» American TNA wrestling superstar Kurt Angle says his sport is no pantomime
But one of the sport’s best loved – and most successful – characters insists that critics who claim it’s all fake have got it wrong.
“Oh I’d say about 50% is scripted, for entertainment, but the other half is made up while you’re out there,” Kurt explains.
That other 50% is to do the opposite of entertain, I guess.
Someone should tell Kurt Angle that improv is still acting.
Not quite. Musicians can improvise just as much as actors. Maybe, ‘improv is still artistry’?
Jazz is the most obvious example. In jazz you have the planned head (main melody), and then people improvise off of that. The musicians have a set parameter of chords to work within, which usually coincide with the main melody (so if a head has 7 chord changes, all of the solos will traditionally work within those same 7 chord changes… sort of like a road map). So the soloist gets a run at the chords for however long (typically any given number of repetitions of the 12 or 16 bar set of chords). You play off the audience, just like Kurt said. Maybe it fits to have a bombastic solo in a mid tempo song… or maybe less is more, even in a song with a fast moving rhythm section, and the musician spaces out his solo amongst the fervor of a quick accompaniment. Once each participating soloist gets a shot, the head (main melody) is brought back, and the song closes out… just as he describes the finish to a match.
Actually, to Kurt’s interpretation, the artistry of a jazz improvisation (Jazz being another pure American art form that is somewhat pushed aside by American mainstream culture… sound familiar?) could be more accurate to compare to this type of wrestling match than an actor going through an improv. A portion of a jazz piece (the head) is scripted and goes to a set plan that everyone is aware of before the performance, in order to hook people… to entertain. After that, the musicians take over and make it their own.
(Source: internationalobject)
