Biodanza (Toro)

1. Introduction

Version followed: Biodanza as taught under the International Biocentric Foundation (IBF), the body Rolando Toro Araneda founded to hold the Biodanza trademark and run its schools. It is described here from Toro-derived secondary sources (2013–2025), mostly in Spanish, Portuguese and French, plus Brazil's 2017 Ministry of Health annex. Toro's own training texts (e.g. Toro 1991, Material didático da Escola de Formação em Biodança, IBF; Toro 2002/2008, Biodanza) are cited by university syllabi; their contents are not reproduced here [uncertain]. The International Biodanza Federation's own pages are used for its organisation, formats and training route. Translations from Spanish, Portuguese and French are brief English paraphrases, marked (trans.).

What it is. Biodanza (from Greek bios, life, plus danza; "dance of life") is a facilitator-led group practice. It combines music, simple movement, song and group encounter. Toro (Chile, 1924–2010) was a psychologist, anthropologist, poet and painter. He began the work in the 1960s with psychiatric patients in Santiago. It was first called Psicodanza and renamed Biodanza in 1977. It spread to Brazil (1979), Italy (1989) and about forty countries [source: Novoa Jara 2025, pp. 106–107; UNADFI BulleS 134, 2017; Dance Resource wiki]. Sources define it, in their words, as a system of "integración afectiva, renovación orgánica y reaprendizaje de las funciones originarias de vida" (Novoa Jara 2025; Plazas Zúñiga et al. 2021, p. 21). In English: affective integration, organic renewal and relearning of original life functions (trans.).

Its own account of how change happens (attributed, not established fact). Toro held that the vivencia, an intensely felt experience of the here and now, comes before and takes priority over conscious elaboration. Toro proposed that repeated vivencias, induced by the unity of music, movement and emotion within an affectionate group, strengthen five innate potentials. Biodanza calls these the líneas de vivencia: vitality, sexuality, creativity, affectivity and transcendence. Toro said this needs no verbal analysis [source: Ribeiro et al. 2025, pp. 530–531, 550–551; Novoa Jara 2025, p. 107; Gonsalves Possebon, Educación Biocéntrica, p. 31]. The underlying theory is Toro's Principio Biocéntrico (formulated c. 1970: life is the organising centre of value), with afectividad as the integrating core. Toro also proposed physiological mechanisms: limbic–hypothalamic regulation, sympathetic/parasympathetic balance, and neurotransmitter, immune and even "genetic" effects. These are Toro's hypotheses, not tested findings. A French anti-cult association (UNADFI) calls the theory pseudo-scientific [source: Novoa Jara 2025, pp. 106–107; UNADFI 2017].

What it is not. Biodanza describes itself as not a psychotherapy, though "therapeutic" in effect [source: Novoa Jara 2025, p. 107]. Brazilian authors say it is an integrative and complementary practice (PICS) that "não pode ser confundida com a prática psicoterapêutica" (must not be confused with psychotherapeutic practice; trans.) [source: Ribeiro et al. 2025, pp. 551–552]. It is also not dance/movement therapy (DMT). DMT is a regulated or registered profession with its own postgraduate training and professional bodies (ADTA in the US, ADMP UK); see the DMT guide in Domain VIII. Biodanza is taught by IBF-trained facilitators, not by therapists as such. Leading a session under the Biodanza name requires completing an IBF-recognised school and holding the IBF credential; the IBF owns the registered Biodanza mark in about forty countries [source: UNADFI 2017].

Status in health systems. Brazil added Biodança to its National Policy on Integrative and Complementary Practices (PNPIC) in SUS by Portaria nº 849 of 27 March 2017, alongside 13 other practices. The annex calls it "uma prática de abordagem sistêmica inspirada nas origens mais primitivas da dança" (a systemic practice inspired by dance's earliest origins; trans.). It makes broad physiological claims without citing evidence [source: Portaria 849/2017]. Chile's complementary-medicine policy also recognises it as a bodily practice [source: Novoa Jara 2025, pp. 105–106]. Policy inclusion is not evidence of efficacy.

Evidence status (brief, for referral decisions). The only independent review cited here is Ferraro et al. (2021, Movimento, narrative systematic review). It found mostly descriptive, pilot and small controlled studies, with fibromyalgia the most-studied group. Interventions were non-standardised and dosage was often unreported. The review did not formally assess risk of bias. It draws only exploratory conclusions [source: Ferraro et al. 2021]. Claims for Biodanza clínica are on the same footing (see §2). Present Biodanza to clients as a well-being and personal-development group, not as a treatment for any mental or physical disorder [synthesis].

2. Framework

Biodanza is a structured group system, not a manualised therapy. What follows is the published shape. The psychotherapist's own framework (when to refer, how to prepare, how to integrate) follows in §4 Part B.

