Circle of Chairs

Moving towards connection and delight

This roving, 12-minute audio-guided folk dance brings an intergenerational group of 12 people together for impromptu connection and delight. Each participant is equipped with a chair, headphones, and an audio device. Everyone hits “play” and begins following a series of simple physical prompts. A joyful choreography soon emerges, moving individuals away from distrust and anxiety towards ephemeral community. Circle of Chairs is intentionally held in public spaces to spark curiosity, creativity, and intimacy between and among people.

Circle of Chairs

Created by For You (Rowena Richie, Erika Chong Shuch, Ryan Tacata, Werd Pace)

 

How-to Guide

Browse this how-to guide to better understand how you can host a Circle of Chairs in your community, and download the audio files here.

 

Reflect and Practice

For many, the pandemic was a time of strict generational separation, exacerbating what was already a loneliness epidemic and surfacing the often-overlooked value of intergenerational connection.

As we emerge from this difficult period, social repair will require each of us to expand beyond our comfort zones with an open heart and forge meaningful connection across difference — to heal, and discover our shared humanity.

If you’ve used the tools above to host your own Circle of Chairs or expanded on the concept in your own way, what did you learn?

Offer your responses and see those of others’ below:

 

 

Return to the main page of the Cogenerational Social Healing Collection, a collaboration between On Being and CoGenerate.

You can also explore crowd-sourced submissions, or share your own, in our Community Garden (best experienced on desktop or in the Miro mobile app).


Illustration by Kasia Kubacha
Video by Sarah Wells
Produced by On Being and CoGenerate