Team-building activities in dance classes and discoveries from reflective essays

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to determine students’ perceptions of team-building activities within a university Latin dance course. Students (N = 30) completed an evaluation of the team-building activities and wrote reflective essays about their experiences in the course. The course consisted of twenty 90-minute classes. In the third class students were provided an information sheet describing the research. In the fourth class the students completed a demographics questionnaire. In classes 10–14 team-building activities took up roughly the first third of each class. In class 16 the students completed the evaluation. The reflective essays were submitted two weeks after the last class. Students agreed that the team-building activities helped to bond class members, and felt it was valuable for these activities to be included in the unit in the future. The reflective essays indicated the students felt the team-building activities improved interpersonal, dance, and personal mental skills.