Organisation and credential [source: UNADFI 2017; Biodanza Maryland training listing; IBFed site]

• International Biocentric Foundation (IBF): founded and chaired by Toro until 2010. It coordinates the schools, appoints school directors, manages the trademark and validates diplomas. In 2017 it was registered in Dublin with an eleven-member permanent board guarding the "Sistema Biodanza"; its president then was Sergio Cruz. National federations group facilitators (e.g. the FPB in France).
• Other bodies: the International Biodanza Federation (IBFed), registered in Bologna, describes itself as a democratic non-profit world federation of national associations of Biodanza schools, run by a General Assembly of the member associations, an elected Federal Council and a President. With the national associations it recognises existing schools and regulates new ones, plans the training of teaching professors (Didactas) and school directors and oversees their professional conduct, and issues the Biodanza Facilitator Diploma together with entry in a World Register of Biodanza Facilitators, under a licence from the school director. Its pages speak of the "Biodanza Rolando Toro System" and do not mention the International Biocentric Foundation. [source: IBFed, What is the IBFed?] In 2023 its Ethics and Deontology Commission reported that it was drafting an "IBfed Coexistence Agreement" building on earlier ethics work [source: IBFed Newsletter 6, 2023]. Some schools advertise themselves as "IBFed certified". A separate International Organization of Biodanza SRT is reported to govern the system in South America [uncertain: secondary, unverified]. How the Foundation, the IBFed and the SRT organisation relate today is not stated in these sources [uncertain]: ask a school which body it belongs to and which register its diplomas enter.
• Training route: about three years at a recognised school, including a year of supervised practice. It ends with a thesis (mémoire/monografía) defended before a jury, and the IBF validates the diploma. Facilitators pay an annual IBF fee and must teach the method as defined. The IBFed describes one programme used worldwide: monthly modules over about three years, ending with an internship supervised by an experienced facilitator [source: IBFed, How you do Biodanza]. University syllabi in Brazil and Uruguay also teach Biodanza theory to psychology students; this does not confer the facilitator credential [source: UFC syllabus HF0218, 2019; Universidad de la República course, 2015].

Formats [source: Ribeiro et al. 2025, pp. 531–534; UNADFI 2017; Corkhill 2013; Gonsalves Possebon, p. 45]

• Regular group (grupo regular): the core format. The same participants meet weekly with the same facilitator(s), forming what sources call a "matrice bienveillante" (caring matrix). Participants in one study had attended for 3–10 years. One session is called a vivencia, typically 1½–2 hours. The IBFed states that all Biodanza activity happens in groups, never individually, and describes weekly courses of about two hours, open to all, which people attend for a few months or many years so that effects build gradually [source: IBFed, How you do Biodanza].
• Intensive weekends (maratonas) and workshops: used where no regular group exists, or to deepen one theme. The IBFed describes these as usually one- or two-day weekend events, either on a theme or as a full immersion, and recommends combining them with a weekly course [source: IBFed, How you do Biodanza].
• Extensions (as listed by sources): Biodanza for children, adolescents, families and older people; biocentric education in schools (Toro recommended at least two sessions of about two hours a week in schools); workplace programmes; Biodanza clínica for groups with clinical conditions; and blends with massage and with tarot, I Ching or neo-shamanism. These are listed as reported, not endorsed. The IBFed lists programmes in health clinics, residences for older people, schools, addiction recovery, support for women who have experienced violence, companies and prisons, and says these run as projects together with professionals from each sector [source: IBFed, How you do Biodanza].

Session arc (one vivencia) [source: UNADFI 2017; Corkhill 2013; Novoa Jara 2025, pp. 107–108; Ribeiro et al. 2025, pp. 540–547]

1. Verbal opening: sharing (relato) about the previous session. The facilitator does not analyse or interpret.
2. Silent movement part, usually opened by a hand-holding circle (ronda). Each dance is introduced by a brief instruction, often a metaphor, and a short demonstration.
3. Arrival and integration dances, with lively, rhythmic music.
4. A gradual slowing. Dances become less outwardly expressive and more intimate, with more pair and group contact. If the group is judged ready, this goes into regressive or trance-like dances.
5. One or two activation dances to return to everyday alertness. Often a closing circle.

Sources describe some 250 codified exercises, with music chosen for each intended state. Some training sources reportedly call this rise, deepening and return the session "curve" and tie it to a theoretical model with an identity–regression axis. That detail is not reproduced here [uncertain].

Long-term group process: progressivity [source: Ribeiro et al. 2025, p. 540; Plazas Zúñiga et al. 2021, p. IX]. The facilitator increases the depth and intimacy of exercises over weeks and months, "without rushing". Contact and regressive work come only as the group builds trust. The cited sources give no formal stages or criteria for moving between levels [uncertain]. For a referred client, a practical marker is that they can repeatedly decline an exercise without distress or social cost before entering a group's deeper or more intimate phases [synthesis].

Session count. There is no fixed course length; regular groups are open-ended. Research programmes have ranged from about 11 sessions to 3 months of weekly sessions [source: Novoa Jara 2025, p. 109]. Ferraro et al. note that dosage is often unreported.

