Biodanza and a sense of resilience in times of war

Emergency and crisis events can impair daily functioning. In crisis situations, individuals react with different intensity and in different ways. The research question in this study was: What are the mechanisms of action in biodanza that lead to the increase of resilience, affectivity, vitality, and morale in times of war? One hundred and twelve dancers participated in this mixed-method study, their biodanza experience ranging from one to over 15 years. The data were collected in Israel in 2023 during the Iron Swords war. The findings show that dancers felt that dancing during the war was good for them, especially the non-verbal human encounter during the dance. The participants mentioned the human encounter as a factor of resilience, as an inclusive, comforting, uplifting, supportive, and empathetic experience. The dance made possible regulation and physiological and emotional balance; had a positive effect on mental wellbeing; increased vitality; and aroused affection through exercises that created a sensation of healing, emotional support, resilience, and security. A difference was found in the level of resilience between seasoned dancers and those who have been practicing biodanza for less than three years.

EFFECTS OF AN EVIDENCEBASED DANCEPROGRAM (TANZPRO-BIODANZA®) FORKINDERGARTEN CHILDREN AGED FOURTO SIX ON IMMUNEGLOBULINE A,TESTOSTERONE AND HEART RATE

Present study addresses the question of the effects of the evidence based TANZPRO-Biodanza®-Program
(Stueck & Villegas, 2009, Stück, 2013) based on BIODANZA by Rolando Toro and Cecilia Luzzi (Toro,
2010). TANZPRO-Biodanza® is the nonverbal part of the School of Empathy concept by Marcus Stueck
(Stueck, 2013), which was developed in the project “Healthy Lifestyles in Kindergardens” of the Geman
Ministry of Health (2009 until 2011). Biodanza is a contact and motion-based intervention method
with auto-regulative claim on immune competence and the autonomic system of children of kindergarten
age. The evaluation took ten weeks. A TANZPRO®-Biodanza class with girls aged four to six was carried
out from September 2011 until December 2012. The immunological parameters immunoglobuline
A and testosterone as well as the autonomic heart rate parameters were collected before and after each
TANZPRO®-Biodanza sessions of the course as a process variable. Especially, the reduced testosterone
levels after the meetings in the saliva of children show positive effects of the method on the immune system.
The decrease of IgA levels after TANZPRO®-Biodanza in the saliva of children towards age norm
might be due to an immune regulative effect. The specific effects of TANZPRO®-Biodanza on heart rate
towards a mean level show improvement of physical autoregulatory processes.
Key words: auto regulative immune competence, empathy, Immuneglobuline A, TANZPRO®-Biodanza,
testosterone.

Pengembangan dan Uji Validasi Modul Tanzpro-Biodanza untuk SubjekAnak-Anak Indonesia

This study aims to validate the TANZPRO-Biodanza module developed by Stueck & Villegas in 1998. The original module was first validated in 1998 by Stueck, Villegas, Schroder, Terren, Toro, Sack, Balzer, Mazarella, and Toro. TANZPRO-Biodanza is part of the concept of the School of Empathy, a concept that integrates the concept of nonverbal communication from Martha Rosenberg and the TANZPRO-Biodanza biosentric paradigm from Rolando Toro. TANZPRO-Biodanza is a training that allows participants to experience the importance to feel and regulate of their emotions. This research used educational research design Borg dan Gall (dalam Simoneau, 2007). The subjects in this study were 10 boys and girls aged 9-10 years. Four TANZPRO-Biodanza sessions were given to children: Spain session, Egypt session, Tanzania session, and China session. Data collection uses observation and interviews. The module validating results showed that language translation is in good category (score 75 - 92.5 from the range of assessment scores 0-100). In addition, most sessions can be applied to the subject of Indonesian children. But there are still sessions that need to be adapted to Indonesian culture.

