Rolando Toro, the founder of this dance-movement system, has often said that being aware of inner conflicts does not help to solve them. What helps is action, i.e. doing something about it. This is what he did with his patients, and what he eventually transformed into a method.
The realization that life cannot be explained but only felt has led him to prioritise ontology (the study of being, becoming, existence, reality) over epistemology (the philosophical study of the nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge).
This is why Biodanza focuses on living life rather than on attempting to explain our experiences or attaining knowledge about self and about life. In other words, why it focuses on being instead of on knowing. On being with other living beings and with the mystery of life instead of on analysing the nature of self and of existence.
It is important to distinguish vivencia from experience gained over a period of time. Many cultures, like the French, the Italian and the English, do not have a word for vivencia. According to Jorge Terren, this could signal an overall disconnect with the here-and-now perhaps due to the fear of the intensity of life. The word experience can be interpreted as something which involves the passage of time whereas vivencia implies the present moment, or the "here and now". The vivencia occurs in the immediacy of the present moment and is characterised by its intensity. This intensely-lived-moment, when we allow ourselves to experience it fully, enables us to connect with life. We can then share our perception of life. Anything other than description is merely interpretation. So in Biodanza the word experience - which can refer to the knowledge (or skill) acquired by a period of practical experience of something, or by the sum of vivencias -, tends to be used to refer to the direct lived-experience, or the felt-experience of the moment. This is a key point.
As facilitators we use music and dance to help people connect with their own vivencia in the Biodanza lab. The vivencia arises when the dancer´s motivation meets the stimulus offered by the facilitator. With practice, these integrative vivências can be evoked and felt on demand, especially during troubled times when we need them the most.
Inspiration