ONE MAN’S VISION
A World with Heart
FINDING THE SOURCE OF ORIGINAL LOVE
“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.
Everyone, for centuries, had heard about “love for our fellow man”. I believe love must include a corporal, active dimension. I sometimes felt all the manifestations of ecstasy, eroticism and fraternity, creative energy and vital impetus in my body. I felt the possibility of pure contact with living reality, through movement, fluidity and the transparencies revealed by feelings.
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.”
~ Rolando Toro Araneda
THE FOUNDER
Rolando Toro Araneda
ROLANDO TORO WAS A MULTI-TALENTED MAN, INTERESTED IN THE HUMAN SPIRIT AND THE EXPANSION OF CONSIOUSNESS. HE WAS A POET AND AN ARTIST.
He was a lecturer in Psychology of Art Expression, and carried out research on the expansion of consciousness at the Centre for Studies in Medical Anthropology. He published books on poetry and psychotherapy, and exhibited paintings in Brazil, Italy & France.
He was born in Chile, in 1924, and lived in Argentina, Brazil & Italy, but returned to his home country in 1998. In 2001, he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to mankind, through his system of Biodanza.
“Dance is a deep movement arising from the most unfathomable regions in a human being. It is the movement of life, biological rhythm, heartbeat, breath, it is an impulse to connect with the species, it is a movement of intimacy.”
– Rolando Toro, the founder of Biodanza.
THE ORIGINS
Of Biodanza
ROLANDO TORO WAS INTERESTED IN THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF MUSIC AND DANCES ON PEOPLE’S STATE OF BEING AND WELLNESS.
He began his research at the Psychiatric Hospital of Santiago del Chile with psychiatric patients and based on the remarkable results he witnessed, with these patients, he later expanded his research to groups of healthy individuals, finally developing the Biodanza theoretical model in 1966. He also continued to research the effects of Biodanza, on psychological conditions, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, from 1974 to 1998.
From its humble beginnings in Chile, Biodanza then spread to Brazil and is now represented in more than 60 countries across the world, including Japan, Slovenia, Reunion, Mauritius, South Africa & Zambia, with strong bases in South America and Europe.
Ready to Dance?
Contact any of our facilitators listed below for a quote or for more information.
Testimonials
Our Students Love Us
“Biodanza empowers me to create healing space where I and others can reach in, heal and live Life optimally according to what is needed in this moment. I am living a healthier, more grounded and connected Life because of it. Forever grateful”
“Biodanza has saved my life . Biodanza has shown me that I can feel good about myself . It has given me a feeling of belonging, connectivity and loved in a very secure unjudged environment. Thank you to all the special facilitators that have assisted me, evolving to learn the universal language of dance and music . Thank you”
“Moments of bliss experienced in the dance enthuse my every day, and I evolve, it’s brought out a vivacity in me that I never expected to feel at my age. It’s developed my adaptability so that I move creatively with flow around life’s challenges. I have danced through the hardest of times, it’s been a safe space to grieve, process, learn and gain strength of heart.”
“……and at the centre of our being life reverberates with all of its complexities, wounds, joy, love and healing. Biodanza is the oxygen and lifeblood that is enabling me to cross so many thresholds as I learn to live life with renewed vitality”
“Biodanza has been such an amazing experience. I have had such amazing vivencia, it has supported me in being able to allow others into my space without feeling as though my space is being invaded. My desire to live keeps expanding, and my ability to open up to meaningful relationships with those I thought I struggled with has been effortless.”