DANCE OF FOURS

“Being present is being fully connected to all things.”

Across many traditions the relationship to animals is integrated within the body as an awareness that connects us to shared instincts and characteristics. In Biodanza, dancing the archetypes, of which the animals are a part is not about imitation but rather a powerful way through which we can awaken their qualities which are already within us. Each archetype opens a different doorway revealing the forces of life that shape how we relate, create, feel, and transform.

Each archetype that we dance is never a self-contained experience. The Serpent, Tiger, Hippopotamus, and Heron all link to what in Biodanza we call the Five Lines of Human Potential: Vitality, Sexuality, Creativity, Affectivity, and Transcendence. These are not separate dimensions but expressions of one living continuum brought to life and integrated through our dances.

To dance through the archetypes is to experience identity as something fluid, alive, and responsive, rather than as something fixed and unchangeable – especially if we also experience this immobile self as broken. Through the dances we connect with the forces that weave us together, instinct, feeling, and imagination which allow us to live life with an integrated greater wholeness and expression.

_Christos Daskalakos