Improvisation for Beginners
Improvisation for Beginners
5 FEB 2024
with Rozana Radu & Vincent Van Nieuwenhuyze
15 week course, Feb-Jun 2025
The first part of a 2-part beginner intensive, in a fun and friendly environment!
Wednesdays 5 February to 18 June 2025 (NB no class on: 5 March; 9/16/23 April; 28 May)
19:00 to 21:30Artincelle (Rue de la Victoire 158, St Gilles)
€385 for 15 classes
€360 for jobseekers, BA and MA students and people under 28; use CONC25 at checkout
This is the first part of our newly created Beginner Intensive course, created to accompany the keenest budding improvisors from their starting steps in this wonderful art form until they reach the stage in their first show at the end of June!
Merging parts of our traditional Starting Steps courses, you will get the best of Step 1 and Step 2 in this experience, with 2 of our favourite teachers, Vincent and Rozana. We will start with learning a whole series of fun games that were designed specifically to install in you the basic principles of improvisation. We will work on failing good naturedly; the benefits of saying 'yes, and'; letting our partners shine; listening with intent and the trust and connection that makes wonderful scenework seem both brilliant and effortless. After the Easter Break, we will move on to more performative aspects of the art form, expand your skills and work on characters, physicality, emotions, space and object work. All these tools combined with creating a solid platform for your scenes (the who/what/where) will then be showcased on stage in an end of year show for friends and family!
This course is perfect for those who are intrigued by improvisational theatre and want to try it out for themselves in a dedicated, methodical educational course. We take improv very seriously, so we expect absences to be kept to a minimum and for our students to contribute to a safe and respectful atmosphere for all (you all be asked to read & agree to our policies in full at checkout).
If you want to increase your confidence and self-awareness, your communication and listening skills, if you want to reframe your relationship with failure and take more risks, to explore the boundless possibilities of your imagination and discover new things about yourself, then this course is for you! No previous theatre experience is necessary, but it goes without saying that if you have some or are eager to acquire performative experience, you will be in for a treat!
What you’ll learn
Failing well and embracing mistakes
The benefits of saying 'yes, and'
Letting your partner shine
Listening with intent
Creating the trust and connection that makes wonderful scene work seem both brilliant and effortless
How to use your body
The use of emotions
Object work and basic mime
The ‘who/what/where’ of a scene
Who this is for
Improv is truly for everyone. No previous theatre experience is necessary, just an open mind and a willingness to get out of your comfort zone. Side effects may include (lots and lots of) laughter!
About the teachers
Vincent Van Nieuwenhuyze
Hailing from the charming city of Ghent, Vincent is a seasoned improv player, teacher, and coach with over 15 years of experience bringing scenes to life.
By day, he is a project and process facilitator, tackling the corporate world with the same creative flair he brings to the stage. But when the clock strikes geek o’clock, this neurospicy dynamo dives into his other true passions: gaming (mostly MMORPGs), rolling the dice in Dungeons & Dragons, and embracing full-on otaku status with an ever-growing anime watchlist.
On stage, he is all about creating magic through intimacy, warmth, and boundless energy, making every scene feel fresh and fun. Offstage, he’s just as passionate about helping others unlock their creativity, keeping the fun in fundamentals, and exploring themes of gender and queerness in performance.
Rozana Radu
Rozana is a mother, an actress and an improviser. She started improvisation 15 years ago in Bucharest creating Improvisneyland, the longest-serving impro group in Romania, alongside 6 other actors. They were the first Romanian improvisers to ever perform at the Second City and Impro Amsterdam.
She has done theatre, cinema, television, ballet, aerobics, fencing, ballroom dancing, and she would love to learn capoeira. She also improvises in French in Rouge, a socially engaged show that tackle gender inequalities. Aside from improv, she is a member of U-Thrive, an NGO specialised in alternative education for children, teenagers and disadvantaged communites.