ANIMA Program Topics (Applied Improvisation)

The most skillful teachers and learners maintain a radical relationship to failure. And that means more than just seeing mistakes as iterations on the path to success (though that helps too). Learn the six types of so-called failure and gain practical tools to open up new levels of creative possibility.

 

      

Do you find yourself shrinking from valuable opportunities for connection or driving others away with unintentional intimidation?

Based on the work of legendary British acting coach Patsy Rodenburg, engage in safe and playful movement, breathing, and speaking exercises that show you how to inhabit “Second Circle,” a physical and attitudinal way of being that generates:

• resilient confidence
• creative power
• authentic connection

Guaranteed to shift how you move in the world!

  

Improv training games do more than make you laugh: they can create tension or release it, generate humor or insight, and provide challenge or comfort. With a skilled facilitator, they also build:

• focus
• self-awareness
• self-confidence
• empathy
• listening skills
• effective collaboration
• problem-solving skills

Experience these exercises for yourself so you can energize your own workplace or classroom.

We improvise every moment of our work and personal lives—no one’s got a set script—yet we rarely pay attention to how we improvise.

Go behind the curtain to take on the curious principles and practices—like “yes, and,” “Be average,” “make your partner look good,” and “let yourself be changed”—that theatre professionals use to cultivate the skills needed for top-quality, in-the-moment performance:

• spontaneous speech
• flexible status transactions
• careful attention
• deep listening
• multi-level memory
• powerful presence
• interpersonal care
• collaborative discovery
• emotional range
• effective storytelling

  

Life changes and, these days, it changes faster than ever. Many respond to that uncertainty by seeking further control, but that effort almost always leaves us more rigid and less responsive. Build your ambiguity tolerance muscles and replace the impulse to control with a more nimble intention to:

• commit
• contribute
• connect, and
• co-create

      

From the cover of Time magazine and the U.S. military to the halls of academe and the locker rooms of professional sports teams, mindfulness has become a media darling du jour.

Learn why and how mindfulness offers more than a passing fad, delivering measurable changes for leaders, teachers, and learners:

• focused attention
• effective recall
• executive function
• empathic connection
• stress reduction
• sense of calm
• sturdy resilience
• well-being

  

Leaders, teachers, and coaches are discovering the paradoxical truths that slowing down can improve efficiency and non-striving can lead to greater accomplishment. They’re also realizing how the many forms of contemplative practice offer access to deeper insights and breakthrough innovations.

Learn the relevance and rigor behind this growing movement—and bring home experiential examples for your workplace or classroom.

  

Shift how you think about teaching and learning with a simple ‘dolphin training’ exercise to illustrate the central principle of positive reinforcement—reward movement toward the behavior you want and ignore the rest.

Teachers will leave with a keener understanding for the crucial importance of clear instruction, keen attention, and artful feedback. Learners begin to understand the importance of experimentation and engagement. Both groups learn to stay connected with each other.