About this Event

Kaivalya Plays presents

Improv & Alexander

IMPROV LEVEL: No previous knowledge of improv necessary

What am I supposed to do with my hands? Before you showed up to the audition you made sure to memorize your lines, understand the character in the situation and even have an idea to make it about your strengths. But when you get in front of the camera you’re suddenly not certain what to do with your hand or how to make a meaningful gesture. The movement that was fine in daily life but now you’re totally self-conscious about it on camera. It’s ok, we got you.

Improv & The Alexander Technique will help you recognize and release the tension that keeps you from performing at your best. The Alexander Technique is a mind-body method for learning how to identify and change the mental-physical habits that cause stress, tension, misalignment and pain. Tight throat, held breath, stiff muscles, stage fright, all these impediments spring from the same source: tension. In reducing unnecessary strain, there comes a greater sense of awareness, a readiness to act, a more open, resonant voice, enhanced focus, and improvement in overall performance.

In this 2 hour session, the facilitator will teach you how to be more aware of what’s happening in your body and movement, how to prevent the mental and phsyical misuse of yourself that creates your tension, and how to develop more positive, constructive ways of thinking and using your entire psycho-physical being. With Alexander technique students often report feeling lighter and easier in their bodies, calmer and more confident. The best thing is you can practice anywhere, anytime with no special equipment or clothing required.

After this course you will be able to:

Audition more effectively

Play a character with an unfamiliar physicality

Move more naturally and easily

Breathe more freely and speak more clearly

Free your creative impulses

Duration: 2 hours

Requirements:

The class is open to anyone. The facilitator will ask you to stand and move for several exercises but these exercises will be adapted for anyone with different needs. Dress comfortably and keep a bottle of water within reach.

Facilitator:

Varoon P. Anand is Delhi’s most experienced Improv trainer and performer. Beginning his career under the guidance of Danielle Miles, of Fortetheatre UK, he co-founded Improv8 at Panama’s renowned Theatre Guild of Ancón in 2008. In Delhi, Varoon began teaching Improv in 2012 through Kaivalya Plays, the theatre company he founded, and in 2014 formed CueLess Improv, the capital’s most prolific team of short-form improv performers. Varoon trained in Laban Movement with Gilles Chuyen in 2013. Varoon continued training in improv with teachers including Saif Ali, of Batlahouse theatre, learning and collaborating from 2015-16. In 2018, in collaboration with the Goethe Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan and medical practitioners, Varoon created Unravel, an improv show about mental health. Along with being the Artistic Director of Kaivalya Plays, CueLess Improv, and El Clavileño (India’s only Spanish language theatre group). As of 2020, Varoon has trained more than 200 performers in spontaneous improvisation, facilitated workshops for over 500 people in improvisation for mental wellnesss and collaborated with institutions like Embassy of Spain, Embassy of Argentina, Embassy of Ecuador, Indian Habitat Centre, Little Theatre Group (LTG), Oddbird Theatre & Foundation amongst others. He continues to explore new ways to present and teach the techniques of improv, along with his other specialties.