Anytime you are dealing with children and adolescents who spend an enormous amount of time together, you are bound to hit rough patches, clicks, disagreements and gossip. It’s inevitable. What our dancers must remember is that they are team. They are an ensemble who should be supporting, relying on and lifting up one another- not pitting against each other or making the dance studio a place full of stress and anxiety. It should be their haven and joy. With so many personalities and growing pains occurring, compounded with this re-entering of socializing post COVID, it may take a minute to get everyone back into the swing of things and to gel cohesively.
While our training is important, so is a student’s well-being, mental health and feeling of belonging. Taking time to insert team building events into your curriculum is a way to “rally the troops” and bring everyone together. Below are three of my go-to team building exercises that I love doing with my dancers and are also a lot of fun. I have seen great results come from them and while it may take more than once to create the loving, inclusive vibe you want for your studio, making this habit and a studio- cultural norm will reinforce the mission of teamwork and camaraderie.
1. Pair students up with unlikely partners. Have them write, stream consciousness the things they admire about the other person. Have each dancer share with the class.
2. Friendship bracelets- bring in red string and affirmation charms (you can find them in large bundles on places like Amazon.) Pair older company dancers with younger dancers or apprentices. Have each of them choose a word or image on the charm which reminds them of the other person. Have them tie the bracelet onto their partner’s wrist as they explain why they chose it for them.
3. Choreography Share- Start class with a yoga, stretch, improv or guided meditation based lesson. Progress class into pairing students up with unlikely partners. Have them write out their partners name and associate a word with each one of the letters in their name. Use these words as a prompt to build a solo for their partner. Each dancer can then present and share the work as a gift to each other.
4. Community Service- Nothing joins people together more than doing things for others. Think of this as a gratitude exercise and a way to have all your dancers come together for a common purpose. How can they donate their time, together? Can they put together a clothing drive? Bake sale for an organization of their choosing? Performance for a nursing home or children’s hospital? Start a toy drive? Create a fundraiser for the studio or for team uniforms? Any of these will nudge them into having to work together and take the spotlight off of them for a minute and onto the project that is truly important.
Good luck!
See you in the dance studio,
Jess
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