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A Little Improv Goes a Long Way

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Children are amazing and deserve to learn all the tools to help them not only be successful but open and thoughtful in their lives. Parenting obviously helps a ton as do schools. But, to keep your child's imagination alive and their sense of play, while preparing them for the real world as they grow older, there's no question improvisation provides a ton of direction and knowledge of self. One knows how to handle any social situation. Any interview. Any conflict...with improv. Keeping on one's toes and developing quick thinking skills, organically, no question, is a valuable tool in society.  With improv, messes are allowed. Shyness can be overcome. True freedom through art and comedy. For a moment in time, children can be anyone they want to be . They can base characters on their emotions, authority figures, friends and family. Getting in touch with one's inner-self and seeing the talents they have inside, is something adults often strive for and is made easier when st

The Importance of Improv For Children

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Throughout my performance/acting career, I've found nothing ever prepared me more than improvisation. I learned the magic of how to improvise my first year of high school. As a freshman, my drama class teacher, Sue Wurster, taught us how valuable a character can be. Knowing everything about that character, be it an impersonation or imagined, helps determine what the character would say or behave, off-script. To think quickly and come up with ideas on the fly is not only an asset to comedians and actors alike, it helps the everyday person deal with literally anything which comes their way. Improv, as without a net as it may seem (and is), is a lot like life. We never know how someone will react to a situation. To something you might say. And rarely do those who have improvisation in their toolbox, struggle to find the right words or actions.  Improv and the development of characters is something necessary for children in that it keeps their imagination alive while maintaining a sens