The semester-long Improvisation course is already halfway through — and what a beautiful journey it has been so far. Reaching this point is always special: it's when the initial enthusiasm intersects with the first major challenges and begins to reveal, more clearly, the true work of the improviser. Not everything has been easy. Along the way, doubts, insecurities, high expectations, and many worries arise. The fear of failure, the desire to do well, the anxiety of living up

Músicos da Soundpainting Barreiro Improv Big Band e o soundpainter Mário Abel Improvisational theatre is, by nature, a space for human encounter. In it, artists construct narratives in the moment, without a pre-defined script, relying on listening, generosity, and collaboration. Soundpainting , a gestural language created by Walter Thompson in the 1970s, functions as a multidisciplinary "vocabulary" that allows for directing performers in real time. When these two practices

On October 25th , I was invited by Sandra Lopes from Refood Barreiro to lead her Volunteer Meeting , a moment of sharing, fun, and reflection on the power of improvisation inside (and outside) the rehearsal room. Refood is a community movement that combats food waste and hunger — a project driven by generous, committed people who are available to help others. It was in this spirit that I gave an interactive talk about the power of improvisation , showing how this practice

On November 22nd, the Augusto Cabrita Municipal Auditorium will host, for the first time on its stage, a multidisciplinary improvisation show – the Soundpainting Barreiro IMPROV BIG BAND. A show not to be missed, featuring music, dance, and theatre – entirely improvised! Soundpainting is a universal gestural language of real-time composition, created in 1974 by Walter Thompson in Woodstock, New York. Designed for artists of all disciplines – musicians, actors, dancers, visual

Imagine this: it's Monday, 9 AM, Zoom isn't working , the client is impatient, and you have spilled coffee on your shirt and think, " Today is not my day ." But... what if it was? What differentiates someone who sinks into stress from someone who finds a creative outlet is often the ability to put things into perspective —to look at a critical situation and say, “Okay, this happened. Now what?” This is where improvisation comes into play—not only on stage, but also in offi

But wait a minute... rules for improvisation? Is that okay? So isn't improvisation literally working from scratch? Then how can we have rules for something we don't know what it's going to be? Questions and more questions, issues that stick to the roof of our heads, unable to escape. But isn't improvisation ultimately "all haphazard"? The answer (although we don't like the word in the context of creation) is No. At first glance, it might seem strange: “Improvisation with rule

A "orquestra" ao fundo, e o Soundpainter de costas. If there's one thing that defines improvisation, it's the moment. The "now." The ability to create from what exists—or what doesn't yet exist. Within this fertile and constantly transforming universe, Soundpainting emerges as a fascinating and powerful tool for creating live compositions , blending theater, music, dance, and visual arts. But what exactly is Soundpainting ? Created in 1974 by Walter Thompson in the United

(Representação de um espetáculo de Commedia dell'Arte) Improvisational theatre, or simply IMPROV, is a form of theatre in which performances are created spontaneously, without a script, text, or prior planning. Actors develop scenes, dialogues, and actions in the moment, often based on suggestions from the audience or on simple, pre-established ideas. To do this, actors use unique techniques and tools that allow them to avoid the chaos of improvisation without rules. But let'

Last Saturday, the 22nd, we premiered our SOUNDPAINTING BARREIRO IMPROV BIG BAND at a well-attended AMAC, on a night where only a show like this can warm our souls and make us forget for a moment the cold of the late November night breeze. We had rock, somber music, the beauty of jazz (of course), one of the themes from RDR2, Killy and Billy, we explored the works of Van Gogh and cubism-parallelipedism, we desperately wished they would stop treating us like a plush toy, we re