Biodanza clínica. The movement's official site reportedly presents it as complementary medicine for groups with clinical disorders. UNADFI calls these claims scientifically unfounded [source: UNADFI 2017]. Reported clinical applications include depression, severe mental disorder, fibromyalgia, chronic disease in older adults, and stress and burnout. These rest on small, mostly uncontrolled, often movement-affiliated studies [source: Novoa Jara 2025, pp. 108–111; Ferraro et al. 2021]. Who may lead clinical groups, and what clinical credential is required on top of facilitator training, is not established here [uncertain]. Clinical groups should run inside a service with clinical governance, with the treating clinician involved [synthesis].

3. Guiding principles

First as the method states them (attributed), then the psychotherapist's principles when referring or co-working.

Method principles (as sources state them)

• Biocentric principle (Toro): life, not culture or ego, is the reference point. Practically: sessions aim at feeling alive and connected, not at insight [source: Gonsalves Possebon, pp. 6, 41, 46].
• Primacy of vivencia: experience comes before and above verbal elaboration. Practically: facilitators do not interpret, and participants are not asked to explain their experience [source: Plazas Zúñiga et al. 2021, p. 21; Ribeiro et al. 2025, pp. 550–551].
• Music–movement–vivencia unity: music is chosen to evoke a specific state, and movement is a response to it. Practically: the music, not verbal direction, carries most of the induction [source: UFC syllabus; Dance Resource wiki; UNADFI 2017].
• Five lines of vivencia (vitality, sexuality, creativity, affectivity, transcendence): innate potentials that frame session design. Practically: any session may deliberately target sensuality or intimacy (the sexuality line) or trance-like states (the transcendence line), so clients should know this before they join [source: UNADFI 2017; Plazas Zúñiga et al. 2021, pp. 22–23].
• Affectivity as integrating core and "caress" as a power: Toro listed caress, trance and group among "seven powers" and judged verbal methods insufficient. Practically: touch and embrace are core, not optional extras, which is why consent matters so much [source: UNADFI 2017; Novoa Jara 2025].
• Progressivity: deepen slowly, at the group's pace [source: Ribeiro et al. 2025, p. 540].
• Eco-factors (ecofactores): environmental conditions block or favour potentials. Practically: the group is meant to be a nurturing environment [source: Ribeiro et al. 2025, p. 547].
• Respecting each person's pace and limits: dance "to the level that feels right", and sit out dances. Practically: opting out is legitimate [source: Corkhill 2013; Ribeiro et al. 2025, pp. 538–540].
• Facilitator is not a psychotherapist: facilitators must not act as therapists [source: UNADFI 2017].

Psychotherapist's principles [synthesis unless tagged]

• Consent before and during contact, every time: each touch exercise needs fresh agreement, and agreement given earlier never carries over. Practically: rehearse saying no with the client before the first class. This echoes the USABP: informed consent before touch, consent monitored over time, and the right "to refuse or end any touch... at any time" [source: USABP Code VIII].
• Never sexual touch: sexuality-line exercises are about sensual presence, and genital or other sexual touch is never acceptable from anyone. Practically: any sexualised contact, pressure or after-class approach is a reportable concern, not "part of the process" [source: USABP Code VIII; EABP 5.b.1].
• Biodanza is an adjunct, not your treatment: your treatment plan stands on its own. Practically: refer to a group; do not prescribe it as therapy.
• Within competence and code: only lead Biodanza if you hold the IBF credential, and only touch clients if your profession's code and training allow it. Mainstream codes (BACP, UKCP, APA, AAMFT) have no touch clause but require competence and ban sexual contact. Body-psychotherapy codes (USABP, EABP) regulate touch directly [source: touch-code summary below].
• Keep roles separate: do not attend the same group as your client, and do not facilitate a group your individual client attends without addressing the dual relationship [source: BACP 33(b); UKCP 8; EABP 5.a, 6.b].
• Screen before referral, debrief after: intense vivencias can bring up material. Practically: plan how to process it in therapy.
• Watch for group dependence and pressure: UNADFI reports that participants are advised to belong to only one group and that verbal analysis is discouraged, and warns of subtle pressure [source: UNADFI 2017]. Practically: check in regularly about freedom to leave and to say no.
• Attribute, don't endorse: present the theory and health claims as Toro's or the movement's.

4. Intervention inventory

This inventory has two parts. Part A covers the elements of a Biodanza session as sources describe them. Only an IBF-credentialed facilitator leads these under the Biodanza name. A psychotherapist who holds that credential follows the school's own training. Every other psychotherapist uses Part A to know what the client will meet, and to prepare and debrief them. Part B covers the psychotherapist's own interventions around referral and integration (mostly [synthesis]). The exact codified exercise names and music lists belong to IBF training material and are not reproduced here [uncertain]. "Example language" is illustrative wording, not the founder's.

