National Dance Company donates to Psychiatric Hospital

The National Dance Company (Ghana Dance Ensemble) on Wednesday marked International Dance Day with a donation and artistic performance for the inmates of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital.

The event, which was to entertain the inmates and foster a greater sense of belonging to the society, saw the dance ensemble entertain staff and patients with traditional music and dance.

The National Dance Company also presented items including clothes, shoes, boxes of soap, disinfectants and antiseptics, boxes of toothpaste and brushes.

The allure of watching the performance of the Ensemble proved to be too much for some of the enthused patients as they eventually deserted their seats and joined in the dancing.

Ms Beatrice Nyarko, a Principal Nursing Officer of the hospital, expressed gratitude to the Ghana Dance Company for organising the event.

“We are grateful to them for giving us something out of the ordinary because the routine here is to eat, sleep and take your medication,” she said.

Nii-Tete Yartey, Artistic Director of the National Dance Company, said the theme for this year’s International Dance Day: “Dance, a Relevant Tool for National Development”, was to highlight the importance of dance as a catalyst for socio-economic development, beyond its entertainment role.

He cited a study by Richard Powers, published in the England Journal of Medicine, which showed that dancing offer protection against dementia and Alzheimer’s disease by as much as 76 per cent, compared to some other recreational activities.

International Dance Day, which is celebrated yearly on April 29, was introduced in 1982 by the International Dance Council, a partner organisation of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.