first off, while on the road, pick a a couple pieces of music you are about to get really intimate with and listen to them until you know them backward & forward. Even improvisation has structure, and that structure will depend on the music. I recommend doing a good warm up & practice your drills before trying improv so your movements will be fresh in your mind. You might try picking 3 or 4 specific movements and limiting yourself to those for a song- find all the ways you can combine them and see how those specific movements work with the music. This is kind of like an art class which starts out with only sketching, then only lets you use charcoal, etc. to experiment with the bare bones before letting you open up to free form insanity ;-)
Good luck & have fun!

I agree with Lara, it can help to really know your music, especially when just starting to do improv. You could also drill a couple of 3 or 4 move combination's during your warm up and try to toss those combos in when dancing to your song.

I would focus on one aspect of improvisation at a time and create exercises to develop that aspect. For example, if you are working on creating dynamics changes, you can pick 3-4 moves and combine and execute them in different ways. For example, you can make them smaller, faster, use more space, or use high or low space. With practice, those three moves will become more versatile whenever you need to use them.

If you want to work on musicality, you could break up pieces of the music into phrases. Listen over and over to that phrase. Improvise different combinations that can work with that musical phrase. Take the next phrase and do the same thing. Then put them together, but don't allow the first repetition to duplicate the second so that it's always fresh.

There are many ways you can work on improving your improvisation. I think if you go about it systematically and work on one thing at once, you will be amazed at how quickly you grow. Dancing well isn't just about moves, combinations, and choreographies. You've got to play with everything to push past your comfort zone and grow.

Taaj
www.taaj.org

I teach improv - workshop and classes. It took me a while to tell my students and workshop attendants how I do improv. I am more of an improv dancer so it did take a while to explain....how I did it. I work with a live band so that is what I ended up using to teach my girls.

First - the ladies here are right to know the music - that helps for sure. I often just hear a piece and see a particular energy or moves to it...then I use it. If you do not the music or working with a live drummer then understanding the rhythms and how a drummer decides to change is the key. You can guess what they will do -- as long as they are use to working with a dancer and know how to give little cues or create a pattern that you can follow. (My workshops focus on the dancer and drummer working together - creating a flow with a drummer so you both know what to expect.)

Second - Do have your 'thinking' moves. Then you will have a pattern or subset if you feel you are stuck. Be careful they are not just shimmies or something that you may use too much.

Also - Travel...do not stand in one place and just shimmy. Traveling and turning allows you to reuse moves and not look so repetitious.

Most important - practice practice practice improving. Put on something you like and just do it. Then choose something else and dance to that. Get use to not knowing and watching yourself in the mirror or film yourself. Watch for areas that need smoothing out. There is still room in the hotel to jam....just remember to travel when you have room and do not get so use to just staying in one place.

My girls get a lot of tests on improv -- I surprise them and they have to do it on the spot. We refine and refine their technique. They love it now.... I was able to just ask some to improv at our restaurant student night last month and they did it -- they were nervous but had a blast and now say to make them do it again. These are ladies that always needed routines and wanted to develop the technique. I work with them on understanding what is happening in the music and how they can guess even when they do not know the song....and how to cover if it is not what they think is going to happen. But if you know your music then you would not have that issue -- that is more for the live drummer stuff.

Zills are very important with improv to me as they make the dance much more interesting.....you can get baby socks so you do not wake up the neighbors in the hotel...put on your zills to muffle.

good luck and just have fun with it!
phoenix

I started dancing when I was 4, all I knew was choreography. My teacher tried to break me of it and help me improv, but it was difficult. Basically, I got sick of all the choreography I was doing, thats alot of work! And I would pick a song and just dance it out. You have to KNOW the song and just dance freely to it alot. After a while you'll get a few areas down with what you want to do for it. Just get a few set combinations and let the rest flow with the music. But most important with improv is you MUST MUST MUST know your song that youre dancing to. Play it til youre sick of it lol. Best of Luck.

-Ash

lol I'm all about structure :-) I've got a couple articles (For Beginners) on improvising, they ran in Zaghareet last year:
"So you want to improvise?" www.kawakib.com/articlesZAG37.html
and "More improv tips" www.kawakib.com/articlesZAG38.html
good luck!

Lots of awesome advice from all different disciplines it look likes! I am somewhat of an ATS junkie, and Improv is a large part of that. I know I drill my moves every day, drill, drill, drill! Then, I pick out a few songs from my collection, and dance. Because I am just by myself, I don't worry about perfection at that moment, I play around with combos and see what works.

Something I would say that is important, is learning how to interpret the music. My troupe/group is completely improv, the music isn't even the same! Also don't worry about looking goofy, have fun!
Peace...