Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvisation in the
performing arts
The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. P ...
is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of improvisation can apply to many different faculties across all artistic, scientific, physical, cognitive, academic, and non-academic disciplines; see
Applied improvisation
Applied improvisation is the application of improvisational theatrical methods in various non-theatrical fields, including consulting, training, and teaching. It is known to be used as an experiential educational approach which enables participan ...
.
Skills and techniques
The skills of improvisation can apply to many different abilities or forms of communication and expression across all artistic, scientific, physical, cognitive, academic, and non-academic disciplines. For example, improvisation can make a significant contribution in music, dance, cooking, presenting a speech, sales, personal or romantic relationships, sports, flower arranging, martial arts, psychotherapy, and much more.
Techniques of improvisation are widely used in training for performing arts or entertainment; for example, music, theatre and dance. To "''
extemporize''" or "ad lib" is basically the same as improvising. Colloquial terms such as "playing by ear", "take it as it comes", and "making it up as
negoes along" are all used to describe improvisation.
The simple act of speaking requires a good deal of improvisation because the mind is addressing its own thought and creating its unrehearsed delivery in words, sounds and gestures, forming unpredictable statements that further feed the thought process (the performer as the listener), creating an enriched process that is not unlike instantaneous composition with a given set or repertoire of elements.
Where the improvisation is intended to solve a problem on a temporary basis, the "proper" solution being unavailable at the time, it may be known as a "
stop-gap". This applies to the field of engineering. Another improvisational, group problem-solving technique being used in organizations of all kinds is ''
brainstorming
Brainstorming is a creativity technique in which a group of people interact to divergent thinking, suggest ideas spontaneously in response to a prompt. Stress is typically placed on the volume and variety of ideas, including ideas that may seem o ...
'', in which any and all ideas that a group member may have are permitted and encouraged to be expressed, regardless of actual practicality. As in all improvisation, the process of brainstorming opens up the minds of the people involved to new, unexpected and possibly useful ideas. The colloquial term for this is "
thinking outside the box
Thinking outside the box (also thinking out of the box or thinking beyond the box and, especially in Australian English, Australia, thinking outside the square) is an idiom that means to think differently, unconventionally, or from a new perspecti ...
."
Arts and entertainment
Performing arts
Improvisation can be thought of as an "on the spot" or "