Improv(e)
Why I'm back on stage
Yes, I performed improv last night at Improvolution, and you missed it.
Retaking improv classes after a long hiatus (19 years) was on my 2022 “kill list” (actions that I must take or die).
I started taking improv classes in San Francisco in 1989. It was a way for this East Coast transplant to meet new people in a city where I knew no one. When I moved to New York, a friend turned me on to the Upright Citizens Brigade, where I took classes with Ian and Amy. I ended up in a skit (as I have written about), but it ended there after I was hired as the Director of the Edward Carter Gallery.
I bounced back a year later with classes at HB Studios and formed an improv troupe (5 Car Pile Up), and performed in the West Village at Rose’s Turn.
Once.
Acting and improv were vital to me, but they weren’t a career. They would get bumped off the radar when my “real career” got too demanding.
But I’m back.
I needed to reconnect, recharge and rethink.
At Improvolution, I was the oldest in my class, and I didn’t care. No one knew my cultural references, and I didn’t care. I showed them a picture of my 4-month-old son; they thought it was my grandson, and I didn’t care.
Not caring goes a long way.
Of course, I don’t mean not caring about what and how you do things. I mean not worrying about what someone else might think or say when we try something.
You only fail in improv when you worry about what you will say or do or when you preplan your outcome before you hit the stage.
Improv is about NOT knowing what you will do or say on stage. It’s about “Yes, and.” This means to accept what’s been given and add to it rather than “Yes, but,” which negates what is given, closing down the possibility because you don’t like it or you think you have a better idea.
Saying “Yes, but” is an endless circle of doing the same things repeatedly in your practice. Break from the familiar path, take an off-ramp and see where it takes you. The students in my Mixed Up Media Class did, and they are forever changed.
As artists, we must continue to do this in our practice. We find ourselves in our work when we least expect it, when we fail, when the thing we tried doesn’t work, and when there is an “accident” that has “ruined” everything.
Let those mistakes happen. Make it up as you go. Accept what’s given.
I did.
“Yes, and”…I promise, next performance, I will send you an invite.
Classes & Notes
Applications for the 2023 edition of the Exhibition Lab are now closed! Thank you for applying.
Deadline: passed | thephotocommunity.org
I will offer the History of Contemporary Photography class at ICP starting January 24th. This 8-week class covers the last 60 years of the photograph, emphasizing what’s going on today and why. It’s fun, and there are prizes!
Deadline: January 22 | ICP.org
Submissions are now open for the Aperture Portfolio Prize. The Prize aims to identify trends in contemporary photography and highlight artists whose work deserves greater recognition. 25 finalists and cash prizes
Deadline: January 6 | aperture.orgPhotoville New York 2023 will kick off its Opening Weekend on June 3-4, 2023, and will run until June 18th, 2023. Submissions for proposals are now open.
Deadline: January 13 | photoville.nyc
Michael Foley opened his gallery in the fall of 2004 after fourteen years of working with notable photography galleries, including the Fraenkel Gallery, Howard Greenberg Gallery, and Yancey Richardson Gallery.
In 2002, Foley continued his interest in educating and working with artists by serving on the School of Visual Arts and International Center of Photography faculty. He teaches and lectures on contemporary photography issues at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
In 2020, he founded The Photo Community, which offers classes and commentary on contemporary photography.
Foley lives and works on the Lower East Side of Manhattan with his wife, Maya, and son, Jack.
You're a kindred spirit!
Let me know how your first class goes, Talya!