Expert suggests dance therapy to combat COVID-19

Prof. Jeleel Ojuade, a Dance Drama Expert, has suggested the use of dance therapy to tackle Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Ojuade, who is also a lecturer, Performing Arts Department,  University of Ilorin, made the suggestion in a statement issued in commemoration of the World Dance Day.

He said that dance was a universal language capable of being used to defeat the ravaging disease, saying “ it has the potential to create unanimity of opinions, it can be explored to defeat this dreaded pandemic”.

Ojuade, who is also President, Association of Dance Scholars and Practitioners of Nigeria (ADSPON), said that COVID-19 remained a perilous challenge to the human race.

The don urged the international community to explore opportunities inherent in dance to alleviate the pain occasioned by the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Let us create the space to dance away Coronavirus, we can do this while observing social distancing and other rules established to tackle the disease.

“Dance is healthy and has the capacity to give life, fitness and mental health to everybody,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the World Dance Day is a creation of the dance committee of the International Theatre Institute (ITI), a UNESCO affiliate for performing arts.

The day was chosen to commemorate the French dancer, Jean-Georges Noverre, who lived between 1727 and 1810, and hailed to have created modern ballet. (NAN)