Rune Jacobson is a tai chi martial artist and qigong instructor in the Hudson Valley.
TFLL: Tell us how you got into the performing arts and martial arts.
RUNE: My mom kind of got me into doing dance when I was 8 or 9 years old. I think she fantasized that I would be a ballet dancer because there weren’t a lot of male ballet practitioners. I think she thought it was going to be her fantasy for me, so I studied ballet for a while.
I took ballet classes, but what ended up happening was I got beat up in school because I was taking ballet. Then there was a girl who was staying with us at the time, a teenager that my mom was taking care of, and she suggested that I go and study martial arts. So that’s how I got started doing martial arts. Once I started practicing martial arts, no one ever bothered me anymore and I never got into any fights.
TFLL: What inspired you to take theatre improvisation?
RUNE: I wasn’t really inspired. Linda was teaching the class and I think I was in a strange place in my life. I was kind of bored and she’s like, “Come to this class. Just do something.” And I was like, “Okay, I’ll be engaged in something,” because I have a tendency to be pretty anti-social. I often don’t want to engage with anybody. It was good because I can also be very theatrical and expressive, so it was kind of fun that way.
I think it’s pretty cool from my perspective of being 20 or 30 years younger than the majority of the people that were in that class. There are definitely different social structures that are programmed for people. I think that’s kind of interesting, because if you have a big age differential in an improv class, you get to see how people’s structures kind of fall apart. And sometimes that can be really interesting for everybody because then it frees things up.
Improv is a structure buster, right? I think it’s a structure buster both ways, and you get to see certain dogmatic views that fall apart as you start to open up to the idea of improvising and being more free with your expression.
TFLL: What were you challenged by in the classes and what new skills did you develop?
RUNE: I don’t know if I really developed any new skills per se, but I think the mode of being expressive is not something that I’m necessarily engaged in all the time. What I would get out of it is fun and being reminded that having fun is okay.
Having fun in a social setting doesn’t have to be threatening, because it can be. I think there’s a fear barrier, in terms of creative expression, that you have to pass through. That’s the main thing that I get out of improv. It’s not altogether natural to be stuck and not expressing yourself.
However, at the same time that’s something that we all do to a certain degree. When you’re pushed into a structure that’s trying to bust that, it allows you to see some of your blockages or fears, in terms of expression. It also encourages you to pass through that, and then, when you do, it can be very freeing.
Sometimes the barrier for being creative or expressing is pretty much the same as if you’re going to teach something, or if you’re going to offer something where someone has to go through that veil of self-consciousness. The main thing with improv is that you have to go past that. If you become less ego self-aware and more expressive, without barrier, that’ll pretty much free anything and any situation up.
It can also cause problems If you’re poking at people’s structures which is certainly something that I have a tendency to do. You know what is a hard limit and what is like to have a flexible boundary. But if somebody puts up a hard limit, don’t try to poke the hard limit. I wonder about that to some degree.
In my profession as a tai chi instructor, it’s my job to constantly point at the stuck place. There are definitely places where you push and people can’t give, so you have to intuitively gauge that. That’s something that we can constantly adjust and that’s very personal. I think that’s a similarity between what I do and improv. If you’re following these veins, you’ll hit a point where someone just won’t go. Then that’s where you need to go. Obviously, that’s what needs to be worked on, and you have to figure out ways to do that are non-threatening, or to get people to open up or whatever. That’s challenging and interesting to get people to change and motivate themselves without feeling threatened.
TFLL: I have had an experience related to what you are talking about. I was leading an improv workshop and one of the people had an outburst. At that time, I had experienced push back from participants before, but not something as extreme as, “I don’t want to be here anymore.” There wasn’t anything particularly threatening and we were just playing a game, but that person felt challenged to the extent that they shut down.
RUNE: Yes, it can be challenging. There are times when I’m working with someone on tai chi and I figure out what is not working, for example, somebody’s posture. I see what the problem is and correct them. Sometimes they never come back because they couldn’t do it and they were not ready for feedback. I kind of think that’s not my problem. It’s not my responsibility. I just provide the data. If you want to do this work, this is what it is. It’s not comfortable.
A lot of times, if you’re getting something done in an emotional way or in a mental way, or if you’re changing something that’s blocked, it’s often initially uncomfortable. If people aren’t into doing that, then you have to simplify things and that’s not very fun.
TFLL: What is the most memorable moment that you had in your class with older adults?
RUNE: There was some theater that I did which was very animated physically, but I don’t remember particularly what it was. I think I was imitating an animal, and the other students were very entertained by it.
TFLL: It might have been the time we were playing monkeys. I remember you jumping on the chairs and using your entire body to physicalize “monkeyness” which helped other students let go and have fun with their own monkeys.
TFLL: What is the best piece of advice that you’ve ever given or received about theatre?
RUNE: “Yes, and…” That’s it. You just have to do that because it has to keep going. It has to be cyclical.
TFLL: What would you tell someone who’s never taken a theater class before?
RUNE: Go for it. Try to have a good time. The only advice is to just have fun and explore. In a way, I don’t think it’s really designed to produce anything other than expression, so you can’t really go wrong.
Very interesting perspective of learning through improv/theatre.
I could identify with much of experiences described!
There is freedom of expression and therefore emotional awareness that is the bi-product of improv.
Highly entertaining and therapeutic!