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 is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts