Meet the Pioneer of the Dance of Life
She may be petite, but this is one woman who packs a punch
It takes a lot to get an Englishman to dance.
The briefest of glances at BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing — apart from occasional exceptions — would support the long-held theory that we have two left feet.
Besides, I was never much of a mover and was told that as a baby I would sit like a Buddha and watch the world go by while my brother, who was always rushing about, fell down holes and cracked his head. I could, perhaps uncharitably, barely contain even the most surreptitious of smiles.
It took me a long time to surrender a life of observation for one of participation, so perhaps the discovery of the joys of dance acted as a particularly powerful revelation — a kind of double whammy.
I was 33 and newly separated when I first heard of Biodanza (literally, the dance of life), the South American self-development method that acts like a super drug on one’s consciousness — albeit an entirely benign one — whose only side effects seem to be an irrepressible joy, better health and a grin that could shame any Cheshire cat.
Who knew that divorce would lead to the discovery of my inner Latino, long dormant and denied and ease connections with others, bring new friendships, by igniting my inner lover?
I had moved to work and live in a retreat centre in the south of England — a needed break from my newspaper career — when the Biodanza train conga’d into town.
Well, that’s not quite true, for the conga heralds from Cuba and Biodanza’s rhythm derives from Chile, where the medical anthropologist Rolando Toro Araneda captured something essential with the simple understanding that psychiatric patients got better with dance.
Others, medical students, became interested and saw what was happening and slowly a movement was born.
I may well have been a suitable case for treatment myself in 1996 but a weekend being led through the vivencias helped restore something, help me grieve and reminded me that joy is our birth right.
But none of that would have happened if it hadn’t been for Caroline Lindsey Churba who, although also born in England’s cold climate, was instrumental in bringing the system over here from South America.
Caroline moved with her family aged seven over to Argentina and by her late teens had discovered the dance that would transform her life and — thanks to her tireless proselytizing around the globe — countless others.
She is one of the original core of Biodanza students and for 40 years has been sharing her irrepressible ‘yes!’ to life which, believe me, is entirely contagious and one of the few diseases one should welcome with open arms.
Petite yet seemingly tireless, she is a mover and shaker in the most obvious sense and, like many a true pioneer, touches something in people they probably didn’t even know was there.
‘Life has got serious,’ she told me, ‘and so many people are living entirely in their heads, they have forgotten the simple benefits of their animal nature and the wonders of our primal instinct to move in celebration.’
‘Biodanza is a wake-up call and perhaps it is becoming obvious that we need to wake up, love one another and remember to praise.’
There is certainly something of the whirling dervish about her energy, grounded on the earth certainly, yet up in the skies too, both human and divine.
The only bad thing is when you listen to her you realise how little you have done with your life, but suddenly that shifts into a blessing as you realize a simple change of attitude NOW can get you re-oriented and happy.
It really is never too late.
As well as bringing Biodanza — now in more than 50 countries — to England, more famously, as I discovered her legacy in Britain, she got herself over to South Africa smack in the middle of the peace and reconciliation process.
‘Things were pretty raw over there, people were still very tender and many still are, but it was amazing to be part of bringing something that could undercut the differences and reveal the humanity of all people so directly.’
In some ways, she reminds me of the late American Marshall Rosenberg and his work in conflict-riven situations with Non-Violent Communication.
He understood that underneath our anger and blame lay a simple human need and if you addressed that need, understanding would blossom and situations dramatically improve.
Caroline Lindsey Churba has a similar spirit (you can’t help thinking she must have had numerous lifetimes in South America) and is one of those rare people who sees beneath the surface of life to what is common to us all: a simple need to be happy, to move, to love, to laugh, to celebrate.
I wrote not long ago that our need to belong, the simple need to connect as part of a human family — not a family of human doings, but a family of human beings — outweighs even our survival instinct.
‘I was one of the original teachers and spent five years training: the first part is a lot of personal and emotional work, then the theoretical basis of Biodanza: the last year is how to teach and hold a class. Finally, there is the supervision phase of running a class with a qualified facilitator. Later you do your own piece of work like a dissertation. I was 21 when I took the decision to train and later became a didactic, a trainer of teachers.’
That included training an incredible 88 people in South Africa, as well as getting generals, both black and white and ostensibly on opposing sides, to discover the joys of the method invented by Rolando Toro Araneda who died in 2010.
Caroline was working as a physiotherapist in the UK when the call to go and help in South Africa came, but although her work there — including working with the country’s largest bank and running annual encounter groups for hundreds— could be seen as her crowning achievement, at least thus far, she is always on the go.
She reels off a list of countries stretching from Australasia to much of Europe, as well as Africa and South America and likes to be where people are still in touch with their humanness and the joys of simplicity.
She now hopes to spread the word in North America after attending a dance event in New England earlier this year and soon being asked to go back to work and teach.
‘There is a connection with Harvard University and a lot of students come to dance. I will also be doing a free class once a week and helping on two other evenings. As well as the owner of the dance company, a lot of the students wanted me to return in a professional capacity.’
For a moment, she reminded me of a British rock star about to test the waters over the pond, knowing making it big there could make all the difference.
But the difference, unusually, is not for her but for those she wants to help ‘get back on track’, as she put it: her own preference is to remain invisible and provide the tools so others can help themselves.
I suspect that is the key to both her work and success — a desire to serve.
In a world that seems increasingly concerned with the personal ego and its glorification, it is a pleasure to witness someone who acts as a channel for a power greater than herself.
Caroline Lindsey Churba embodies the archetype of the servant leader who, in such dark times, is now needed more than ever.
© Simon Heathcote
