Hazel's Info
Hazel is an administrator by day and improviser by night. She has been improvising since 2006 and teaching improvisation since 2014, striving to combine what inspires her most: stories, connection, movement, courage, and joy. By teaching, coaching, and producing improvisation-related events (shows, workshops etc.), she is engaged in developing a collaborative, multilingual improvisation community in Helsinki, where she lives.In the past few years, Hazel has introduced newbies to the secrets of improv, led drop-in rehearsals on a variety of topics, started a local network for body, movement & improvisation, produced local improv events, and taught workshops in Finland and abroad.
Hazel performs with her team IMP, in Swedish, Finnish and English, and in 2016, she joined the improvAcademy Ensemble (based in Tampere, Finland). She has participated in a bunch of international improv festivals; teaching at Sweden Improvisation Festival (Uppsala) (twice) and Turku Impro Festival (Finland), and performing with IMP in Vasa and Turku (Finland), Tallinn (Estonia), Gothenburg (Sweden) and Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain). She has also taught workshops and given coaching sessions outside of festivals, in London, Dublin, Mumbai, and Bangalore.
Over the past 10 years, Hazel has trained in improv (short form & long form), acting, clowning, Playback theatre, and directing, with teachers of diverse backgrounds and philosophies, e.g.:
Susan Messing and Rachael Mason, the Annoyance Theatre;
Simon Edwards and Marian Masoliver at the Actors Space in Catalonia, Spain;
Ecole Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq;
Simo Routarinne (formerly at Stella Polaris) in Finland;
Shawn Kinley, the Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary, Canada;
Veronica Needa and Simon Floodgate, the School of Playback Theatre (United Kingdom);
Anthony Atamanuik, UCB (UCB Intensive 101).
Hazel is also a certified laughter yoga teacher (trained with the founder of Laughter Yoga, Dr. Madan Kataria in India) and has taught laughter yoga in various settings since 2009. To her laughter sessions, she adds applied improvisation in order to create an environment that encourages engagement, playfulness, and spontaneity.