Part A. Elements of a Biodanza session (as published)

A1. Joining a regular group

• Purpose / when: this is the core format. It gives a stable, weekly, same-membership group with fixed facilitators, intended as a caring matrix where vivencias can deepen over months or years [source: UNADFI 2017; Ribeiro et al. 2025, p. 531].
• Steps (as described): the newcomer joins an ongoing or new weekly group run by a credentialed facilitator. Sessions last about 1½–2 hours. Intimacy deepens progressively with continued attendance. Weekend maratonas are an alternative where no regular group exists.
• Example language (illustrative, facilitator to newcomer): "There's nothing to learn or perform here. Each dance is explained, and you can always sit one out."
• Watch for: pressure to join only this group, to commit long-term, or to recruit others. Membership becoming the client's sole social world. UNADFI reports advice to belong to only one group and warns about dependence [source: UNADFI 2017]. Working: the client keeps a life outside the group and attends by choice.

A2. Verbal opening (relato / sharing)

• Purpose / when: at the start of most regular sessions. Participants briefly share sensations and emotions from the previous vivencia. The facilitator may use what is said to shape later sessions [source: Novoa Jara 2025, pp. 107–108; UNADFI 2017].
• Steps (as described): seated circle; voluntary short contributions about felt experience. The facilitator listens without analysing or interpreting and does not act as therapist [source: UNADFI 2017].
• Example language (illustrative): "If you'd like, say a word or two about how last week's session stayed with you. Just what you felt. No need to explain it."
• Watch for: disclosures of trauma, self-harm or crisis that the format cannot hold. A client who shares nothing in group may need the therapy room to process. Working: brief, felt-sense sharing without pressure to speak.

A3. Opening and closing circle (ronda)

• Purpose / when: opens, and often closes, the movement part. It builds group cohesion and a sense of belonging [source: UNADFI 2017].
• Steps (as described): participants stand in a circle holding hands and move together to music.
• Example language (illustrative): "Let's begin in a circle. Hold hands if that's comfortable, or stand beside the circle if you'd rather not hold hands today."
• Watch for: hand-holding is the first touch of the session. Clients with touch aversion or trauma may freeze or dissociate here. Working: the client joins or chooses an alternative without visible distress.

A4. Instruction by metaphor and demonstration (consigna)

• Purpose / when: before each dance. A brief verbal instruction, often a metaphor, gives the dance's intention; the facilitator then demonstrates their own reading of it. The rest of the movement part is largely silent [source: UNADFI 2017; Corkhill 2013].
• Steps (as described): short instruction, then demonstration, then the group dances to the chosen music, alone, in pairs, in small groups or as a whole group.
• Example language (illustrative facilitator wording): "Walk as if you're arriving somewhere you're glad to be. Let the music set your pace."
• Watch for: instructions that include contact should also give a no-contact option. Working: participants understand both the task and how to opt out.

A5. Arrival and integration dances (natural movement)

• Purpose / when: early in the session. They warm the body and shift attention from thinking to sensation [source: Corkhill 2013]. They draw on natural movements such as walking, jumping and stretching [source: Ribeiro et al. 2025, p. 547, citing Toro].
• Steps (as described): individual or group dances, often rhythmic, with no steps to learn.
• Example language (illustrative): "Find a walk that feels like yours today."
• Watch for: physical limits (balance, joints, cardiovascular), self-consciousness, body-image distress. Working: the client moves in a way that suits their body, without comparing.

A6. Dances of the five lines of vivencia

• Purpose / when: sessions draw on exercises for vitality, sexuality (described as pleasure, desire and sensual presence), creativity, affectivity and transcendence. Music is selected for each [source: UNADFI 2017; Dance Resource wiki; Plazas Zúñiga et al. 2021, pp. 22–23].
• Steps (as described): the facilitator picks dances and music to evoke the intended line. The specific exercise list (reportedly some 250 exercises) comes from IBF training [source: UNADFI 2017].
• Example language (therapist, preparing a client; illustrative): "Some dances are about joy and energy, some about tenderness, some about sensuality, and some are slow and dreamlike. You decide how far you go in each."
• Watch for: sexuality-line dances can trigger shame, arousal, or memories of abuse. Transcendence-line dances can trigger dissociation or depersonalisation. Working: the client stays oriented and choosing.

A7. Gestures of connection: offering a hand, embrace, rocking, caress

• Purpose / when: at the core of the affectivity line. Toro lists social gestures such as giving a hand, hugging, rocking (embalar) and caressing (acariciar), and spoke of the "power" of the caress [source: Ribeiro et al. 2025, p. 547; UNADFI 2017].
• Steps (as described): pair or group exercises with physical contact, introduced only progressively as the group builds trust [source: Ribeiro et al. 2025, p. 540]. The cited sources do not describe a consent procedure for these exercises beyond the right to sit out [uncertain].
• Consent standard to expect and to prepare clients for [synthesis, aligned with USABP Code VIII]: before each contact exercise, clear agreement, verbal or by a clear agreed signal, between the specific partners. Contact stops immediately on any "no", hesitation or withdrawal, with no explanation needed. Anyone can switch to a no-contact version or sit out at any time without comment. No contact to the face, chest or buttocks unless the person has clearly invited it; genital or other sexual touch is never acceptable, invited or not. Facilitators watch for and stop pressure between participants. Whether a given school or group publishes a written touch-and-consent policy should be asked directly [uncertain].
• Example language (illustrative facilitator wording): "Before you meet a partner, check in with them: a nod, or just stepping away, is a complete answer. You can change your mind halfway through."
• Watch for: freezing, compliance without real wish, tearfulness, numbness, sexualised responses from others, a partner who keeps contact going after the other pulls back. A UNADFI-cited psychologist (Elma Maree) argued that turning the longing for love into physical expression can be manipulative and potentially sexually harmful [source: UNADFI 2017]. Working: the client can say yes and no, and their no is respected.

