I have known from conversations with improvisers like
Frankyboy and others that there was some implicit connection between improv and social dancing. But I never really got it until yesterday when I read, of all things, a 2006 commencement speech given by Stephen Cobert at Knox College:
When
I was starting out in Chicago, doing improvisational theatre with
Second City and other places, there was really only one rule I was
taught about improv. That was, “yes-and.” In this case, “yes-and” is a
verb. To “yes-and.” I yes-and, you yes-and, he, she or it yes-ands. And
yes-anding means that when you go onstage to improvise a scene with no
script, you have no idea what’s going to happen, maybe with someone
you’ve never met before. To build a scene, you have to accept. To build
anything onstage, you have to accept what the other improviser
initiates on stage. They say you’re doctors—you’re doctors. And then,
you add to that: We’re doctors and we’re trapped in an ice cave. That’s
the “-and.” And then hopefully they “yes-and” you back. You have to
keep your eyes open when you do this. You have to be aware of what the
other performer is offering you, so that you can agree and add to it.
And through these agreements, you can improvise a scene or a one-act
play. And because, by following each other’s lead, neither of you are
really in control. It’s more of a mutual discovery than a solo
adventure. What happens in a scene is often as much a surprise to you
as it is to the audience.
That to me is a nearly perfect summary of what it means to have a killer dance with someone. Because when you are dancing with a partner, you are in a conversation with that person that draws upon your keenest listening skills. She might be responding to a certain phrasing in the melody or shimmying to a horn riff. You might come back with by stomping to the backbeat or mirroring her footwork. And then she plays off of whatever you are doing. At the end of a great dance, you and your partner look at each other amazed and surprised by what you spontaneously created together.
Being a good social dancer means so much more than mastering certain steps and moves. It means learning enough of a basic vocabulary and principles that you can stop thinking about the steps, and concentrate on responding to the music and your partner. As Stephen Cobert so eloquently said, "by following each other’s lead, neither of you are
really in control. It’s more of a mutual discovery than a solo
adventure."
I want to live in a world where people practice daily the principle of "yes-and." Don’t you?
UPDATE 9/17/07: My buddy Swifty points me to a YouTube video of Stephen Cobert giving this commencement address. The quote referenced above comes in at around the 3:30 mark. Enjoy!