CHANGES OF 1ST GRADE SCHOOL CHILDREN’S EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL COMPETENCES IN TANZPRO-BIODANZA INTERVENTION GROUP

Abstract. The aim of this study is to investigate changes of 1st grade school children’s (age 6 - 7) emotional and social competences in TANZPRO-Biodanza intervention group. In total 22 sessions were carried out during the school year 2014 / 2015 - from the beginning of October, 2014 until the end of May, 2015. The Emotion Questionnaire (Rydell et al., 2003) parents’ version was used to evaluate emotional competence – emotionality and emotion regulation. Prosocial scale, Internalizing and Externalizing scale of The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ, Goodman, 1997) parents‘ versions were used to measure social competence, i.e., prosocial behaviour and nonexistence of behavioural problems. Testing was performed in 3 time points – before intervention, after 10 sessions, and after intervention. Pre and post intervention results of social and emotional competence revealed different changes of experimental (n = 10) and control (n = 9) group pupils. Experimental group pupils showed statistically significant improvement in emotion regulation outcomes, prosocial and internalizing behaviour, but control group pupils showed decrease in emotion regulation outcomes and increase of internalizing behaviour. Both between-group and within - group analysis indicated, that internalizing behaviour results have most pronounced changes. Repeated measures ANOVA and Post hoc test with Bonferroni adjustment revealed statistically significant time effect for experimental group pupils (F(2,18)=4.81, p=0.02, η2=0.35) and tendency level with 90 % probability for control group pupils (F(2,16)=3.40, p=0.06, η2=0.30). Saliva cortisol showed decrease in pre and post levels, in some sessions achieving level of significance.
Keywords: dance, elementary school children, emotional competence, emotion regulation, intervention, saliva cortisol, social competence, TANZPRO-Biodanza.

Effects of a biodanza program in relation to physical and psychological parameters in Primary Education

Introduction: The aim of the study was to know the physical and psychological effects of a biodanza program in primary school children. Methods: Fifty-three students (boys and girls) from a public school located in the province of Huelva were selected for the sample. The students were divided into two different groups: a quasi-control group and a quasi-experimental one. Questionnaires were applied to all the participants at the beginning and at the end of the course in order to measure the psychological variables (self-esteem, emotional inteligence and life satisfaction). Several physical test was also applied to measure maximum consumption of oxygen and agility. Results: Results show significant improvement in self-esteem (t(53)=4.599; p< .001), emotional inteligence (t(52)=2.160; p= .035) and agility (U=-3.763; p< .001). For maximum consumption of oxygen and life satisfaction variables some improvements have been found, but they are not enough to be considered significant. Conclusions: These results suggest that a biodanza program in school children can be a good tool to improve the physical and psychological variables previously cited.

Los efectos de un programa motor basado en la biodanza enrelación con parámetros de inteligencia emocional en mujeres

This study analyzed the effects of regular practice of biodanza in
the level of perceived emotional intelligence (IEP), in its dimensions of perception,
understanding and emotional regulation, in 35 women of middle
age of a medium-humble socioeconomic level. To this end we applied the
TMMS-24 questionnaire. Biodanza program focused on emotions and basic
lines of experience. The obtained results show a statistically significant
increase in levels of IEP of the women in the experimental group, with
respect to the control group, after the application of the motor based on the
dance program, demonstrating higher values in the dimension of understanding
of emotions.

School of Empathy for EnhancingChildren’s Well being

This study was aimed to examine the effects of School of Empathy on emotional and psychological well-being on elementary school age children in one of the public elementary schools in Yogyakarta. The study involved 13 children aged 9-14 years divided into 7 in children experimental group and 6 in children control group. This study used quasi experiment design with control group with pre-test & post-test design. The instrument used in this study is the Indonesian version of the School of Empathy (SoE) module developed by Stueck et al. (2010) and the Emotional and Psychological Well-being Scale for Children adapted from The Stirling Children's Well-being Scale (Liddle & Carter, 2015). Data analysis used parametric statistic independent sample t-test. The results showed that children's well-being score between the experimental group (M = 32.71, SD = 3.904) and control group (M = 33.83, SD = 4.956); (t (11) = - 0.456, p = 0.657), on the positive emotional state (t (11) = - 0.540, p = 0.6) and positive outlook (t (11) = - 0.305, p = 0.766). Effect size score of treatment (SoE training) on children's well-being (r = 0.136), positive emotional state (r = 0.160) and positive outlook (r = 0.091). The conclusion of this study is that no differences between the experimental group and the control group. SoE training has little effect on emotional and psychological well-being. The results of the study are discussed further.