A8. Generative positions (posições geratrizes): giving and receiving

• Purpose / when: archetypal postures, cited as part of Toro's movement repertoire, e.g. "dar" (giving) and "receber" (receiving) [source: Ribeiro et al. 2025, p. 547].
• Steps (as described): postures or movements expressing an archetypal attitude, done alone or with others. Detailed form: [uncertain].
• Example language (illustrative): "Let your arms show what giving feels like, then what receiving feels like."
• Watch for: strong reactions to "receiving" in clients with attachment trauma or deprivation. Working: the client notices the difference with curiosity rather than overwhelm.

A9. Slower, intimate and regressive dances (including trance)

• Purpose / when: later in the session, once the group is ready. Dances slow and become less outward, intimacy rises, and the music can lead into regressive or trance states. Toro links these to the transcendence line and to parasympathetic activation, and spoke of "reparenting" the wounded child [source: Corkhill 2013; UNADFI 2017; Ribeiro et al. 2025, p. 545]. These are the method's claims, not established mechanisms.
• Steps (as described): slow music, often eyes closed or contained group formations, with rocking or holding [uncertain].
• Example language (therapist, preparing a client; illustrative): "If a dance feels dreamy or you start to drift, it's fine to open your eyes, feel your feet, or sit out."
• Watch for: dissociation, flashbacks, regressive dependence on the facilitator, psychotic-like experiences in vulnerable clients, emotional flooding after the session. Working: the client returns to ordinary alertness by the session's end.

A10. Activation and return dances

• Purpose / when: at the end of the session. One or two activating dances bring people back to everyday consciousness [source: Corkhill 2013].
• Steps (as described): brisker music, often a final circle.
• Example language (illustrative): "Let's wake up the body again. Feel the floor, look around the room."
• Watch for: participants leaving still dazed or flooded. Working: the client is oriented and able to travel home safely.

A11. Extensions and intensive workshops

• Purpose / when: programmes for children, adolescents, families, older people, schools (biocentric education), workplaces, and Biodanza clínica groups. Some extensions blend Biodanza with massage, or with tarot, I Ching or neo-shamanism [source: UNADFI 2017; Novoa Jara 2025, pp. 108–111; Gonsalves Possebon].
• Steps: delivered by facilitators with the relevant extension training [uncertain]. For children: parental consent and child assent, safeguarding policies, and rules on touch between adults and children [synthesis]. UNADFI questions whether parents in school programmes know the theoretical basis [source: UNADFI 2017].
• Example language (to a parent; illustrative): "Ask the facilitator how touch is handled with children, who is present, and what safeguarding policy applies."
• Watch for: spiritual or esoteric add-ons presented as health care. Health claims for physical disease. Massage blends delivered without regulated massage credentials. Working: clear information, written policies, no health promises.

Part B. The psychotherapist's interventions

B1. Deciding whether to suggest Biodanza

• Purpose / when: for clients whose goals include more embodied pleasure and vitality, social connection, tolerance of closeness, or a non-verbal complement to talking therapy, and who are stable enough for an intense group [synthesis]. The evidence is exploratory (Ferraro et al. 2021), so frame it as an enrichment, not a treatment.
• Steps: (1) Clarify what the client hopes for. (2) Check fit against §4 B2 screening. (3) Explain the format honestly: regular group, music, silence, partner contact and embrace, sensual and trance-like dances, verbal sharing without interpretation. (4) Offer alternatives with less contact if touch is a concern, e.g. non-contact dance classes, or DMT where clinical work is needed. (5) Agree to review after a few sessions.
• Example language (illustrative): "This is a dance group, not therapy. Some people find it opens up warmth and energy. It does involve hugs and partner contact, which you can always decline. Shall we think about whether that suits you right now?"
• Watch for: the client choosing it to please you, or as a substitute for needed treatment. Working: an informed, freely made choice.

