Some Background

Biodanza was born during the 1960s in Chile, South America. It became the life's work of Rolando Toro Araneda, a psychologist and university educator who drew on anthropology and ethology - as well as on biology, "the Science of Life” – in order to “grow” his multifunctional system of regenerating a taste for Life through dance/movement & music..

Why and how? - Rolando began by working with some institutionalised psychiatric patients, bringing music to instil a new sense of purpose in their lives. He found that different kinds of music had very different effects, and watched closely for what he came to call “Vivencias” — timeless & ineffably rich moments, evoked by the music & the supportive presence of other dancers. Over time he came to believe that different kinds of “humours” (e.g. depressed, apathetic, anxious, over-excited etc) called for different musical stimuli in order to evoke Vivencias in the dancers – and that, although music itself carried a real healing power — one capable of shifting even chronic physical and emotional states – being in safe company mattered too.

Those observations became his life-long work, tested again & again against real people and real rooms, patients, then staff, then neighbours.. All wanted to take part.. just to dance & have fun in his sessions. Over time, Rolando was led to settle his findings into a proper theoretical model. At its heart is a simple, biological idea: that we're each born with a genetic potential, and that this potential broadly unfolds along five lines:

(1) Vitality, or the ability to assert our identity, our presence on earth,

(2) a natural instinctive mammalian sensuality, which he called Sexuality for short,

(3) Creativity or the ability to free ourselves from old patterns when inspired to in the moment,

(4) Affectivity or recovering the quality of the loving attention & connection we all need from birth, and

(5) Transcendence, remembering our divine origins.. our real purpose in living a more natural, fulfilling life.

The whole Biodanza method is designed to progressively stimulate, recycle & support that multidimensional unfolding.

So: what can Biodanza offer me? — the chance to take gradual, gentle responsibility for your own growth along many vectors; to bring all these threads — vitality, connection, creativity etc. — back into ordinary daily life; to recover, & find new reasons to want to live a fuller, better life; and — above all — to let your body FEEL what is essentially good in Life, so that a happier life, rooted in more joy, health & wellbeing, becomes a priority.

Biodanza has been called a system of human integration. Why? Because it uniquely brings together:

(a) an ethos of meeting (and feeling met by) every other human being as precious & equal;

(b) a simple invitation to explore feeling both safe & authentic — which grows confidence in oneself & in one’s surroundings; and

(c) some basic but specific “movement-IS-life” functions — e.g. grounding identity thro’ rhythm, exploring the yin & yang power bases, and developing physical communication & feedback, with fluidity.

Together, these invitations naturally bring about organic renewal — through the combined power of music, movement, imagination and, occasionally, voice.

For some more historical details have a look here.

What Is Biodanza?