Anita and I will be heading to Oakland, California tomorrow, to join with other InterPlay leaders in a day of play, reunion, and celebration on Saturday. I enjoy playing with other people who like to play. I’m really looking forward to some (Inter)Play.
I consider improvisation to be a highest form of art. Having heard the mantra “just improv” from other artists too many times, I’ve been continually more and more committed to improvised music and dance and storytelling over the past decade.
Back in 1999, I became “certified” (if not certifiable) in InterPlay, an active, creative way to unlock the wisdom of the body. Under the mentorship of Phil Porter and Cynthia Winton-Henry, I moved from a clunky techno-geek to being a slightly less clunky techno-geek — which was a huge change. Above all, I learned that I really do have a body and that it really does inform me about almost everything about me. This was — and still is — a miracle. No matter how “spiritual” I may be (or believe myself to be), I will always be a body in this life. The other thing that I learned is that improvised art (dance, storytelling, singing, instrumental music) is an incredibly cathartic and artful experience. Both of these learning have stayed with me 100% over the years.
What I imagined I’d be telling you about in this post is my passion for improv. Now that I’m here typing this, I find that words are insufficient for what I want to get across. So let me try this scattershot approach:
- improv art informs my whole self (InterPlay is also about integration of body/mind/spirit)
- when I practice my improv artforms I am more grounded and vulnerable
- improvisation is an exformation (this is what InterPlay calls moving information out of the body) — I (and I would say all humans) need exformation to stay healthy and conscious
- improvising connects with now — how Zen can ya get?
So sing a little song, tell a little story, dance a little dance in the name of now. It’ll be good for your body, mind and soul.
Bless you. Bless me.