Improvisation’s Invisible Design: On Not Swallowing Chaos Whole

I count 99% Invisible among my favorite podcasts. Sold with his warm, infectious voice, Roman Mars’s central idea, summed up recently in the “Brilliantly Boring” episode, is that “a hallmark of great design is that you don't notice it.” I think the same can be said of improvisation’s often exquisite formal dance. Improvisers claim loudly that they are just making things up, chaotically going in many directions discursively. A closer look, however, shows that amidst the chaos, formal design emerges.