ONLINE IMPROV ELECTIVE: Improv & Navasara

Level: Open

As improvisers, we often find ourselves reaching for the same familiar set of emotions to the situation or relationship. It can be difficult to consciously remember to try out different facets of a personality right before we enter a scene. It isn’t that we are unfamiliar with emotions like wonder or awe, but we might even be too self-conscious to reach for it in a performance, and we end up playing slightly heightened versions of ourselves.
Derived from India’s Natya Shastra (the Indian theatre treatise) the Navarasa uses 9 emotions or, more accurately, expressions as a base to build performances that incorporates posture, breath, stance, movement and sound to create dramatic and impactful stories.
In the Navarasa, Nava means “Nine” and Rasa is often translated as “mood”, “emotion”, “expression” or “sentiment.” The Navarasa, in the scriptures, refers to the nine expressions that humans often show. These are love (shringaara), laughter (haasya), kind-heartedness or compassion (karuna), anger (roudra), courage (veera), fear (bhayaanaka), disgust (bheebhatsya), wonder or surprise (adbhutha) and peace or tranquility (shaantha). 
After this workshop, you will be able to:

Effectively introduce expressions like wonder to become an “athlete of the emotions.”

Endow silent moments with meaning.

Feel confident about reaching for a higher or lower scale of emotion in performance.

Have more options to turn to explore relationships with other performers in scenes.

Create more dramatic and impactful scenes with less words.

If finances are standing in the way of you attending one of our workshops, we encourage you to apply for a scholarship HERE: https://thenurserytheatre.com/improv-classes/jason-chin-diversity-scholarship/ or email: classes@thenurserytheatre.com.

Is there an instructor you would love to work with or a topic you would love covered? Email: classes@thenurserytheatre.com

Nursery/Maydays Sunday Classes

We work hard to provide a welcoming environment for all improvisers. In order to give space to different experiences and identities, the Nursery and the Maydays have worked to provide opportunities for specific groups to meet, connect, and improvise with one another. Each workshop will cover different topics depending on the instructor. Sometimes sessions will be aimed at particular skills, issues and questions, and other times they will simply be a place for people to come together and play.

The Nursery and the Maydays are constantly working to create programming based on the needs of our current students and the global improv community. If there is an underrepresented group that you would like to see have a workshop, send an email to classes@thenurseryimprovtheatre.com

Min. participants 6, max. 12.

This open workshop runs Saturday 19th June 4- 6.30 pm BST.

Open – A class for anyone, regardless of their improv experience. Although more experienced players are of course welcome, the content does not require any prior improv knowledge.

Whatever the level of ability required, all of our classes are safe, supportive environments led by our experienced teachers. Please email us if you are unsure whether a class is suitable for you. If you sign up for a class inappropriate to your level the Nursery/Maydays reserved the right to remove you from the class without refund.

Closed captioning is available in all of our classes and courses. If you need any information on how to access this in zoom, please contact classes@thenurserytheatre.com