I firmly believe that we have to do things that scare us to grow ourselves. I was invited to perform with a comedy group for a show supporting the arts around my local area. Growing up, I was a competitive dancer. I always had to think on my feet physically, not mentally. It doesn't help that I am not a funny person naturally, so I was shocked that I was invited by one of my dearest friends. I have a fear of speaking in public (hence I am a writer), so it's weird to see me on a stage with no memorized lines thinking on my feet. I'm thankful that I was able to participate with this group of amazing humans because, without them, I probably wouldn't have done this.
Being a dancer, I never had to speak on stage before unless it was in a collective group. My voice was lost in the group of people so I never had to worry about how stupid I sound. The only other time in my entertainment career that I had to think of my feet mentally was when I did a high school pageant which I lost and the interview went terrible. After doing this school, It showed me that I am able to speak in front of people and not stutter because of nerves. Having multiple personalities on stage and people who knew what they were doing, we weren't "booed" off of the stage. Doing the show, makes me want to go to workshops to continue to work on comedy. When I watch comedians now, I have so much more respect for their art then I did. I would love to see everyone go up on a stage to tell a story and have the audience laugh.
The show that we did was mostly with the dancer community and we were the only improv comedy group. It was an interesting dynamic because the audience was mostly Dance Moms and friends of the performers. Everyone knows about Dance Mom stereotypes. I could feel the collective ignorance of what we were trying to portray in the beginning. Honestly, I understand because we didn't set the scene until we had to have a volunteer from the audience come help with our show.
The show was a 70's style dating show with my friend, the volunteer and myself as the contestants. The bachelor, the host, and the cameraman were the other 3 people. The questions were simple but our answers had to be funny. My answers could have been thought out better, but it was only my first time. I am so thankful for the group of people I performed with because once I went out on stage, I was terrified. They made the show more comfortable as it went on. If you ever meet a comedian or see comedy improv, give them your respect and a firm handshake because they deserve it. Putting together and performing comedy is harder than you think.