B2. Screening: psychological and physical safety

• Purpose / when: before referral. The cited sources state no formal contraindications for Biodanza [uncertain]. The cautions below are [synthesis] from clinical prudence and from the method's own features (intense emotion, touch, trance-like states, sustained movement).
• Psychological cautions (discuss, defer or seek specialist input): current or recent psychosis or mania, or high risk of either (regressive and trance-like dances, intense catharsis). Severe dissociation or unprocessed sexual or physical trauma, especially with touch triggers. Acute suicidality or crisis. Active eating disorder or severe body-image distress. Borderline-type relational instability, where intense group intimacy may feed idealisation and rupture. Substance intoxication. Recent bereavement or separation, if the client wants a substitute attachment. One study participant had such intense reactions that she sought psychotherapy afterwards [source: Ribeiro et al. 2025, p. 548].
• Physical cautions (general, from no Biodanza source; advise the client to check with their doctor where relevant): cardiovascular or respiratory disease, recent surgery or injury, joint and balance problems (falls risk, especially in older adults and in eyes-closed dances), pregnancy, epilepsy (rhythmic music, intense states), and heat and hydration in crowded rooms. Medical clearance where any apply. No movement "dose" is prescribed here.
• Example language (illustrative): "Before you go, can we check two things: how your body is, and how you tend to react when people get physically close or when you get very emotional?"
• Watch for: minimising. Working: the client knows their own signals and has a plan for stepping out.

B3. Checking the group and facilitator

• Purpose / when: before the first session, to protect the client [synthesis].
• Steps: have the client (or you, with consent) ask: Is the facilitator trained and credentialed through an IBF-recognised school, and is that current? Where are any clinical qualifications? How is consent for contact handled, and can people sit out without comment? What happens if someone becomes distressed? Is there a complaints route (school, national association, IBF)? Is the group mixed, and how are new members introduced? For clinical claims: who provides clinical oversight?
• Example language (illustrative): "It's reasonable to ask the facilitator how they handle someone who doesn't want to hug. A good facilitator will be glad you asked."
• Watch for: vague or defensive answers about consent, health claims for physical disease, discouragement of other therapies, pressure to sign up for long trainings early. Working: clear, specific answers.

B4. Preparing for touch: consent before and during

• Purpose / when: for every client going to Biodanza, and essential for trauma survivors. Contact (hand-holding, embrace, rocking, caress) is central to the method [source: UNADFI 2017; Ribeiro et al. 2025, p. 547].
• Steps [synthesis, consistent with USABP Code VIII: consent before touch, monitored over time, right to refuse or end any touch at any time; never sexual touch]: (1) Map the client's comfort zones (hands, shoulders, back, hugs; front versus side hugs). (2) Rehearse non-verbal and verbal no's: stepping back, crossing arms, "not today". (3) Rehearse changing their mind mid-exercise. (4) Agree that sitting out is a full participation choice. (5) Agree a personal stop signal for overwhelm, e.g. eyes open, feet on the floor, leaving the circle. (6) Clarify the limits: no sexual touch, and no touch to intimate areas, ever; any such contact is a concern to report. (7) Plan what to tell the facilitator in advance, if anything.
• Example language (illustrative): "You can say yes to a dance and no to the hug in it. You can stop halfway. You never owe anyone an explanation."
• Watch for: fawning or compliance patterns, inability to imagine refusing, shame about wanting touch. Working: the client reports at least one respected refusal and feels safer for it.

B5. Setting expectations about the method's claims and lines

• Purpose / when: so the client is not misled by health claims or surprised by sensual or spiritual content [synthesis].
• Steps: explain the five lines as the method's framework. Mention that sensuality and transcendence dances are part of it. Say that claims about immune, hormonal or genetic effects are Toro's hypotheses [source: Novoa Jara 2025; UNADFI 2017]. Note that some extensions add esoteric elements.
• Example language (illustrative): "Biodanza has its own theory about how dance affects the body. Some of it hasn't been tested. Enjoy what helps; you don't need to sign up to the theory."
• Watch for: stopping medical treatment or medication because of the group. Working: the client keeps medical care and experiences the group as an addition.

B6. Integrating vivencias in therapy

• Purpose / when: after sessions. Biodanza deliberately does not interpret [source: UNADFI 2017; Plazas Zúñiga et al. 2021, p. 21]. The client's therapy can offer the reflection the group does not, at the client's choice [synthesis].
• Steps: (1) Invite a felt-sense description first (body, emotion, image). (2) Ask what was nourishing and what was hard. (3) Link to therapy themes only if the client wants to, without pathologising the experience. (4) Note relational patterns, e.g. who they approach, how they handle being chosen or not chosen, how they receive care. (5) Translate into small everyday experiments, e.g. asking for a hug at home, noticing pleasure.
• Example language (illustrative): "What's still with you from the session? Where do you feel it? Is there anything you'd like to understand about it, or would you rather just let it be?"
• Watch for: idealising the group against therapy ("there they really feel"), or splitting. Working: experiences become usable material, and relational gains generalise outside the group.

