Applied improvisation

This term is used as a term to describe applying improvisational methods in various fields like consulting and corporate training, facilitating (workshops, team trainings, meetings, conferences…), teaching, coaching, researching, generating or evolving ideas and designs, theatrical training and playing, medical and therapeutic settings or in social work.

Shamans are part of every culture, starting from the origin of humanity in the Stone Age. They used stories, initiated and facilitated various rituals consisting of storytelling, dances and embodiment of past or future events and challenges. They applied basic principles of improvisation, to help people, to collaborate, to understand what is happening around them and to cope with daily life.

The Sanskrit-Theater originated 1.000 BC is a very early form of theatre. The vidusaka was part of the cast and the plot and at the same time stepped out, made comments, that mostly were improvised. He can also be seen as the first appearance of a clown.

Starting about 600 BC Rhapodes travelled around Greece. He – only men – combined in an improvised way the epics of e. g. of Homer, myths, tales, jokes, songs and adapted this mixture spontaneously to local expectations and situations. In many aspects he built upon the traditions of the shamans and the trickster.

In the fifth century BC originated in Greece an intense examination of improvisation applied in rhetoric. Schools were established, to learn how to improvise a speech which had a t relevance as instrument of democracy and civic education.

The fourth century BC in Greece is an important milestone for the history of theatre: The roots of drama and comedy were established, also in the phylax play, a burlesque dramatic, played on wooden stages: A lot of the content was improvised. Improvisation also was applied in the Atellan Farces in ancient Rome.

Always a combination of stocked and improvised moves, dances and artistic movements coined performances of Pantomimes – in ancient Rome it was also one of the origins of improvised dancing. Their performances were influenced through traditions of the Etruscans. They also performend on public spaces, traveling around the country.

...
Wikipedia