The ‘free yourself’ move: Biodanza
Created by Rolando Toro Avanada back in the 60’s, Biodanza was born when he realized that his fellow contemporaries needed help to unlock their emotions and free their bodies from all the boundaries and judgments. He started to do some research on the effects of music on movement and emotions (as did Osho, the famous Indian sect leader, with his trance movement).
Biodanza (‘the dance of life’) is aimed at getting to the state of ‘vivencia’ (present moment). It is always experienced in a group, usually the same group that you get to know better, and where you feel protected and can share you desires and needs. Through dance, people are invited to connect to their deepest needs and emotions as well as discover new means of communication. This is meant to stimulate creativity, vitality and sexuality, enhance wellbeing and the pleasure of life.
Each dance acts on the organic equilibrium of the group and the self, at a physiological and grassroots level.
www.biodanza.be
The Re-connective move: the 5 rhythms dance
Gabriel Roth created this style back in the 80s, but it only came to Belgium a couple of years ago and now very popular. This dance does not aim at any aesthetic or artistic result, and you don’t need to have any special physical aptitude or experience, only the intention to be honest to the self.
This dance is close to Biodanza or Osho, as it takes you by the hand and makes you travel along the wisdom of the five basic emotions of life (fear, anger, compassion, joy and sadness), the five stages of life (baby, child, adolescence, maturity and old age), the five elements of nature (earth, wind, fire, air and ether), the five dimensions of the being (body, heart, soul, spirit and being). Each session is a ‘voyage’ that takes you back to your inner home. It can be experienced with or without a partner.
www.dancetribe.be
The World Music move: Shabby Shaping or Sadhana dance
This is a fusion class created by Sarbani Sen, a converted dancer from an Indian performing arts family. Her class is a mix of dances and music she picked up from her life in Brazil,
Belgium, India, with her African friends in Belgium, and being part of the rising hip hop scene in Brussels back in the 90’s. Very similar to the ‘Yoga Buti Ballet’ (from the SWIRL studio in L.A.), her class mixes a variety of dances in one hour: Indian mudras (gestures and body movements), belly dance techniques, Hip Hop steps, Yoga asanas, African tribal steps, sexy-burlesque moves, classical steps and even animal moves. (you might be invited to move like a panther or a snake at an occasional class)
At first you might feel a bit uncomfortable, but once you enter the space of joy of movement and laughter, you no longer take yourself too seriously anymore and start to unlock the real you.
