Sprezzatura #28 - Dissolving One's Sense Of Self
Hi friends,
I’ve had to put a pause on the newsletter for personal reasons but I’m back and ready to serve this monthly improv dish.
I hope summer (or winter) was kind to you.
A VARIETY OF THINGS
[BLOG POST] Most Of Us Can’t Be Good At Improv Forever
Rachel Van Nes talks about making peace with skill decay (aka: the fact that when we stop practising a skill, we slowly get worse at it).
[TV] Mr. Inbetween
Where do I start my praise of this show? It finds an uncanny balance between human, humour, and horror (not the supernatural kind) while keeping an episode runtime of 25-30 minutes.
The scripts are fresh-out-of-the-pack-razor sharp. The performances are stellar and it’s edited to millimeter-perfection. Written by and starring Scott Ryan, this series has made it into my all-time top ten.
[VIDEO] Epic Warz
One of the greatest channels to ever exist (YT, IG, Tok).
Want to know if 10,000 T-Rex can defeat 2 million chickens? Get the DEFINITIVE answer through these 100% historically accurate simulations.
What about 1M Barack Obamas vs 1M ostriches? Or 100 Super Archers vs 100,000 trolls?? The answers to these and more await!
[ARTICLE] The Last Quiet Thing
“Nothing you own is finished. Everything exists in a state of permanent incompletion, permanently needing. Your phone needs updates, needs charging, needs storage cleared, needs passwords rotated. Your apps need permissions reviewed, terms accepted, preferences re-configured after every update. Your subscriptions need evaluating, need renewing, need canceling, need justifying to yourself every month when the charge appears. The purchase isn't the end of anything. It's the first day of a relationship you didn't agree to, with no clean way out.”
IMPROV TIP
10 Factors For Being In A State Of Flow (adapted from the Wikipedia article)
Clear goals where expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one's skill set and abilities.
A high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention. A person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it.
Loss of self-consciousness, there is no self-judgment as the ego is silenced.
One's subjective experience of how time passes is altered or even absent.
Direct and immediate feedback, successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behaviour can be adjusted as needed.
Balance between ability level and challenge, the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult and feels right at the limit.
A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is a positive forward momentum to the act.
A lack of awareness of the body, to the extent that one can reach a point of great hunger or fatigue without realizing it.
Absorption into the activity, action and awareness merging as every thought or idea is brought to life without hesitation.
GOAL: Improv should flow.
EVENTS & THINGS
[SHOW] Movie Night, Sat Sep 19 @ 6pm
This is my favourite show to be in plus my favourite person to play with. Katie and I improvise a 60 min movie from a brief synopsis. We haven’t done it in Montreal in years and I’d love to see some familiar faces there (5333 Blvd St Laurent).
Tickets are 10$ but I want to pack the opener on Sep 19 at 6pm, so you can get tix for 5$ with code PALS50 at checkout.
[WORKSHOP AND SHOW] Katy Schutte in Montreal!
I met Katy in London years ago (eep, 2018??) and she’s someone whose work I’ve long admired. She’s one of those people who are great on stage AND is a fantastic teacher AND also just a lovely person to be around. We did a duo show in the Oslo Improv Festival and it was such a joy to spend a week with her and get to know her better.
I’ve got a pretty high bar for teachers I’d recommend to people, and I cannot endorse Katy enough, for anyone at any level of experience. I’m super delighted she’s coming here to Montreal for a couple of workshops and a spooky show (Sat Oct 17, more about that next newsletter).
She’s bringing two workshops: one focused on object work and mime, plus a one-day musical improv intensive.
Never Walk Through A Mime Table Again on Tue Oct 13, 7-9pm @MAI
Truth in Song on Sun Oct 18, 10am to 5pm @JIM
You can register for both at improvcollege.ca.
As always, we have reserved some spots with reduced rates for people from equity-seeking communities in each workshop (first come, first served).
[SPECTACLE] J’aime l’amour, Sat Oct 24 @ 8:30pm
J’aime l’amour est de retour! Des histoires à la frontière entre le sérieux et l'humour.
On s’est bien reposer cet été et nous sommes prêt.es à se produire devant un public (5333 Blvd St Laurent).
Billets (10$/5$) dispo ici.
An Interesting Wikipedia Page: Mayo County Football Team - Curse
Break hearts and legs,
Vinny
