Cheyenne Lewis: Solid Gold
Cheyenne Lewis: Solid Gold
https://youtube.com/shorts/cL2KYCjp1io?feature=share
I met Cheyenne Lewis at Endgames Improv sometime last year. Her fabulously funny troupe Chaos-A-Go-Go would practice Thursday evenings; I’d be fortunate enough to catch them in a happy banter there in the Training Center lobby before they’d traipse into their classroom and get down to it.
Cheyenne is truly a marvelous improviser to watch. She has such a wonderful, grounded energy that breeds such a trust among Chaos-A-Go-Go. This powerful energy meets with a dextrous, playful mind to create the wonderful talent of Cheyenne Lewis.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Cheyenne in the All Out Comedy Theater some 6 months hence, once I found out that she is a bona fide Taekwondo champ. I wanted to sit her down to talk similarities in the two practices, Taekwondo and Improv.
Our conversation has inspired me to challenge my relationship to unpredictability and aspire to a greater level of trust and confidence; accepting that “it’s all part of the course,” and practicing a more streamlined approach when it comes to assessing one’s performance after a practice or a show.
Enjoy these highlights from our conversation:
Anna: How do you react to unpredictability?
Cheyenne: If I had to answer it in the Taekwondo context, how I react to the unpredictability, I think I just kind of get into this flow state where I let my body kind of take over. So it's not necessarily at a conscious level where I'm like, they just did a fast kick. So I need to do this other kick. I just kind of am reacting in real time to what they're doing. I think once you have enough practice and enough reps under your belt, you can kind of just let your body take over naturally, knowing that you've put yourself in these situations before.
A: What about in the improv context?
C: How I approach reacting to other people is I just really, really have to listen first and then know that if I listen and absorb what the person is saying to me, that the reaction will come pretty naturally. But if you can get to a point where you're consistent enough, there becomes a point where running allows your mind to meditate and go to a place that is hard to achieve just by yourself, like just not doing anything.
A: What “extracurriculars” might a hopeful Taekwondo champ want to pursue?
C: You can really tap into your mental when you go for a fast-paced,challenging run, I find. And I think that mental fortitude that running builds is really good for martial arts.
A: How do you keep improving at improv?
C: I'm trying to go into every chance to play with some kind of focus. And then at the end, I check in with myself and I say, okay, did I do it? How did it go? What could go better next time? And I think that intentionality on the beginning and the end is really helpful for me right now.
Because I feel like when I try to focus and do all these different things, then nothing ends up happening. So I'm really just trying to simplify it for myself, work on one thing. And I find that my practices are good when I do that.
A: What do you like about working with Chaos-A-Go-Go?
C: I really like spontaneous and unpredictable things. Like I'm not really attached to anything. Like in my day-to -day, something comes up that's unexpected. Oftentimes it's seen as a negative thing, but I don't know, I kind of, I kind of like it. Sometimes, the thing is exceptionally bad. Maybe you get a flat tire or something. Obviously that's not something that you want to deal with, but I think I'm pretty good at responding to unpredictability. I enjoy an aspect of I-don't-know what's- going-to- happen when I do this activity or when I go to this place, I kind of like that. And I definitely like that with improv because I feel like the people on my team, on Chaos A-Go-Go, they think of things that I would never think of, have never thought of, won't think of again. And it just takes the show into such an incredible direction. I love that, even though it forces me to change where I was going or what I was doing.
Cheyenne gives a tip for getting re-connected with your breath:
https://youtube.com/shorts/l6Jy4CrMKao?feature=share