Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation, improv, or impro, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers.
IMPROV CLASSES
What is Improv?
Find the fun in improv class! Learn to create hilarious scenes with your teammates on the spot! Reconnect with your childlike senses of wonder and play!
Improv developed in the mid-20th century out of the experimental theater movement. Drawing inspiration from drama exercises designed for children, the pioneers of Improv explored concepts like “Yes, and…” and began creating improvised sketches from audience suggestions. Through play, a codified set of “rules” developed, and students of the original pioneers began to spread this new form of comedic performance, Improv, around the world!
Dallas Comedy Club’s Improv program is designed to help anyone reach their performance goals! Whether you aspire to perform avant-garde long form sets, or you just want to try something new, we’ve got a class for you!
About our Improv Classes
Our Improv program is designed to take you from novice to professional-level performer! Get out of your comfort zone and see where your Improv journey takes you. You might just fall in love with your newest hobby!
Level One Long Form
Reconnect with your sense of play! In a world full of “No, but…” become a beacon of “Yes, and…” Focus on positive choices, discover the truthful and wonderful characters that live inside each of us, and (most importantly) learn to trust that YOU are enough!
“I had a great time in Level One Long Form! What comes next?”
Level Two Long Form
You explored play in Level One Long Form, now let’s really explore the “rules” of Improv! Explore the mechanics of improv that help performers get to the funny thing faster. Level Two Long Form guides students through the patterns that allow performers to create engaging scenes, and teaches them how to spot these patterns to use them to their advantage.
Level One Short Form
Do you LOVE the warmup games and exercises you learned in Level One Long Form, but you’re not the biggest fan of scene work? Try Level One Short Form! Short Form Improv consists of short scenes based around the structure of a predetermined game. This course gives students an opportunity to practice the quick-thinking skills needed to excel in games.
Intermediate Levels
Level Three Long Form
You know the rules of Improv. Now learn the tools to build a great set with your team! Work towards longer scenes and learn how to put them together to form a cohesive show. Level Three Long Form explores the possibilities of what it means to work as a team to achieve greatness!
Level Two Short Form
You learned how to play games in Level One Short Form, so let’s dive into the philosophy of what makes a game fun and playable! Work on more challenging games with your teacher as a coach. Finish your Short Form education with a final showcase featuring original games your class created together!
Advanced Levels
Level Four Long Form
Level Four Long Form is the first of DCC’s Advanced Improv classes. Students who have shown proficiency in levels one through three are invited to learn the most famous Improv format in the world: The Harold. Similar to the structure of many classic sitcoms, this format creates opportunities for multiple related storylines within an Improv set.
Admission to Level Four Long Form is by application and requires at least one letter of recommendation from a DCC instructor. Students who are not accepted to Level Four Long Form are permitted to retake Level Three Long Form twice at a discounted rate.
Level Five Long Form
The final level of DCC’s Long Form Improv program, Level Five Long Form focuses on individualized feedback for each student to help them be the best performer they can be! This is our “finishing school” level, and includes five performance opportunities for students to get instructor feedback on real shows. Level Five graduates have the tools they need to create and produce shows and manage a team post-graduation.
Upcoming Level Five Long Form Classes
See a Long Form Show
Try Long Form
What’s the difference between Long Form Improv and Short Form Improv?
We teach two styles of Improv at Dallas Comedy Club: Long Form and Short Form. Both styles require performers to make up everything on the spot, but the performance itself looks different depending on the style.
Long Form Improv
Long Form improv consists of a series of 3-5 minute long scenes that are often interrelated by story, characters, or themes. Long Form shows get their structure from formats, which determines the type and sequence of the scenes. Many famous comedic actors, including Will Ferrell and Tina Fey, got their start in Long Form Improv!
Short Form Improv
Short Form Improv consists of short scenes (usually no longer that 2-3 minutes in length) that use the rules of a game to determine their structure. Each game is driven by audience suggestions.
The most popular example of Short Form Improv is the popular TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway?
See a Short Form Show
Try Short Form
