There are few things in the world that are incredibly fun while being good for the body, mind and soul. Biodanza, dance with life, is one of them.

Dance with Life

 ‘Have you ever danced until you flew? Danced so hard, so fast, so freely that you reach a level of overwhelming, ecstatic joy?’ asked Mike Aldridge in Ecstasy Through Dance. ‘If you haven’t you should – it can change your life.’

Well you can with Biodanza, and it will change your life. Meaning dance with life, it is a fusion of music, movement and emotion. And studies have shown it to be a wonderful form of personal development as it raises your capacity to communicate and improves the quality of your relationships as well as your sense of well-being and happiness.

‘To investigate Biodanza is like investigating a treasure deep in the ocean or to watch an indefinite universe full of incredible, beautiful miracles,’ wrote psychologist Dr M Stueck, who was part of an academic research study of the phenomenon in Argentina and Germany. It found that it had deep therapeutic value as it took the person away from the psychological practice of ‘talk, talk’ and into their bodies and feelings.

Sense of Joy

Biodanza is simple, direct and immediate; opening people’s sense of joy, self-esteem and self-confidence the moment the session begins. And in a few minutes participants have accessed the sparkle of their inner-child, which they then take away into their daily lives.

This is the heart of Biodanza as it is a structured, holistic discipline designed to make life more joyful and fun. As you get into it you start accessing your inner-self to explore the things that make you happy and change the aspects that are less positive.

Seven Powers of Biodanza

The reason Biodanza works is because it integrates seven existential powers that influence our being. These are:

o   Music power. This is a response to the music that is playing within us: our heartbeat, our breathing, our movements. They call this ‘organic music’ as it has a biological origin; and it has fluidity, harmony, rhythm, tone and music that give us a sense of integration within ourselves.

o   Dance power. Biodanza has about 250 exercises and dances to activate movement in a harmonic and integrative way. The origin of dance is movement and ‘to move’ in response to music is second nature to all of us as we move from the moment of conception.

o    Vivencial power. This overcomes disassociation induced by modern living as it brings about different emotional nuances such as euphoria, eroticism, tenderness and interior peace. It is, however, different from emotion in that it is an experience that integrates our entire existence; allowing us to transcend our ego and live in the moment. There are five vivencia flows – vitality, sensuality, creativity, affectivity and transcendence. By harnessing these you can reach out for what you need and want in life and then go beyond yourself.

o   Power of caress. Biodanza has been called the ‘poetry of the human encounter.’ People do not exist in solitude and verbal connection with others is not enough. Contact and connection is essential, which in Biodanza takes place through dance. We all need to be acknowledged through ‘touch’, but this has been much abused in society so we need to be reeducated to reestablish an environment of trust and safety.

o    Trance power. This is a modified state of consciousness away from the ego towards primordial rebirth.

o    Consciousness expansion power. Here perception is amplified to allow reconnection with the universe through music, dance and caress. Through this the five senses are awakened by an ecstatic, natural journey into the soul through the activation of neurotransmitter mechanisms that occur naturally in our bodies and induce a similar effect to drugs such as LSD. It is about living the ‘supreme experience’ through a new sense of life that is integrated with our environment.

o    Group power. Through the power of encounter we change our attitudes and human relationships form.

Rolando Toro Araneda

While Biodanza appears anarchic, it is a deeply structured system to develop a love and joy for life. It was founded by Chilean psychiatrist, academic, African art collector, poet and artist Rolando Toro Araneda in the 1960s.

‘Biodanza arose in my personal experience and soon I discovered that its structure could be based in the life sciences and most particularly in biology,’ he explained. ‘I believe that there were many forces manifested within me to finally create this coming together of art, science and love.’

Ill from Civilisation

Biodanza is now practiced around the world and such is its impact that Rolando Toro was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. ‘The Second World War showed that humanity could reach inconceivable levels of perversity,’ he said. ‘Events such as the holocaust of millions of people under fascism and the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki revealed how far the degradation of the human race could go. The crisis of western culture was obvious – the global vision of human beings as “ill from civilisation”.

‘On the other hand, I have lived experiences of ecstasy, in a mysterious and marvellous world. I have had children. I have made contact with the first ecological groups. Faced with the abyss created by human contradictions, I felt a desire to conquer paradise, a shared paradise. I could not conceive of a solitary evolution. I wanted to find the source of original love.’

The Purest Truth

‘Everyone, for centuries, had heard about “love for our fellow man” as the purest truth of Christianity,’ . The manifestation of human behaviour, however, had become increasingly dissociated and violent. Music was the universal language, the only thing everyone could understand in the Tower of Babel of the world.

‘Dance was the ideal form capable of integrating body and soul. The dance experience offered all participants happiness, tenderness and strength. I also wanted to communicate this experience to a large number of people. From both these experiences and sensations, my desire to form small groups of people to dance, sing and meet within the music arose. So Biodanza became a way to share what was marvellous with others.’

Biodanza in South Africa

Biodanza was brought to South Africa in 1996 by Carolina Churba-Doyle (see our upcoming profile on this amazing, inspirational woman), an internationally recognised expert on the system. She opened the first school to train local facilitators three years later and Biodanza is now offered around the country.

‘I started Biodanza at 18 in Argentina,’ she says. ‘Biodanza has helped me live my life in balance. And I find my inner source of love that allows life to flow from week to week in a positive way. That is why I have continued with it for almost 25 years! I trained as a physio-therapist in rehabilitation and wanted to help people heal. I found that medicine treated the symptoms and focused on illness. I wanted to focus on generating health. Biodanza proved to be something I needed to apply not just in my own life but also through my professional life. I see people heal their lives through Biodanza from their very core. This gives me purpose in my facilitation.’

Benefits of Biodanza

Biodanza will leave you feeling happy, relaxed and connected with yourself and others. It has been shown to rebalance your body biologically and neurologically, which progressively leads to profound changes in your life. Because of this most people find a reduction in stress levels, improved communication abilities and better relationships.

Biodanza is offered for individuals, corporates, team building exercises, babies and children. For those wanting to become facilitators Carolina runs Schools of Biodanza in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

And for those who just want to dance with life, check out what is happening in your area. So why not book for their ‘4 Elements & Biodanza in Nature’ workshop from 15-17 October 2010 at Melody Hill in Magaliesburg? It could have a profound influence on your life.