4.2.5 Exercise 5 First Idea

Task Objectives

The intention of the exercise First Idea is to explore the reflexive ways participants respond and adapt to particular unforeseen imposed conditions. Upon commencing, improvisers are asked to maintain the ‘initial material’ for the duration of the exercise. This wording is intentionally vague to allow for liberties in adjusting to the emergent conditions. In starting simultaneously, participants are denied the experience of previewing a context before considering ways to engage. As such, it exerts pressure on the collaborative emergence to maintain one’s initial idea within more rigid emergent constraints. It reveals participants’ flexibility or rigidity in their willingness to adapt to the emergent conditions. While stylistic attributes are inevitably evident, indexicality is less influential due to the simultaneous start and requirements to maintain initial material. Intersubjectivity is exercised to explore options of improvised content within limited stylistic boundaries.