BIODANZA- AN OVERVIEW

Biodanza, which means Dance of Life, is a system that integrates music, movement and authentic interactions to provide experiences of intense perception of being alive in the here-and-now. These experiences are known as "vivencias", coined from the Spanish root: vivir (to live).

Vivencias are doors to access primal emotions and help movement emerge that is the most natural expression of your true self. Vivencias follow the organic movements of life—its biological rhythms, the pulse of the heart, and the impulse to connect with others.

Continuous exposure to Biodanza strengthens your identity and relationship with life. The practice of Biodanza happens through two hour weekly classes and weekend workshops. The experience is mostly non-verbal, which opens participants' communication and connection regardless of their socio-cultural background.

No dance experience is necessary.

The Dance of Life

Biodanza is a system that follows the natural rhythms and wisdom of life. The prefix "Bio" derives from the Greek "Bios," meaning "life." "Danza" originally signifies "integrated movement full of intention".

Biodanza is an invitation to explore life with authentic simplicity and enhance your natural potentials to further your Emotional Health.

Biodanza has evolved over the last four decades in Latin America and Europe under the vision of founder Rolando Toro Araneda.

La Vivencia

To practice Biodanza means to participate in regular, weekly classes called "Vivencias". The term “Vivencia” also relates to an intense perception of being alive, a vividly felt experience in the here-and-now. A "Vivencia" awakens the intuition of living the moment.

Biodanza sessions, or "Vivencias," are usually held in a big enough space to move freely. They can also be practiced outdoors, in contact with nature, and in body-temperature water.

Each Biodanza class is different from the other, as it uses a different sequence of a selection of more than 300 dances or exercises. Usually, each session will consist of 10 to 14 dances or exercises, thoughtfully stringed into a coherent sequence. Each individual dance or exercise has a specially selected music, from a library of about 1000 "officially designated" musical pieces.

These are pieces as varied as our human emotions, ranging from classical to pop, in a musical journey that can take us from R&B, soul and rock to lounge, chill and electronica. The important issue here is that the musical piece must allow and call for an integration of feeling and movement: it needs to deflagrate an emotion. If a musical piece is disturbing, dissociative, or if it leaves you cold, you will certainly NOT find it in Biodanza.

The typical format of a "Vivencia" or Biodanza Session is non-verbal, after a verbal opening circle to share thoughts and feelings with the group. The main, non-verbal part has different phases, carefully designed to respect human physiology:

It usually begins with a circle to connect with each other and create a common energy field with the group.

The following dances invite you to intuitively express yourself through movement induced by music, in deep connection with a partner, the group, and yourself.

Creative, lively and rhythmic dances in gradual connection with others lead to gentle affective-motor integration.

The “vivencia” softly evolves into an inward-felt phase, which brings about joyful body-awareness and intuitive expression of feelings.

Dances heightening your perception of the interconnectedness of life wrap up the session in a shared, naturally felt celebration.

Emotional Health

According to Rolando Toro, creator of Biodanza, human potential expresses itself through five main categories, which he calls "Lines of Vivencia." These five Lines of Vivencia are:

Vitality
Creativity
Affectivity
Sensuality
Transcendence

These five dimensions usually do not equally develop to their full potential:
You may be very vital but have little creativity.
You may be an expert feeling pleasure in everything you do, but feel disconnected from the forces of the universe.
You may meditate with ease, but have difficulties expressing your love with other fellow human beings.
The practice of Biodanza in regular, weekly "vivencias” or classes, stimulates the lesser-developed dimensions while consolidating the more manifested ones.

Vitality

Vitality relates to the experience of movement and the sensation of your own vital energy, your drive and impetus. At the same time it is your organism’s capacity to sustain a healthy balance between activity and rest.

Creativity

This is the dimension of your playful nature and the capacity to articulate yourself in your own unique way, your instinct to explore new behaviors, break out of old patterns and renew your life.

Sensuality

This dimension corresponds to the sphere of our emotional intimacy, to our capacity to feel pleasure in our movements, through all of our senses. It is our lively and passionate impulse to fully embrace all that constitutes an enjoyment, a blissful reward for our existence.

Affectivity

It is our ability to demonstrate love, care, solidarity, generosity, sense of belonging and of fraternity. Tenderness, as an expression of our affectivity, represents the pulsating heart of our identity.

Transcendence

The most subtle human function associated with all internal sensations of abundance, expansion and spiritual union with all life forms. It is the ability to feel as part of humanity, of nature and of the universe.

Origin

Rolando Toro Araneda, a clinical psychologist and anthropologist from Chile, developed the Biodanza System. In 1965, he held the chair of Expressive Arts at the Pontifical University of Chile, Institute of Aesthetics, and was teaching at the Center for Anthropological Medical Studies of the Medical School at the University of Chile.

In the Psychiatric Hospital of Santiago, he began investigating the effect of music and dance on psychiatric patients. The Center for Medical and Anthropological Studies, led by Professor Francisco Hoffman had the mission of evaluating diverse techniques of psychotherapy to humanize medicine: Psychotherapy in line with Carl Roger's person-centered approach, art therapy, psychodrama, Gestalt, music therapy, and others.

Toro's approach included physical activity and the stimulation of emotions with dance and human encounters. He began with harmonious and slow dances with closed eyes to induce harmony and quietness. The observation revealed that these exercises had the opposite effect: They easily induced inward states in patients. In these cases, the hallucinations and deliriums accentuated and could last many days.

Without doubt, the patients who by definition had a poorly integrated identity, dissociated more under the influence of movements that induced an inward state. This apparently negative result suggested a strong mobilization of the unconscious. In following sessions, he introduced keyed up dances with happy rhythms that stimulated their motor response. The result was a remarkable increase of the capacity to judge reality. The deliriums and hallucinations vanished.