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Absolution and defiance: utilizing dance/movement therapy in the healing journey of a survivor of human trafficking
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Absolution and defiance: utilizing dance/movement therapy in the healing journey of a survivor of human trafficking

Lara Elizabeth Tant
Master of Arts (M.A.), Drexel University
Jan 2020
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00000039
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Abstract

Dance therapy Movement therapy Human trafficking victims
The purpose of this performance-based culminating project was to promote social justice and advocacy through giving a voice to the lived experiences of the victims and survivors of human trafficking. This domestic population has been underrepresented in literature and underserved in practice. Dance/movement therapy (DMT) as a component of post-trafficking services created a safe space to use self-expression to improvise new narratives on the pathway to healing. The use of DMT provided the means to express and investigate deeply imprinted body trauma. The impact and efficacy of DMT witnessed in clinical practice was widespread across this population, not dependent upon the survivors' readiness to exit "the life," but instead supporting those still enmeshed with their traffickers as well as those working towards reintegration post-trafficking. However, this project focused on one survivor and describes how performance used witness as a method to help her reclaim her body when emerging from sexual slavery. By examining the method of dance performance as a tool in DMT for self- empowerment in the healing of sexual trauma, this project served to help one survivor find her voice and observe her effect on others, promoting her self-efficacy.

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