbox to defuse any social fear. They are spontaneity and acceptance.

Spontaneity simply means living in the moment. The surest way to freeze on stage in improv is to spend time planning your next line. You’re in a dynamic environment, the other people are constantly changing the context, and by the time you get to your clever line it simply isn’t relevant anymore. You can’t plan the scene, just as you can’t plan good conversations. Other people are too independent. The only thing you can do is open your mouth at the right time, and trust that whatever comes out will be the right thing. If you’re truly living in the moment, fully aware of your context, and confident enough, it will be. And when it is, that builds your confidence and awareness. It’s a self-reinforcing feedback loop once it gets started.

Acceptance was our most unbreakable rule in improv: never say no. “No” kills the scene. Failure to collaborate kills. If someone asks you to hold steady the invisible ladder they’re climbing and you say “No,” there’s nowhere to go from there. It’s not funny and there’s no plot that comes out of “No.” The correct answer is “Yes, and…” Accept and validate the point of view that the people around you are building — and then add to it with your own ideas. The same is true in any group dynamic. You have the power to change anything around you, but only if you accept the power of everyone else to do the same. This doesn’t mean having no boundaries; but if you’re doing improv (or life) and people are constantly pushing your limits and making you say “No,” you’re probably on the wrong stage.

These ideas are not unique to improv, and I know I’m not the first person to talk about socializing effectively with them. You can read the same stuff in How to Win Friends and Influence People. But improv is where it sunk in for me. Making it funny, having fun, is how I fully absorbed it. If you ever find yourself in my shoes, think about improv yourself. It’s worth a try. (And then can I please have
them back? I like those shoes.)
–
Have Fun,
Steve Eley (sfeley@gmail.com)
ESCAPE POD - The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine
http://www.escapepod.org

Post from: Fame or Famine

Ariell Jacobs as Gabriella Montez

Though the role was originated on TV by Vanessa Hudgens, the nerdy star of the broadway show has been aptly originated by Arielle Jacobs. Considering how much HSM has become a worldwide phenomenon, in some ways her job as part of the touring company is even harder, bringing the show to a wider audience than just those who are able to make it to Broadway.

Even better is the blog that she’s keeping of her time on tour. Ranging from the reaction of Canadian audiences to funny stories about her cast members, it’s a personal and very engaging look behind the scenes. You can even email her questions at GabriellaSpeaks@gmail.com

I’m looking forward to see how she answers some of the questions posed on the Mercury News blogs, and I would recommend her own as a regular read. Among other things, it will turn you on to music she likes, such as this one: Green to Gray, by Gavin Creel:

Post from: Fame or Famine

Those Who Can, Teach

One of the performers there is Arielle, a teacher at the Madison Multicultural Dance Center with Mona N’wal and others. Though very young, Arielle’s been dancing since she was fourteen, and that leads to quite a bit of experience as well as talent.

That evening she did a three-part set, starting with two traditional songs and then a blended hip-hop/bellydance routine of her own choreography. The ability of her body to isolate and move independently of attached parts was incredible, and though I found out later that most of the moves were “improvisography” she never seemed to miss a beat.

When I learned that she’d also competed in the local So You Think You Can Dance competition, I cornered her after the set for an interview. What I learned was that for an Emmy-award winning show, it’s a pretty down-to-earth process.

How did you hear about the competition?

Word of mouth, actually. Through the local dance community. And only the day before the auditions, actually. The prize was a trip for two to Vegas.

Who would you have taken to Vegas with you?

(small smile) Bill. Definitely Bill. (referring to a young man who’d also been at the dinner).

Tell me about the auditions.

They happened on Wednesday, and you got one minute. One minute, that’s all, which is kind of hard to do when you’re used to 15 minute sets. I decided to do a piece to “Belladi Ya Wad”, which is what we affectionately call our “wiggly songs.”

Were you nervous?

Not after the auditions. (she shook her head and made a face). There were…well, let’s just say I wasn’t worried after I saw the other dancers. They brought it down to twelve dancers, of various styles – lyrical jazz, ballet, hip hop…

What criteria were they judging on?

I’ve no idea. (she laughs) but they sure weren’t familiar with belly dance!

Actually, they did say, they were looking ofr musicality, technique, crowd reaction…

How was that?

Honestly, not that good. It was a mixed crowed of older and younger people, but it was your typical Wisconsin kind of crowd…

Who were the judges?

There were two, one the owner of a local dance studio, and the other one (she grins) was Hok, from the show!

How do you think you did?

(shrug) Well…I don’t think I won. But I did get a really good contact with the best hip hop dancer there, so it was worthwhile. And I’m not surprised – the general American populace doesn’t really get belly dancing. Next time, I’ll put in more hip hop.

So there’ll be a next time?

Definitely! But first I have to get ready for the Midwest Bellydance Challenge…

Thanks for your time!

