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Exercises/Relationship Mapping/Reverse Chair Dance
Relationship Mapping

Reverse Chair Dance

Reverse Chair Dance is a relationship mapping exercise that helps participants build useful connections and understand how people, roles, or ideas relate.

5 to 15 minutesTIME
Medium group (9-25)GROUP SIZE
ActiveENERGY
In person, RemoteSETTING
Low cognitive loadCOGNITIVE LOAD
Strengthens Network Design This relationship mapping exercise strengthens Network Design, one of the eight Gathering Effectiveness pillars.

How to run it

  1. search Start by placing chairs in a circle, one chair less than the number of players.
  2. Play music, and have the players dance around the chairs.
  3. When the music stops, everyone should find a chair to sit on.
  4. In the end, all players will have to find a way to not to touch the ground, by climbing and c
  5. Start by placing chairs in a circle, one chair less than the number of players.
Live facilitator

Run this exercise live

The facilitator console stays in this browser. Its QR handoff is a short-lived participant snapshot containing only public exercise instructions, phase, prompt, and timer state.

Prompts to use +

search Start by placing chairs in a circle, one chair less than the number of players.

Play music, and have the players dance around the chairs.

When the music stops, everyone should find a chair to sit on.

In the end, all players will have to find a way to not to touch the ground, by climbing and c

Start by placing chairs in a circle, one chair less than the number of players.

Run this with your AI assistant +

Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: Reverse Chair Dance. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: search Start by placing chairs in a circle, one chair less than the number of players.; Play music, and have the players dance around the chairs.; When the music stops, everyone should find a chair to sit on.; In the end, all players will have to find a way to not to touch the ground, by climbing and c. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.

Origin unverified

  • Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from Improv Encyclopedia; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (1 source observed, including Improv Encyclopedia.)
  • What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
  • No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
  • Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.

Pairs well with