INTEGRITY JOURNAL OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES
Integrity Research Journals
ISSN: 2811-2407
Model: Open Access/Peer Reviewed
DOI: 10.31248/IJAH
Start Year: 2020
Email: ijah@integrityresjournals.org
Dance therapy and psychosocial treatment: An Internally Displaced Persons (IDPS) camp experimental study from Ichwa-Makurdi, Benue State of Nigeria
https://doi.org/10.31248/IJAH2025.210 | Article Number: 483CC5725 | Vol.6 (3) - June 2025
Received Date: 24 March 2025 | Accepted Date: 29 April 2025 | Published Date: 30 June 2025
Author: Awuawuer, Tijime Justin
Keywords: therapy, Dance, psychosocial, displaced persons.
Dance therapy is a form of rehabilitation that uses physical movement to promote the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of people with special needs. Thus, this paper employs a pragmatic approach to generate its findings from the THA 451 (Theatre, Drama, and Dance Therapy) Workshop with the Ichwa Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Camp in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria, by the students of the Theatre Arts Department of the Benue State University, Makurdi. Using qualitative and participatory approaches, the workshop was able to get results from members of the IDP camp. The Forum Theatre approach was also used to induce personal experiences from the participants, which revealed the potency of dance as having healing powers, physically, socially, and psychologically. The paper thus recommends that government and humanitarian bodies should not only attend to the financial and material needs of the internally displaced persons, but also use dances as a form of psychosocial therapy.
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