😜 Get Unstuck…NOW!!! ⏰
January 2026
Allow yourself to get unstuck. Yes “allow” it to happen. It’s scary because it feels like you are letting go. And if you are used to being in control of your actions and the results of your actions, it’s going to feel like stepping off a cliff into an abyss.
The thing is, everything you have done so far in your life has brought you to this point. You are prepared to take the next step, even if it feels like an impossibility.
How do I know?
Life is an improvisation. You have been acquiring and mastering improvisational skills your whole life.
And if there is something you don’t know completely, you can take a class, figure it out, or ask someone.
🧩 Don’t let one piece of the puzzle stop you from solving it.
Instead of negative talk, maybe think about what’s the best thing that could happen…?
So for this month, let’s lean into improvisation - from the standpoint of improv in dance, but essentially so you can apply it to your life to get unstuck.
In dance, you might think that you are “making” the movement happen. What if, instead, you “allow” the movement to happen?
Let it happen.
Let it live inside of you.
Inside of a particular space.
Inside of a particular rhythm.
I wasn’t always good at improvisation, nor did I even like it. Where’s my 5-6-7-8!?!?
I felt awkward and confused: as if I lacked direction of actual steps or movements being shaped by a choreographer.
How did improvisation become my “thing.” (Check out examples on my social media accounts: IG and TT @platelunchdance )
Early in my dance career I worked with a company called Troika Ranch. This interdisciplinary dance company paired technology with dance in unique and groundbreaking ways. We used MiDi sensors, lasers pointed at targets across the stage, mini cameras with a live feed, and a variety of other devices that interacted with computer technology to augment the sound, lights, or video during the performance.
(Rose Marie, Michou, Sandy, Dawn, Lisa. Troika Ranch "Vera's Body." PC: Tom Brazil)
(Rose Marie, Michou, Lisa. Troika Ranch "Vera's Body." PC: Tom Brazil)
We developed works together with some set choreography and a lot of, you guessed it, IMPROV!
This movement laboratory allowed us to build incredible trust with each other and establish solid improvisational techniques to get at movement ideas that told stories and communicated emotionally charged multi-media experiences to audiences across the country and abroad.
Whew! (These artists are still some of my biggest influences and great friends.)
(Backstage with Michou, Lisa, Anthony, Sandy, Danielle. PC: Troika Ranch.)
(Sandy, Michou, Dawn, Lisa. PC: Lisa)
It was the moments in the improvisational discovery period that we, as dance artists, were able to let go of the obvious and get comfortable with absurd or wild choices and find movements and sequences that we never would have been able to find otherwise.
This process got me keenly used to employing improvisation as a tool to warm-up, explore, and create choreography. Not everything that we did in those improvisation sessions ended up in the final work, but the experimenting led us to build the work.
One of the techniques we used in our process in Troika Ranch was based on Action Theater “Sound and Movement,” because it allowed us to use our voices and movement together to create characterizations that found their way into the final work.
Improvisation is technique.
Improvisation is freedom.
Improvisation allows for the moment to tell you what the movement is.
Improvisation is like journaling: you can either have a prompt, or let your mind go and see what emerges.
Let go and allow yourself to get unstuck!
Scroll down for some fun movement ideas to get you improvising and let the ideas flow!
Let me know how your improv sessions go and send a message to connect on any future projects you’d like to discuss.
Improv Activities to Get You Unstuck
When you feel stuck, need to create, or just want a break from what you’re doing: improvise! Record yourself so that you can feel free not to have to remember anything. Here are a few activities that I’ve gathered over the years to help me get unstuck and be more creative in my dancing and choreography:
Put on a random song and let the music inspire your movement. Dance from the first note to the last without judgement or editing, even if you repeat the same movement over and over.
Make a sound and do a movement that goes with that sound. Repeat it 3-5 times. Perform the movement without the sound. Do an opposite sound and movement and repeat the process. Keep trying unique sounds and movements for 5 minutes. Link the movements together without the sounds.
Look around your space. Choose an object and do the dance you think that object would do if it could dance. Repeat this process for 5 minutes. Link the movements together.
Get a scarf. Find as many different ways to dance with, or in response to the scarf. Use music if you like.
Select an object as a prop to dance with. Find as many different ways to dance with that object as you can. Set the object down. Now do the same movements as if you are still holding the object.