Always a pleasure…

Arielle actually came in second in the competition – losing to the hip hop dancer she mentioned. So she didn’t get to go on to Vegas and get a chance to continue in the process to get in the show – not this year, anyway. She took it as a learning experience, though, and plans on competing more every chance she gets.

Image used by permission from Arielle

Post from: Fame or Famine

Well, fine, Mr. Sondheim, be that way. He did reveal that he thought that Company would be well suited to the silver screen, and my first reaction was to agree…until I thought about it some more. There were some people who were horrified at the casting of Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd because of what they saw as his lack of singing ability (I personally thought he did fine, but I’m not a purist). However, one of the things I like about Company is the jewelbox production – one stage, the performers playing the instruments, the stylized way the set becomes a party or a balcony or a bedroom just because the performers choose to see it that way.

If someone took Company and decided to shoot it in NYC, on location, with dance numbers in Central Park and such…I’d be appalled. Horrified. It’s not that kind of show – it needs to be character-driven. And I’m not sure that a movie-going audience will accept a character-driven story that doesn’t have obvious changes of scenery.

No, I want to see Into the Woods, dammit, and I want it with the kind of green-screen CG that made 300 and Sin City so much fun. More than that, though, I want to leave some of these musicals on the stage,and just let people like Baz Luhrman continue to develop the movie musical as just that: a movie musical, not an adaptation.

What’s your opinion? Any musicals you’d especially like to see on the screen? Or absolutely not?

image courtesy of Newscom

Post from: Fame or Famine

Marlee Matlin is gone from Dancing with the Stars, but that didn’t stop me from signing up for a ballroom dance lesson with Gray during a recent trip to Madison, WI. Before we started, we talked about my particular needs, since there are a variety of different kinds of accommodations for people who are deaf. We also talked about what we’d seen on Dancing with the Stars, like how Marlee faced the band so that she could see when the music started.

One thing that impressed me was Ms. Rita’s gung-ho attitude. She never had any hesitation in trying to tackle the dances or dance steps. It is surprising how many people without the disadvantage of not being able to hear the music will feel that they can’t possibly move. Ms. Rita would hear me say “Ok, we’re going to try a slightly more complicated move in the tango now…” and she would just nod and say “Ok, let’s do it!”

Gray adjusted the bass and positioned us under the speakers so that I could feel (and hear with assistive technology) the latin beat for our tangos and rhumbas. As a lip-reader, I like to think that I’m a good follower on the dance floor because I’m attuned to the slight adjustments in my partner’s facial expressions and body language as he moves me from the closed position into the open promenade. Still, I’d be so happy if we could just dance without worrying too much about adhering to the beat, but this is the hearing world so the beat is terribly important. Gray found ways to signal the rhythm by counting out loud or tapping me on the back. I’d catch sight of us in the studio’s floor-to-ceiling mirrors. Gray definitely knows how to make me look good. I felt like a princess when he twirled me.

See me blush! It’s not that I made her look like a princess, it’s that she has the regal beauty of a queen (ok, I think we’re done with the mutual admiration society now). One of the benefits of the assistive technology came when some of the other dance instructors needed to change the music for their own students. By simply moving Ms. Rita further away from the bass speaker, the differing beat was nullified and we were able to dance to the beat I tapped into her back with my right hand as we danced and moved.

The judges and the general public called Marlee an inspiration, and I’m not going to deny that she surely inspires deaf kids to follow their dreams of becoming actresses and dancers, but the truth is that deaf people already know how to dance. Hearing people need their music but deaf people rock on even without it.

In the two hours we spent we learned moves in foxtrot, tango, rumba, cha cha, swing, and the waltz. By the end her legs were tired, but her smile never wavered. I’m very grateful for the experience of teaching her, and she’d be welcome on any dance floor of mine any time.

Here’s Marlee Matlin’s samba with Fabian Sanchez on Dancing with the Stars

Post from: Fame or Famine

It’s the literal term “patron of the arts,” meaning not so much someone who just frequently visits them, but actually takes steps to actively support them. Instead of the whim of the public eye and politicians screaming “save the children!” it’s the whim of the benefactor with the deep pockets.

Selling out? Maybe, but I should be so lucky as to sell out to someone like Ted Shen, who left a prestigious investment career with a nest egg of $73.5 million. He’s used it to fund several artists such as Stephen Sondheim (in fact, his grant was what enabled the controversial Assassins to be re-staged in 2004). He’s also (through his foundation) donated $1 million over four years to the Signature Theatre, in Arlington, Virginia, to create three musicals, giving $100,000 stipends and health insurance to Ricky Ian Gordon, Michael John LaChiusa and Joseph Thalken.

These three talented composers have the freedom now to truly create – though I suppose it could be argued that poverty does provide something of a creative constraint – and Shen has the satisfaction of knowing that he helped keep the art form that he loves alive. Read the article to see more of what he does with it, and tell me if it makes you optimistic for the future of the arts, or sad that we can’t seem to support our own without turning them into publicity circuses like Dancing with the Stars…

Post from: Fame or Famine