One Woman’s Art may Help us All
Bringing the Dance of Life to America’s east coast
‘I don’t develop; I am.’ Picasso
There is magic in the air.
After a lifetime of interviews, I can tell when I hit pay dirt. I just feel it. Here is a person who is different yet we connect.
It may be that checkout girl at the till and a breezy conversation lasting less than a minute, but you just know.
We all love these moments. They are the stuff of life, particularly, as for many of us, they are exceedingly rare.
Forgive me a little self-indulgence, but I have been a qualified journalist since 1987, a certified counsellor since 1997.
My life has been interviewing others at depth, trying to find their essence and what we humans share. For that is what heals.
I have done it through writing and therapy, Caroline Churba does it through dance. We might call it the art of living — how to use art for a deep dive, to recall what we have forgotten and what we share.
Twenty-five years ago, running a therapy group, I remember a single crystalline moment, when one participant was talking deeply about a painful event in their past.
Suddenly, this disparate group of lawyers, teachers, builders etc., dropped into a total cohesiveness.
For a moment, they were one and they knew it; previous squabbles and personality clashes were over, if only for an instant. No doubt, they returned to old behaviour soon after, yet it didn’t matter — they had touched The Holy Grail.
In an age of diversity, often riven, we have not yet found our way to unity yet that is our challenge and we must all play our part.
Caroline has been teaching Biodanza, the dance of life, for 40 years and is one of the few remaining pioneers taking over the system from Chilean medical anthropologist Rolando Toro.
It is an art form that connects people deeply and thus heals. We all need expression and we all need connection. That is simply what it takes to bring out the best from flawed humans.
I know it, she knows it. At 62, she is humble enough to be aware of her own mortality and a need to hand her legacy to others, keeping her art within the purity of its original foundations.
‘We live in an angry world,’ she told me, ‘but if we can channel anger — which is just energy — through the art of movement, we can sidestep violence.’
I was reminded of a saying from my days in the men’s movement: ‘If young people cannot feel part of their community, they will burn down the village just to feel the warmth.’
Fire, of course, is a necessity but must be safeguarded and moved in the right direction. Starting life in England then moving to Argentina, she has seen how different communities operate.
Caroline remembers being in a London pub when South Africa won the rugby world cup in 1995.
‘Grown men were crying. Rugby men were celebrating, but they didn’t know how to interact with one another.’ Apartheid still gripped the roots of a divided nation.
She knew immediately she must go and take her art form to South Africa, winding up running encounter groups for hundreds and taking the work into big business, including the country’s largest bank.
Listening to her, one receives a kind of benign electrical charge, which reminds you that you are both alive and share an essential purpose with every human being on the planet.
You may call it love, connection, art, expression. But when you find it, you know it, realising it is nothing new but simply who and what you are.
In the past year, she has used her dynamic energy to bring this art of living to the community in Rhode Island and feels confident this is the group to take over from her.
It’s an exciting vision with ideas to help young addicts, perhaps even prisoners, spreading the simple joy of moving the body and connecting with others.
Where the mind focuses on differences, body and soul knows essence. Indeed, if we understood we are different not separate, selfishness would come to an end and humankind would finally prosper.
What helps us get there is a suitable channel in art and self-expression. It’s not about money or getting rich. In a busy culture, it is more about being than doing.
One measure of a genuinely impassioned teacher is they are prepared to spend their own money to further their passion in service to others.
With trips to New England every month, Caroline, not one to blow her own trumpet, chooses to follow her vocation.
Thousands have benefited down the years and, although exhausted, she ploughs on, telling me with delight of one international meeting of religious leaders, each standing separately in their own corner of the room.
‘I got them all up and dancing and the whole atmosphere changed. Suddenly, they were one.’
And although she eschews praise, her students, many highly accomplished in their own field, are keen to support her work.
One participant writes: ‘Her high level of achievement is unparalleled by any other leader of this art form.
‘While there are other teachers of Biodanza who have come to Dance New England events, no one is as well-known, sought-after, popular, or knowledgeable as Carolina.’
Experience tells me it is not often you find someone unique in their field, and such praise is rare. Another participant writes:
‘There is simply no-one else in the world with the qualifications necessary to lead our Biodanza events such that our group of dedicated American dancers can meet their maximum potential for deep and sustained impact on communities throughout New England and (eventually) across the United States.’
After a lifetime roaming the world, Caroline, or Carolina, finally feels she has found the perfect group to take Biodanza further.
But I don’t see her hanging up her dancing shoes anytime soon. There is too much spirit left in her.
Pioneers in any art form are rare, those so directly plugged into the heart of life precious. They are the bearers of the sometimes, forgotten heart of humanity.
We need them now more than ever.
Carolina can be contacted at livebiodanza@gmail.com
Copyright Simon Heathcote
