A ciranda is a social dance with roots in the Brazilian Northeast. Today it has cultural and communal significance across many different groups and spaces in Brazil from political organizing fronts to primary schools, games, religious spaces, and performances.

Inspired by the ciranda’s transferral of energy, this workshop is designed for groups of people who are just getting to know each other but share a common goal. For example:

• A new cohort of students on the first day of school
• New neighbors
• Newly recruited members to an organizing effort

Co-opting the language of team building exercises in office environments, the workshop will task its participants to build a small slot chair and then reassemble them into a collective structure with the pieces from all members of the group. The chair-building exercise becomes a foundation for the practice of asset mapping, where group members must individually and communally reflect on their personal offerings and needs.

An asset is something that has great value to a person, group, or objective. Your personal assets involve the skills, resources, and connections that you develop in your own lifetime.

This workshop is currently in its prototyping phase. If you belong to a group that would benefit from the Ciranda Workshop, please contact to inquire about a testing session.

Documentation on this page is from a workshop in 2023 organized among workers at Duolingo in Pittsburgh.