Get your spontaneity on with classes at Alameda’s new Improv Central

Comedians like the late Robin Williams have relied on their finely honed improvisational skills to take audiences on a laughter journey at comedy clubs for decades What plenty of don t realize though is that these very same techniques can be put to use in everyday peoples business and personal lives That s where Alameda s new improv skills training facility Improv Central comes in The first of its kind in the country Improv Central s goal is to activate the inner improviser in everybody like the improviser we are every day in our real lives says Improv Central founder Claire Slattery Or as stated on their website Improv Central is a place for everyday people to joyfully handle their unscripted lives together An Island native and Alameda High School graduate Slattery studied drama and communication at Stanford University before diving into the acting life performing in the Bay Area with the California Shakespeare and American Conservatory Theater companies Later she held leadership positions with comedy and training organizations Killing My Lobster and Speechless Inc This shift led her to switch gears from performing to coaching and eventually contracting with Google and the Nature Conservancy to teach their employees how to give more effective and entertaining presentations on-stage in meetings and online using improvisational tools and techniques Slattery says one of the keys to growing one s improv chops is to let go of perfectionism and the over-preparation that comes with it I m hoping to undo particular of that fear-based over-preparing that we do in our life she says For example you re throwing your kids birthday party and it has to be perfect and you re getting every party favor and they have to match identically As a self-described recovering perfectionist Slattery says she wants to free people from perfectionism through through improv How do you trust yourself How do you show up and practice being able to be curious letting go of that control understanding that it might not be perfect but do you get to be more present in the moment Do you get to be more rested and then you get to enjoy it That s OK says Slattery A technique Slattery says she uses to get people to loosen up focuses on those work or personal-life moments when people are called upon to expound on what they re up to the dreaded what are you working on or what did you do in school in the modern day queries We kind of create a monotone approach for ourselves when faced with this question says Slattery To combat greater part people s tendency to drearily recite a series of events when demanded to update everyone on what they ve been doing lately Slattery uses a timing method she calls the accordion Just as an accordion expands and contracts Slattery gives her charges different amounts of time to give their updates She typically starts with giving them one minute to tell their story Then I say OK now you have seconds And they have to change their words their language they have to edit on the fly And then I say OK great Now do it in seconds And everyone s like seconds Are you crazy I m like You can do it And then stuff drops away and they do it in seconds and then I say five seconds And they re like What No way Typically the minute speech whittled down to five seconds turns into a sentence To further drive home the point of how brevity can be a more effective way to communicate Slattery then asks her students to go back to trying to give a one-minute update None of them can fill a minute where before they started they re like a minute is too short And now it becomes too long says Slattery Another skill Slattery wants improv newbies to pay special attention to is the art of really listening to others intently I think very thriving grounded connected healthy people are really good at deep curious listening I m not saying don t prepare but at the same time whatever preparation I did I need to let go of that so that I can listen to you Wylie Herman a trainer at Improv Central hopes the classes will help people become more connected to their fellow personal-device-transfixed humans A lot of people are grappling with how to stay connected to our fellow humans while we re bombarded by overwhelming distractions and negativity I hope Improv Central will grow into a safe place where everyday people can come together to connect inspire and bulk importantly play says Herman Improv Central is at Central Ave in Alameda For more information visit improv-central com Paul Kilduff is a San Francisco-based writer who also draws cartoons He can be reached at pkilduff gmail com