DEVELOPING MODULE OF NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION AMONG CHILDRENIN YOGYAKARTA

This study aims to produce nonviolent communication module as part of the School of Empathy module
that can be applied to children in Indonesia along with required instruments. This study was a module
development research with Educational Research and Development design. Participants of this study were
elementary students and aged 9-10 years old. Instrument in this study was nonviolent communication –
School of Empathy Indonesia developed by Stueck. In addition, to see response of participants from module
implementation, we used observation guidelines and interview guidelines compiled by researchers. The
study was conducted in 3 days, with a total of 8 training sessions. This study was carried out in accordance
with stages in module development process. Based on result of the study, there were two important things
to be discussed, namely suitability of the module with the stages of child development based on results of
interview and observation, and assessment of child psychologist, also based on the findings during module
test process took place to participants. Results and limitations of this study are discussed further in this
article.

Biodanza as Mirrored in the sciences: Research concerning the psychological, physiological and immunological effects of Biodanza.

Biodanza, a form of intervention intended to further health and well-being, originated in South American by Rolando Toro and encourages self-expression and self-management through music, dance and interaction. Since 1998, we have been investigating the influence of a 10-session Biodanza program on 150 subjects on various psychological (regulation of emotion, Health, Personal psychology) physiological (skin response, blood pressure) endocrinological (e.g. adrenalin, noradrenalin, cortisol) and immunological (e.g. Immunglobulin A, NK-cells, T-cells) variables. Initial results from the experimental-control-group study in Argentina and Germany reveal significant changes in psychological health and personality variables after 3 Months (Post 1). After a further 3 months without Biodanza, the effect could be seen to have stabilized. It could be shown that regular, long-term participation in Biodanza had positive effects on subjects’ experience and behavior. Concerning the immunological variables, the subjects showed a significant increase in Immungloblin A (IgA) after 6 of 10 sessions compared to the IgA-Level before the session. A increase of the Pre-IgA-level (measured before the sessiones) between the 1st and 8th-10th session was documented. This effects of the sessions went along with significant psychological improvements during each session (improvement of relaxation, activity, mood) compared to the control group (Aerobic). It could be shown that regular, long-term participation in Biodanza had positive effects on the experience, behaviour and biological regulation parameters of the subjects.

Application of Biodanza to Insight Meditation Retreats

Rolando states that: ‘Biodanza is a complex adaptive system…. ‘
With this spirit in mind of Biodanza being a ‘complex adaptative
system’ the subject of this thesis is to create, trial and evaluate
an application of Biodanza to a specific environment.
This application of the Biocentric principle and Biodanza methodology
would be to support and enrich people’s experience participating in
Insight Meditation Retreats.
I will explore some of the relevant theoretical aspects of Biodanza, the shortfalls of the
meditation retreat environment and what potentially Biodanza can contribute.
I will offer my personal reflections on the journey I have travelled blending the
seemingly two disparate methodologies of Buddhist philosophy and the Biocentric
principle.
The core of this thesis though, is practical as it will outline the research undertaken on
5 retreats over 6 months, and the results and conclusion reached.
It will outline the research methodology, the design of the Biodanza application, the
feedback received, improvements made and subsequent trialling of the improvements.
Two distinct stages in the research:
The first stage was low key and was to trial one Biodanza session on a few retreats
with informal feedback. This would give an early indication if it would be accepted and
if the idea had merit.
The feedback at this stage allowed us to proceed with more confidence towards a
more fully developed offering. The early appraisal and feedback were invaluable in
giving us a better understanding on what to design and how to develop a more formal
feedback mechanism.
The second stage, was conducted twice. After the first one feedback was gathered,
two supervisions conducted and improvements made.
The improved session was run again a month later and feedback received once again.
This thesis presents the conclusion of the research and offers a definitive statement
about the suitability of the application of the Biocentric principle to this very specific
environment of Insight Meditation Retreats.

en_GBEnglish (UK)