How improvised is improv?

Improvisation plays a key role in many art forms, but how much of what we is see is truly spontaneous?
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Image: MoveMe.org.au 

Play and make-believe are integral to our development as children but as artists mature, an awareness of form, tradition and experience take on greater significance. Art works are shaped by the rules and structures specific to particular forms and genres, but even in the most formal environments improvisation still has a valuable role to play.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts