Aggressive Aspects of Improvisation Cooperative Improvisation Nachmanovitchs Free

Aggressive Aspects of Improvisation

Cooperative Improvisation Nachmanovitch’s Free Play discusses collective free improvisation, shared art making personal interactions cooperation human relationships bonding intimacy something new that neither could produce “group personality or group brain”

In Drama and Comedy

Cooperative Improvisation Montanaro’s Mime Spoken Here: The Performer’s Portable Workshop group improvisation yielding to the group mind “not backing down and making concessions” “the present moment occupies the center of anyone’s attention” no one is central, dominating

Cooperative Improvisation Johnstone’s Impro: Improvisation and the Theater discusses blocking and accepting “blocking is a form of aggression” competition and aggression are bad for group improvisations “the improviser has to understand that his first skill lies in releasing his partner’s imagination”

Whose Line Is It? Robin Williams Winning the most points is not the point although aggression is in the humor

Competitive or Assertive Improvisation Koestler (Act of Creation) “In all forms of malicious wit there is an aggressive tendency at work, which for one reason or another cannot be satisfied by the usual methods of reasoned argument, physical violence, or straight invective. ”

Competitive or Assertive Improvisation What if it is used to reject another’s improvisation? What if it is used to humiliate or ridicule someone else? What if it is part of a contest? What if it is used to kill?

Iraq: Improvised Explosive Device • IED is a “homemade” device that is designed to cause death or injury by using explosives alone or in combination with toxic chemicals, biological toxins, or radiological material • They are unique in nature because the IED builder has had to improvise with the materials at hand • Example, a hand grenade with pin pulled, placed in a small glass with glass-filled mortar or Plaster of Paris will cut and kill http: //www. globalsecurity. org/military/intro/ied. htm

Cutting Contests

A More Benign “Cutting Contest” • In jazz, the object is to play better than someone else but also to improve both your skills (and theirs)

Paul Berliner Thinking in Jazz : The Infinite Art of Improvisation Quotes Tommy Turrentine Notes that clubs would close down not to compete with parties where players would cook, eat and perform in jam sessions which lasted for days. Improvisers might play the same tune for hours People would go home and come back and it would still be going on. It was a way of learning through performance. Free of commercial constraints so they could take risks

A Cutting Contest: Robert Altman Style (1995)

Mingus at Carnegie Hall Charles Mingus Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Mingus at Carnegie Hall George Adams Rahsaan Roland Kirk

Cutting Contest of Cooking The Iron Chef

The Iron Chef vs The Swedish Chef

The Jester, Signifying and Wit

The Jester • The chansons de jeste played a prominent part in medieval literature from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries. They were epics centered on heroic events; their name is derived from the Latin gesta: deeds, exploits. With the coming of the Renaissance, satire tended to replace the epics of chivalry and in the sixteenth century the heroic “geste” turned into ‘jest”. -Koestler

Koestler’s Jester • • • Earthy and cynical Falstaff or Sancho Panza He spurns the dreamer Wide awake, quick to take advantage Aggressive and self-asserting The symbol for humor

Esu • Yoruba image of Esu Elegbara • The Trickster, God’s messenger, owner of the crossroads, dispenser of Àse, the gatekeeper, opener of roads and remover of obstacles. The first and the last to be saluted in ceremony who opens and closes ritual space. In Cuba he is called Eleggua. In Brazil they call him Exu. In Haiti he is known as Papa Legba.

Henry Louis Gates • “The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of Afro-American Literary Criticism” • The Monkey is the jester and mediates between the Lion and the Elephant • Signifying is hard to define • Includes games like the dozens, but also means of indirect argument or persuasion • Importance of rhyme and rhythm

The Dozens The monkey demystifies the Lion, who is dumb and takes him literally He plays on language and repeat insults that he contends the Elephant has made about the Lion’s wife, mother and grandmother In the Dirty Dozen’s one tries to censure in 12 or fewer statements Test emotional strength of opponents to resist First to give in to anger loses A milder form is Yo Mama jokes

Yo Mama in Pop Culture

Yo Mama Even in Minnesota? Yo Mama

Signifying and Jazz Mezzrow “Really the Blues” (autobiography) A white clarinetist of the 30’s and 40’s, not very good, who played with and idolized great jazz men and was noted for dealing drugs (marijuana) Quoted by Gates as understanding the relationship of signifying in verbal and musical texts “A form of rhetorical training, an on-the streets exercise in the use of troping* in which the play is the thing - not specifically what is said but how. ” *figure of speech or play on words

Wit

Wit • “Wit” stems from witan, understanding, whose roots go back. . to the Sanskrit veda, knowledge. The German Witz means both joke and acumen; it comes from wissen, to know; Wissenschaft -science is a close kin to Fürwitz and Aberwitz -presumption, cheek, and jest. • French teaches the same lesson. Spirituel may mean either witty or spiritually profound: to amuse comes from to muse ( -muser), and a witty remark is a jeu d’esprit - a playful mischievous form of discovery. Koestler • If it were not for the company of fools, a witty man would often be greatly at a loss. Francois de la Rochefoucould 17 th century nobleman and writer

Improvised Wit • Since wit is often recognized as appropriate to a situation, it must be improvised • Still it can be prepared for, as all improvisations • Since it is always humorous, it is often aggressive • Oscar Wilde in the British tradition • I can resist everything except temptation • To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance • But next, on to 18 th century France Oscar Wilde

Ridicule, The Movie (1996) • Wit used to achieve status and power • Full of opportunity and risk • “Vices in this country are without consequences, but ridicule can kill”

Ridicule, The Movie (1996)

Take Home: Beware • To be witty is not enough: One must possess sufficient wit to avoid having too much of it. -André Maurois 20 th century French writer