Improvising Babies

There has been a lot of talk about a lockdown baby boom. In Bristol, 6 women all on one street  got pregnant during the first lockdown, and in case you missed it, as well as making a LOT of banana bread, last year two of us Maydays made a baby! 

We have joked among the company for a long time about Jules and I trying to create a new Mayday super improviser but the truth is we had been trying to bring a little one into the world for a while so we couldn’t be happier. His name is Iggy, and he is the best thing since sliced (banana) bread.

Whether or not he goes on to be an improviser remains to be seen but it turns out that babies are natural improvisers anyway. Reacting to everything you do and mirroring to communicate, they got this thing down and I found some adorable videos to prove it.

Babies are musical improvisers

This gorgeous video shows singer Natalie Zirk singing to her little guy and I swear he is trying to sing along.

Babies aren’t worried about saying the right thing

This video of a dad chattering away with his gibberish speaking baby went viral for good reason. To be fair, they are BOTH amazing improvisers.

Babies are brilliant at mirroring

As well as verbal mirroring, babies are great at physical mirroring too. This video shows the cutest dad and baby ‘dance’ routine – all through following.

Treat your baby scene partner like a genius

I love this video ‘Milk Dreams’ showing a toddler leading a contemporary dance group. Improvisers might recognise this as a ‘flock of birds’ or ‘diamond dance’ depending on what you call it. Either way, an improv classic.

So there we have it. Proof that babies are the best scene partners. I hope I’ll learn some good tips from Iggy before he grows up and rebels against being an improviser like his parents* and becomes something much more sensible. In the meantime, look out for the shows of our new family improv troupe ‘The Three Beats’**

Heather and Jules will be teaching two online courses Organic Harold and Narrative toolkit both starting next week. Booking info for all our online courses can be found here.

 

* In the UK, you have to state the parents’ profession on the birth certificate. We wonder if there are any other kids with 2 parents registered as Improvisers. My Dad says he is certain that he is the only Ignatius with 2 improvisers as parents.

**Thanks Martin Boedicker for this name suggestion

by Heather Urquhart