B7. Aftercare for intense reactions

• Purpose / when: when a session brings flooding, trauma memories, dissociation, grief or sexual feelings that disturb the client [synthesis]. Sources acknowledge "uncomfortable mobilisation" as part of the process [source: Ribeiro et al. 2025, p. 549].
• Steps: (1) Stabilise first: grounding, orientation, sleep and safety check, risk assessment if indicated. (2) Normalise without minimising. (3) Decide with the client whether to pause the group, skip certain dances, or tell the facilitator. (4) Process trauma material in therapy at a titrated pace, not in the group.
• Example language (illustrative): "Something big moved. Let's first make sure you're steady now. We can decide together whether to go back next week or take a break."
• Watch for: derealisation, insomnia, mania-like elation, new suicidal thoughts. Working: the client regains stability and chooses how to continue.

B8. Monitoring group dependence and pressure

• Purpose / when: throughout long-term participation. UNADFI reports advice to belong to only one group and discouragement of verbal analysis, and warns of subtle pressure, guilt and intrusion on privacy [source: UNADFI 2017].
• Steps: check every few months whether attendance is still a free choice; whether outside relationships and other activities are kept; any pressure to deepen, buy workshops or enrol in training; any discouragement of therapy or medical care.
• Example language (illustrative): "If you decided to stop going, how would that be received there? How would you feel?"
• Watch for: guilt about missing sessions, the group becoming the client's only intimacy, facilitator idealisation. Working: the client can take breaks without fallout.

B9. If you are both psychotherapist and Biodanza facilitator

• Purpose / when: a psychotherapist who has completed IBF training [synthesis].
• Steps: (1) Do not offer Biodanza sessions to your individual therapy clients, or offer psychotherapy to your group members, without addressing the dual relationship in supervision. Codes require avoiding harmful dual relationships [source: BACP 2018 para 33(b); UKCP 2019 item 8; EABP 5.a]. (2) Keep the facilitator role non-interpretive, as the method requires [source: UNADFI 2017]. (3) Touch with clients in psychotherapy is a separate question: mainstream codes (BACP, UKCP, APA, AAMFT) have no touch clause, but require competence and prohibit sexual contact. Body-psychotherapy codes require informed consent before touch, ongoing monitoring of consent, and the right to refuse or end touch at any time, and bar genital or sexual touch [source: USABP Code VIII; EABP Principle 7]. Combine only if your own code and training allow it. (4) Where a client sees another facilitator in parallel, discuss the implications with them, as EABP 6.b asks.
• Example language (illustrative): "I lead Biodanza groups, but I don't think it's wise to mix that with our therapy. I can suggest other groups."
• Watch for: blurred roles, clients seeking therapy in group time, your own wish for the client to love the method. Working: clear role boundaries, discussed in supervision.

B10. Recognising and passing on harm

• Purpose / when: whenever a client reports sexualised contact, coercion, pressure to touch or be touched, exploitation (financial, emotional, sexual), or advice to stop treatment [synthesis].
• Steps: (1) Believe and document. (2) Assess safety and risk. (3) Explain the options: the school director, the national Biodanza association or federation, the IBF, police for sexual offences, and adult or child safeguarding services. (4) Support the client's choice to report, and act yourself where safeguarding law requires. (5) Name people only as reliable sources document them.
• Example language (illustrative): "What happened wasn't part of the method and wasn't your fault. Let's look at who should know about it and what you want to do."
• Watch for: self-blame ("I didn't say no"), group loyalty silencing the client. Working: the client is safe and supported, and a concern is formally recorded.

B11. Collaborating with a facilitator

• Purpose / when: with the client's written consent, when a client with a known vulnerability attends a group [synthesis].
• Steps: share only what is needed (e.g. "avoid embrace exercises for now", "may need to sit out trance dances"). Agree how the facilitator will tell you of concerns. Respect that the facilitator is not a clinician.
• Example language (illustrative, to facilitator): "My client would like to attend. They'll sometimes sit out contact dances. Please let them do so without comment."
• Watch for: over-sharing confidential material. Working: the facilitator adapts without singling the client out.

5. Handling problems

The cited sources do not address problem handling in detail, beyond the facilitator respecting each person's pace and limits, sitting out being allowed, and progressivity [source: Corkhill 2013; Ribeiro et al. 2025, pp. 538–540]. Everything below is [synthesis] unless tagged.

