Cindy Pittens

Improvisation skills

Improvising makes you flexible and agile. Qualities that you can put to good use in this rapidly changing society and market. Improvising together means ultimate collaboration, creating and coordinating together. Dare to trust your own input and that of others, so that you can work towards a truly shared end product, whether this is a theatrical play or a vision for your managementteam. 

Improvisation mindset

Improvisation mindset is closely related to confidence. In yourself, in others and in progressive insight. You learn to enjoy the process of getting somewhere you haven't been, dare to experiment and fail, ánd learn. This confidence has to grow and improvisation has the perfect exercises and  tools for that. To get you acquanted with this new approach of people, yourself and the yet, unknown future you are about to create together.

Personal leadership with a big smile

Improvising creates growth. ou continuesly expand the connections in your brain, by getting yourself in unknown and unpredictable situations. Which makes it more flexible and adaptable to things you want to learn or explore.

It frees you from perfection and fear of failure. A great starting point for personal leadership. You overcome tension and enjoy doing it. So you learn your nervous system to overcome anxiety signals. 
It gets you moving during uncertainty and inevitably makes you laugh more than ever before.  Sharing laughter and victories creates connection. You learn to be open to others and at the same time maintain a connection with yourself. 

CORPORATE SETTINGS AND TEAMBUILDING

The best thing is to make your team day both useful and enjoyable! With improvisation theater we connect the themes that play within the company, or the look back or ahead in time. 
Humorous and sharp improvised sketches and songs connect to the workspace!
The employees are treated to an interactive, musical and sharp performance. 

Better collaboration

And then you are put to work yourself. What exactly can that improviser do that will also benefit me in my work? How are they able to connect so well and work together so well, they can improvise a show, under the watchful eye of 100 pairs of eyes in the audience, without a drip of sweat?
In a crash course in improvisation, we link your work to an improv mindset! Guaranteed laughter, collaboration, challenge and 100% failure guarantee!

Why does improvisation  work?

Improvisation exercises work perfectly to get people moving in a light-hearted way. Processes are exposed at individual and team level. Always with a smile and with a serious link to the work.

Improvising requires so much focus on the now that one immediately experiences when something is (not) working. There is no room to hide behind fancy mechanisms. Improvising is about having an eye for the shared reality with the other person and recognizing ownership of it.

In some teams there is no room for growth, because mistakes and failure are desperately avoided.
Improvisation helps and trains the growth mindset, which emphasizes development and progress, more than results. The outcome of an improv and growth mindset in a team is more safety to act on one's own initiative, more ownership and responsibility among team members and open communication about progress. Everything is always  accompanied by the optimal combination of humor and safety.

TEACHING IMPROVISATION ON STAGE 

As an improv teacher my main goal is to teach people to keep connected. To themselves, the other player(s), the stage and it's circumstances and of course the audience. In improv, especially shortform, we tend to loose connection. Me especially struggled with that, so I kind of got an expert on this topic. 

Specific topics that fit me well: 

• BASICS OF IMPROV
  Think about yes and (nope), storytelling, setting up rich scenework, use of your body and voice, listening and connecting to your fellow players, emotional acting. 
• WHAT'S EGO GOT TO DO WITH IT?
  Exploration of when  your ego is actually in the way of improvisation!
• CHARACTERS: BIG BUT REAL 
  How to build a weird or absurd character and still be truthfull and open to create inner change. 
• THIS FLOCKING WORKS
  How do you keep connected to the whole, when you are on stage with a lot of people.
• MINDFUL IMPROVISATION
  How can you use your own nervous system and brain wiring, to be an authentic player? Being mindful and sensitive about the changes in your body and mind, gives you the best input for scenes without working for it!
• THE HERO'S JOURNEY
  You learn about the 12 steps of the book: The hero with the thousand faces, from Joseph Campbell. 
  He explored what all legends and myths all over the world have in common. These 12 steps offer rich knowledge about how to tell fantastic stories. When and how to use archetypes that immediately help your story forward. 
  
  

PLAYING IMPROVISATION ON INTERNATIONAL STAGE

Andrei Bratu, Michalis Panagiotakis and Cindy Pittens formed improvgroup TREI in 2024, during a residence in Romania. They became a beautiful trio that complete eachother on stage. With their shows they want to expose different types of improv and give their audience the choice of a lifetime.
All set in an ambiance of an epic roadtrip.

More information: www.trei-improv.com