A Youth Performing Arts Experience: Psychological Experiences, Recollections, and the Desire to Do It Again

Stage Challenge is a performing arts competition for New Zealand secondary schools. This longitudinal study used observations, repeated questionnaires, informal conversations, and a graffiti board to follow the 5-month experience of a student-led girls' team aged 10 to 17 years (n = 103). The focus was on the quality of their experience and what contributed to and detracted from their desire to repeat it in future. Stage Challenge was affectively positive, provided flow experiences and a sense of integrity for participants. Integrity played a particularly strong role in students' desire to repeat the experience. The experience was socially intense and produced both a sense of togetherness and frustration as a result. Implications for youth performing arts activities are discussed. (Contains 3 figures and 2 tables.)