Dancing with Child Soldiers

Keywords
trauma, restoration, reconciliation, circle dance, group drama, grief, community integration

The DTAA wishes to thank John Feffer, editor of Foreign Policy in Focus, who very kindly gave us permission to reprint this article from the online journal of the Institute for Policy Studies. The article first appeared in Volume 4 number 24. See www.fpif.org

David introduced Sierra Leonean and Liberian counsellors to dance/movement therapy practice—in 2005, launching the first DMT group in West Africa; and in 2006, apparently the first DMT group anywhere for former child combatants. David’s psychosocial counselling team sought to merge two dominant models, synthesizing local knowledge with psychological practices that originated in the West, by helping the transformation of their suffering and rage through bodily engagement akin to ancient initiatory rites as well as through cognitive reframing and verbal processing. Powerful expressions of emotion and empathy emerged over months of group games, dancing and dramatisation, culminating in a healing group performance for their community. (pp 26-30)

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