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  • The Guardian

    Dine like Da Vinci, unleash your inner diva – 101 ways the arts can slightly improve your life

    Stage If you’re seeing something long and challenging, remember that having an alcoholic drink beforehand is asking for trouble. So be sure to do it.
    Jul 25, 2022 14 minutes

    Stage

    If you’re seeing something long and challenging, remember that having an alcoholic drink beforehand is asking for trouble. So be sure to do it.

    Decorate a room as if you’re a set designer, letting your imagination run wild. As William Morris said, bin whatever isn’t useful or beautiful.

    Study your favourite standup and learn their best joke off by heart. It’s not just about making your friends laugh: comedy teaches confidence and communication.

    Feeling sad, happy, angry, nervous? There’s a showtune for that! From Evan Hansen to Alexander Hamilton to Mary Poppins, find a character whose feelings mirror yours – then unleash that emotion.

    Improvisation isn’t just some zany thing comedians do on telly. It’s a philosophy, as Pippa Evans’ recent book Improv Your Life shows. When you’re thrown a curveball, deviate from your standard script. Instead of “No but” say “Yes and”. Your positivity will be rewarded.

    Offer yourself to companies that provide TV audiences, eg SRO. You could see your favourite comedians for free, and hear your own embarrassingly loud laughter when the show airs.

    Improve your mood by improving your posture. And what better example than all those upright spines in ballet? The Silver Swans videos, by the Royal Academy of Dance, are aimed at over 55s but could work for anyone. It will be one giant leap not just in stance, but in how you view your body, every single energised bit of it.

    Stop idly googling at mealtimes. Go down a better YouTube hole and be uplifted by superhuman spinners. Recommended: Mikhail Baryshnikov’s 11 pirouettes in White Nights, Tamara Rojo’s 32 fouettés in Swan Lake or the uncountable headspins of 14-year-old B-girl Terra .

    Learn two lines of a Shakespeare soliloquy every day while brushing your teeth, morning and night. Within a month, you’ll have the whole thing – an entire party piece!

    Off on a first date? Ask what would Romeo or Juliet would do. Worried about a presentation? Work out how Mark Antony would handle it. Turning down a romantic proposition? Channel Yelena’s glacial spirit in Uncle Vanya. Want to take confrontations to the next level with your irritating spouse? Think Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

    When you feel a slump coming on, watch dance sensation Hannah Lowther’s supermarket routines on TikTok. High kicks

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