• Client freezes or complies with unwanted touch. In therapy: normalise freeze as a protective response; return to B4 rehearsal; agree a simpler exit (step to the wall). Suggest telling the facilitator in advance that they will sit out contact dances for a while. If freezing persists, pause the group and work on boundaries in individual therapy first.
• Client reports sexualised contact or pressure from a participant or facilitator. Treat it as a safeguarding and misconduct matter, not a "process" issue. Follow B10 and do not encourage the client to return to that group in the meantime. Genital or other sexual touch is never acceptable in any setting [source: USABP Code VIII].
• Overwhelm, flooding or dissociation in or after sessions. Follow B7 aftercare. Advise the client to keep eyes open, stay near the edge, and sit out regressive and trance-like dances. Consider pausing until stabilised. Refer to psychiatry if psychotic or manic features appear.
• "Stuck": the client feels nothing, or feels awkward and self-conscious. Explore expectations; normalise a slow start (the method itself is progressive). Suggest a few more sessions or a different facilitator, or stop; there is no failure in stopping.
• Resistance in therapy to processing vivencias ("it shouldn't be analysed"). Respect the method's non-interpretive stance. Offer felt-sense description rather than interpretation, and let the client set the depth.
• Non-attendance or dropping out. Explore without pressure; it may be healthy self-protection. Check for ruptures in the group (rejection in partner choice, conflict with a facilitator) and process them as relational material.
• Idealisation of the group or facilitator, or splitting against therapy. Name it gently; explore what the group gives that therapy doesn't, and use that to adapt the therapy. Watch for B8 dependence signs.
• Rupture with you over the referral ("you sent me there and it was awful"). Own your part, repair, and review the screening together.
• Romantic or sexual involvement with a group member. Adults may form relationships, but explore power differences, especially with facilitators (a facilitator's relationship with a participant raises boundary concerns), and how the group context affects consent.
• Health claims leading to stopping treatment. Address directly. Liaise with the prescriber or GP with consent. Biodanza is not a treatment for physical disease, and its physiological claims are Toro's hypotheses [source: UNADFI 2017; Novoa Jara 2025].
• Pressure toward long trainings, fees or exclusive membership. Explore finances and autonomy, and the reasons for the urge. Encourage a pause before committing [source on reported pressure: UNADFI 2017].
• Cultural, religious or gender concerns about mixed-sex touch. Discuss alternatives (same-sex partner choice where allowed, sitting out, non-contact dance forms). Ask facilitators about options.
• Physical injury or exhaustion. Stop and seek medical assessment. Review physical cautions (B2) before resuming. Movement intensity is the client's and their doctor's decision.
• Older adults and falls risk. Encourage a chair or wall option and open eyes, and a check with the GP [synthesis; older-adult programmes reported in Novoa Jara 2025, pp. 108–109].
• Children in school or family programmes. Ensure parental consent and child assent, a safeguarding policy, no adult–child contact that the child does not want, and transparency about the theory to parents [source on parental awareness: UNADFI 2017].

Sources

Web sources:

• Biodanza: Dance Resource wiki (Conscious Dance Practices)
• Novoa Jara, E. (2025). Biodanza y salud. Cuadernos de Medicina Social 65(1): 105–112. doi:10.56116/cms.v65.n.1.2025.2150. PDF (Spanish; trans.)
• UNADFI (2017). "Que sait-on de ? La Biodanza". BulleS nº 134 (author not named). PDF (French; trans.; critical source from an anti-cult association)
• Ferraro, F. V., Aruta, L., Ambra, F. I., Distaso, F. P., Iavarone, M. L. (2021). Pedagogic intervention for health: a narrative systematic review on Biodanza. Movimento 27: e27069. doi:10.22456/1982-8918.111547. SciELO
• Brasil, Ministério da Saúde. Portaria nº 849, 27 March 2017 (PNPIC additions, including Biodança). PDF (Portuguese; trans.)
• Ribeiro, P. A. C., Cardia, M. C. G., Silva, M. O. (2025). Biodanza na promoção da saúde mental: um estudo fenomenológico. Revista AMAzônica 18(1): 527–556. PDF (Portuguese; trans.)
• Plazas Zúñiga, Roa Rodríguez, Vásquez López (2021). Percepción del sí mismo en mujeres que estuvieron vinculadas a procesos de biodanza. Trabajo de grado, Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Cali. PDF (Spanish; trans.)
• Gonsalves Possebon, E. Educación Biocéntrica: El regalo de Rolando Toro para el Pensamiento Pedagógico. Cadernos de Educação Emocional 9, NEEMOC/UFPB, Libellus [year as printed on the file: 2026; uncertain]. PDF (Spanish; trans.)
• Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Psicologia (2019). Programa de disciplina HF0218 Biodança. PDF
• Etchebehere, G., Jasa, Y. (2015). Curso: Introducción a la Biodanza (Facultad de Psicología course sheet). PDF
• Corkhill, L. (2013). What is Biodanza? The Green Parent. Article
• Biodanza Maryland Teacher Training (Conscious Dancer listing)
• Codes: USABP Code of Ethics; EABP Ethics Guidelines 2020; BACP Ethical Framework 2018; BACP Ethical Framework 2026; UKCP Code of Ethics 2019; APA Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct; AAMFT Code of Ethics

Books cited by the sources above (details as those sources give them):

• Toro, R. (1991). Material didático da Escola de Formação em Biodança. International Biocentric Foundation.
• Toro, R. (2002). Biodanza. São Paulo: Olavobrás/EPB.
• Toro, R. (2008). Danser la vie (French edition cited by UNADFI).
• Góis, C. W. L. (2005). Biodança: Identidade e Vivência. Fortaleza: Instituto Paulo Freire do Ceará.

Organisation pages: What is the IBFed? (International Biodanza Federation); How you do Biodanza (IBFed); IBFed Newsletter 6, December 2023; Biodanza (Wikipedia) (for the SRT organisation only; secondary). Confirm a school's affiliation and a facilitator's registration directly with the body concerned.