Introvert vs. Improv

    As every American knows Independence Day was on Thursday. While most headed out near the spacious lakes, hearing the raw slabs of ribs sizzling on the grill, and gasping at the colorful displays of the fireworks with their loved ones, I decided to take an Improv  class. My parents are Nigerian, so the  4th of July isn't something they plan to celebrate like most Americans. So, since the 4th of July is kind of a family affair, I figured that taking this Improv class would give me something to do instead of laying on my bed all day.

    Now, I am kind of shy, I speak very low, and crowded places are something that I try to avoid if possible. So why the heck would I consider even going to this Extrovert's Haven? Because this blog is about me going from shy to confident 'tis why! What better way  to pull out from my shell, than an improv class? So let me set the scene for you.

   I arrive at 7 PM, after fighting floods and hurricanes to get there, thankfully it was fairly close to my house. I open the door to a small bar where people are sitting around grabbing a drink. At this point, I'm thinking I'm at the wrong place or that I arrived (although on time) early. So I do what was comfortable at the time and sit down next to a mahogany table and start scrummaging through tumblr. I hear voices from my left ear and see that behind a patterned curtain there is a chubby guy talking  and whispering to a group of people. I think they are talking about me, which makes me uncomfortable.

   Then, I figure that's probably where the meeting is going to be, so I walk in and say, "Is this the improv class?" The chuby guy looks at me and says, "No, it's over at Tijuana Flats!" Embarrassed I head out of the curtains and then he starts laughing along with everyone else there, and tells me he was just joking and to come back.  I laugh but I feel dumb, then we all form a circle in the area. There's about eleven of us, and they all just start clapping at each other. I am looking around like, what is this? When a guy with large hands and glasses claps his hands at me, I get nervous but I only messed up a few times in this very choreographed clapping scheme.

    When we started to play a word game, is when I  realized the chubby guy is the leader of this class and makes up the rules of the game. In the game we all picked a word from one subject,  "i.e fruits", after saying what fruit we pick, "ie: grapes", one points to someone else and they say their fruit and point to someone else. This continues until everyone has been chosen. After everyone has said their fruit, we all have to remember our fruit and who we pointed to whom. I was good at the game for my first try, to my surprise. I even caught myself smiling as the game got harder juggling three different subjects around.

    But then, we all had to face each other making two rows. One person from that  row would say a random word, and the other person across from them  would have to quickly say a word that comes to mind. This was hard, because one of the reasons why I am quiet, is because I like to think before the first syllable  parts from my lips. During this challenge I kept saying umm and the leader, let's call him Mark (yeah I know I finally gave him a name), would come to me and me only and tell me to stop thinking. I felt that he was growing frustrated with  me, and it made me realize that my awkwardness was too bright almost  a ghastly bright orange in a middle of cool blues. I did start to get better though, and that's when the challenge ended and the next one began.

The stage!

    After another word game, we went upon the stage where we split into two groups: actresses vs. screenwriters ( I was on team actresses). Basically two people from each group took parts  being the who and where and what. Every time it was my turn to improvise a scene Mark would tell me to speak up, or stop fidgeting your fingers, stop giggling! But I couldn't help it! I didn't like the stage part, although I got a few laughs, it just made me highly aware and awkward in front of the few people that were watching me. I didn't know if I was doing a scene right or if I just looked entirely stupid.  After each scene, I just kept over thinking what I should have done differently. However, that's just Improv, you can't really change the past scene you just have to move on and  work on the present scene.

    When the two hour session ended, I was relieved. I admit that something that I was quite excited for turned out to be a bit of a disappointment in terms of improvement. Maybe, I'm just negative or I can be a bit of a perfectionist at times. But, like I said before I just felt that I could have done better. I thought that after this session, I would feel confident with my head held high smiling, but I did not.  On the plus side though, I did get a few laughs during the session, I think what I learned from Improv, is that confidence takes time and practice. It's not just a one shot thing, even those with confidence have to make an effort to maintain it. Also, life can be like Improv, you have to forget the things you've messed up in the past and work on now!  So two points for trying out this shindig!

       P.S-- The day after July 4th the community where I live in decided to showcase fireworks so here's some pics!

P.P.S- I have an instagram now, so please follow me @kemz247!