Improvisation is Tao in Western ContextWritten by Bright Su – This article is from AIM Issue 2 (released November 2023). In the hot summer of 1990...I was about to take the Gaokao, the college entrance exam in China. It was a big deal and I was in fight mode. That day, my grandma handed me a bottle of tea and said, “Relax and do what you can, not necessarily the best. If you are nervous, breathe deep and drink tea.” “Don’t do your best?! Of course, I will do my best!” I thought to myself, not wishing to argue with my grandma. I grabbed the bottle and walked fast to school. Over the next three days, I tried hard, slept poorly and rushed my exams in seven subjects. It turned out to be…well…I underperformed and was offered a place only in a tier 2 college. I kind of failed. Does this sound familiar? We might recall late improvisation master Keith Johnstone advocating, “Be average,” and “Be obvious.” He noted, “Please don’t do your best. Trying to do your best is trying to be better than you are.” This is exactly in line with Tao. Tao Te Ching says, “The Tao never strives, yet nothing is left undone.” (Chapter 37, 道常无为而无不为). It equates to saying, “The Tao never does anything, yet through it all things are done.” The core teaching is Wuwei (无为) which translates as “non-doing” or “effortless doing”. Johnstone even quotes the Chinese scripture in his seminal book, Impro (1979, p. 20): “The sage keeps to the deed that consists in taking no action and practices the teaching that uses no words…. When his task is accomplished and his work done the people all say, ‘It happened to us naturally’….” When we are busy doing, trying our hardest, we are less capable of being. Human being is being human. Just as flowing water does not compete for first place, so we have our own nature and ways of being wise. Johnstone is suggesting that being our average and normal selves is truer to our nature. Improvisation is Tao in a western context. Improvisation is The Way. The Way is bigger than the Milky Way: It is universal wisdom. One key improvisation principle is “Yes, and…” and that too, aligns with Tao. I see it as Tao’s Yin and Yang: “Yes” is Yin (passive, acceptive, shadow, empathetic, feminine); “and” is Yang (active, providing, shine, determinative, masculine). There are so many (heated) arguments about the form, names and rules in improvisation. Whose improv is it anyway? If we understand improvisation as Tao, we may reach peace. Tao Te Ching’s first sentence states, “The Tao that can be told is not the enduring Tao. The name that can be named is not the enduring name.” (道可道， 非常道。名可 名，非常名。) The same can be said of improvisation. When we introduce an improvisation rule, such as “Yes, and…” or “Don’t ask questions,” the rule is not the enduring improvisation. Improvisation also allows for opposites, such as “Yes, but…”, “No, but…”, or “Ask a lot of questions.” When we categorize improvisation under names, such as “Harold” or “Montage,” that too is never the enduring improvisation. It encompasses more forms than any list of names can contain. Even when improvisation manifests in language, it is limiting, telling only one side of the story. When Viola Spolin says in Improvisation for the Theater 3e (1999, p. 3), “Everyone can act. Everyone can improvise. Anyone who wishes to can play in the theater and learn to become ‘stageworthy’,” we see her point and appreciate the invitation. But anyone who has sat through a few bad improv shows also knows that not everyone should be performing in front of an audience! Any rule, form or linguistic expression manifests or points to certain aspects of improvisation and cannot be the totality. True improvisation is rule less, formless and beyond language. In a philosophical nutshell, Spolin’s approach to improvisation is Zen (Mindfulness), while Johnstone’s approach is Tao (Wuwei). These are two different yet overlapping paths. Spolin again sums it up wonderfully: “The heart of improvisation is transformation.” (1999, p. 39) In July 2001, another hot summer, I was about to attend my MBA program in the US. Everything was ready except the visa, and I knew that many applicants were being denied. My grandma had passed away by then, but her words were still with me. I patiently waited in line at the US consulate for the visa interview, taking deep breaths and sipping my tea. And yes, I talked to the officer for three minutes, effortlessly. It was a success. I’ve been fortunate to incorporate my spiritual practice with my improvisation journey. Improvisation is Zen and Tao in a western context. Play is my visa to inner freedom. And improvisation is the way to…anywhere…everywhere.
About the Author: Bright SuBright grew up in China, has lived in the US since 2001, and began studying improvisation in 2008. He is the author of Ji Xing Xi Ju (Improvisational Theatre), a 432-page book in Chinese about improvisation, published in 2020. He serves as Editor-in-Chief for the Applied Improvisation Magazine (AIM). (Read more from our magazine issues: click here to access our article database.) (Last Updated: Wednesday, January 28th, 2026) |