Soca Dance as a Therapeutic Tool for Mental Health and Overall Well-Being

by Ms La Shaun Baird

Mental health and wellness have been increasingly highlighted as priorities during post-pandemic discourse. There has also been a dearth of academic publications on soca dance – a genre indigenous to Trinidad and Tobago. Taking these two factors into consideration, this research seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of soca dance as a therapeutic tool for mental health and overall well-being.

Through a mixed methods approach in ethnography, Likert surveys and observation logs, statistical analysis will be used for a focus group class over a three-month period, as well as interviews with additional soca dance practitioners across the globe. Data collection and analysis will also be done for existing classes outside of the focus group towards establishment of trends in the overall well-being of class participants.

With regard to the application of the study in Trinidad, it is hoped that this work will assist in proper documentation of the history and development of soca dance, archiving and preservation of our cultural work locally, as well as passing on knowledge to future generations.

This research seeks to provide additional literature on soca dance, that can be used as learning resources for students and researchers in dance in Trinidad and Tobago as well as the wider Caribbean. It will provide a narrower lens, where dance students and interested researchers can learn not only from the expanse of publications that is available about the history of dance in Europe and the United States, but also have documented information on a dance form indigenous to Trinidad and Tobago.

Wednesday 23 September, 2026 at 1:00 p.m.

ZOOM | CLICK HERE to attend

La Shaun is a choreographer, performer and Assistant Professor of Dance at The Academy for the Arts, Culture and Letters at UTT. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, a Master of Science in Economics from the University of the West Indies, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy, exploring soca dance as a therapeutic tool for mental health and wellness.

From 2007 until its closure after the pandemic, she served as Founder and Artistic Director of the dance company Elle InfiniTT. Her professional touring career spans Europe, Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean, including seven years as lead dancer and choreographer with Machel Montano, as well as performing across twenty-two states in the USA with international artiste Pitbull.

La Shaun has also taught Soca Dance, Caribbean Contemporary and dance fitness workshops across the globe including Japan, South Africa, Australia, Canada, France, the UK, the USA, and throughout the Caribbean. Most recently, she presented choreography and performed in the FIER Ethnic Roots Festival in San Andres, Columbia.