My Personal Biodanza experiences post Melbourne lockdowns
I sit here, back in Melbourne reflecting on how Biodanza brought me back to vitality after the world’s harshest lockdowns that totaled 9 months over 2 years. I am writing this from my desire to share how Biodanza has supported me and why my fire is burning from within to bring Biodanza back to Melbourne to support the community.
I lived in Melbourne solo through 6 lockdowns. It was a 2 year period where our movements outside of our homes were limited, and a lot of fear was promulgated. I saw and experienced a lot of divide in a city that I loved. It broke my heart to feel this, and I was balancing my need to build energetic walls of protection while trying to stay open and be of service to the community. I felt anger, sadness, fear, and moments of joy. I was touched by acts of kindness from friends across the borders and ouched by hostility in the street. I felt immense joy dancing in online spaces and cried waves of sadness and joy when I saw my tango friends for the first time (actually, I still had a big wave of emotions and tears 1 year later at a tango festival).
When I turned 40, my inner rebel called me to my road trip. I left in the middle of the night under the cover the darkness and drove through country roads with no reception, guided by my intuition and ancestors. I travelled 2,000km north, and what started as a road trip turned into a departure from the city. I asked friends to pack my home, ended my lease and I did not returned for another 6 months.
It was during this time that my healing started. Healing that I didn’t realise I needed. I returned to Canberra, my hometown and cautiously opened to friends. The open arms of the Biodanza community was the salve that I needed, and sometimes it was too much on my body. I started to allow my heart to be seen and felt. Allowing the music, movement and invitations to land in my body and touch the parts of me that I had hidden in a safe. Little by little, I started to soften and open my precious heart again.
My vital instincts were being re-awakened - in a positive and expansive way, not in a protective way.
I re-learnt to allow music to move my body. I re-learnt to look at another soul’s eyes. I re-learnt to be held - just as I am.
I was re-learning to reconnect with my vital instincts - the very core of what Biodanza brings.
I was re-learning that it was safe to allow others to see me, that it was safe to move my body, safe to trust again.
A very dear friend and colleague said:
“Now the Jean I know is back!”
This stayed with me - 2 years later.
During the lockdowns we were told that other humans were dangerous and that contact was forbidden. I knew deep down to my core that this was not true. A study that stayed with me during my Biodanza Facilitator training was one done by René Spitz in the 1940s. He found children in orphanages had extraordinarily high mortality rates when given only food, shelter and warmth when compared to those who were held and touched. The psychological, biological, and social impact of these measures were not talked about during the lockdowns, and I could see and feel it being held in my body, and in others.
It was with this motivation that I kept practicing being open and continuing my Biodanza Facilitator training during the lockdowns in Melbourne. I was thirsty to learn, and hungry to connect. I knew this was something I needed to continue even though our ability to study in person was limited, disrupted and frustrating. When I returned to Canberra 2 years later, things started to alchemise in my body.
I noticed the changes in the way that I moved - freedom and fluidity started to return. I noticed I was less shy in looking at others during my interactions. I found lighter ways of moving through feelings, rather than a cathartic manner (which I still allowed to happen as it arose). I saw myself opening to and creating new possibilities - what if I stayed in Canberra to complete my Biodanza Facilitator training?
I was fortunate to be invited to facilitate in Canberra by my didact - Kate, and what was to be a 2 week stay turned into 18 months. During this time, I developed my skills and experience as a facilitator - learning to hold a movement based space (very different from a coaching space!), observing participants - not just the way they moved in sessions, but also the changes in their work, relationships, and outlook in life. Celebrating how they were aligning more and more with their desires. I loved seeing participants deep in conversation late at night in the carpark long after the sessions finished as the social bonds grew.
It is through my personal experience and the privilege of guiding others that I can feel the impact that Biodanza has on community. My fire has been lit to bring this back to Melbourne. With the wonderful support of my Biodanza friends in Melbourne - Linda, Kath, Fatima, Josanna, Pame, and Dan - I so desire to help create this space in Melbourne again - a space to reconnect with vitality, an inclusive community, and a space to simply be.
If you desire to join us in Melbourne - 2 Biodanza series are held in 2023 -starting Thursday 5 October, Brunswick East.
I’d love to see you there.
With love, Jean
