What is Biodanza?
Biodanza is a deep, yet joyful holistic personal, social and spiritual growth practice.
This unique somatic journey opens the heart, frees the body and expands consciousness.
Through regular weekly practice,
the integrative Biodanza process allows participants to resource themselves,
to reconnect to their natural state of joy, to harmonise their nervous system,
to awaken their desire and pleasure to be fully alive, to move through life with an undefended heart,
while being welcome by a loving community and supported in the safety of each session.
Biodanza is a simple, life-affirming and transformational therapeutic practice.
Everyone is welcome; no dance experience is necessary,
no need to learn any steps, nor any right or wrong way to move.
Also known as the Dance of Life, Biodanza combines carefully selected,
inspiring music from around the world with deeply moving heart opening exercices.
This somatic practice brings us more fully into the moment,
more connected to our emotions, and more into our natural state of embodied aliveness.
Referred to as The Poetry of Human Encounters,
Biodanza is a powerful, gentle and necessary medicine for our time.
Its regular practice transforms stress into vitality.
Through a rich variety of exercises,
participants are gently invited to get in touch with their authentic emotions,
recognize and embrace their need for tender touch, find their own inner strength, and awaken to their sensuality.
Each one is encouraged to discover and express their fullest and unique potentials
to recreate themselves and to find deeper meaning in their lives.
Weekly Classes
THURSDAYS in BERKELEY
OPEN TO ALL
From 8:00 to 9:45 pm
Wildcat studio, 2525 8th St.
You are new to Biodanza or just want to drop in,
you're welcome to join our vibrant and loving group!
One session: $30
Monthly pass: $100 (4 consecutive weeks paid at the beginning of the month)
MONDAYS in BERKELEY
DEEPENING GROUP
From 7:15 to 9:15pm
Finnish Hall, 1970 chestnut St.
Are you ready to deepen your Biodanza experience and integration?
Dancing weekly with the same group of people induces a deep integrative process.
If you are curious about the positive changes a regular Biodanza practice can have on your life,
your relationships, your happiness, your creativity, your sense of aliveness and peace, join our deepening group.
You already have a good Biodanza experience, understand the value of weekly practice
and are ready to dive deeper in the process, our Monday class is welcoming you!
Please let me know if you want to integrate our heart opened and diverse deepening group.
One session: $30
Monthly pass: $100 (4 consecutive weeks paid at the beginning of the month)
Zora
My personal journey started in France.
After completing a Master of Fine Arts,
I started to travel around the world.
In my early twenties, I discovered Vipassana meditation in India, practiced for about twelve years,
sitting and serving many retreats worldwide.
Later on, my traveling and dancing feet brought me
to California and the transformative world
of conscious dance.
For the last fifteen years I have been creating
safe and sacred space for people to transform
their experience of life
through the integrative practice of Biodanza;
a deep personal, social and spiritual growth practice
using conscious dance and community.
On my path toward even more freedom and healing,
I encountered and worked with several powerful
plant teachers and deepened the exploration
of my inner landscapes.
As a certified Mind Body Therapy practitioner
and a Process Art facilitator,
I offer individual and group sessions
using art and mind body awareness
as a gateway to the unconscious.
With creativity, sensitivity, care and passion,
I will guide you on your healing journey toward more integration, wholeness and freedom.
Education and Credentials
Master of Fine Arts, Rennes (France)
and Pondichery (India) Universities
Biodanza Facilitator
and Didactic Teacher Trainer,
certified by IBF
Counselor,
certified by the Interchange Institute
Psych-K practitioner
Process Art facilitator,
trained by the Painting Experience
Mind Body Therapy Practitioner,
certified by the Embodied Philosophy School
Biodanza Extentions
Evolution Project
Biodanza and Clay
Biodanza and Neo-Shamanism
Identity and the animal archetypes
Identity and the 4 elements
Biodanza in nature
In the Heart of Transformation
Testimonials
"Biodanza is a superb movement and healing modality that helps foster genuine human connection.
Zora is an outstanding facilitator
who helps bring a sense of safety, joy
and depth to the practices.
I highly recommend this work."
Jeffrey Ringold,
Santa Cruz
“One of the biggest things Biodanza brings up for me
is belonging.
I struggle to feel belonging in a group.
I am always second-guessing my worthiness,
and questioning people’s desire
to genuinely be in space with me.
Biodanza provides moments of true belonging
where I feel total understanding
- we all understand each other‘s sadness, fear, joy, silliness, and connection to divinity.
We are truly together-
body and spirit soft, open and loving.
During such moments of belonging,
I feel both ecstatic, calm; held, holding and safe.
I feel in my body “I am worthy of love!
And these people love me!”
Then another part of myself creeps in,
and does its best to question
and dismantle the sense of safety and belonging.
I know this is a protective part.
This part wants to make sure I don’t experience
hurt and rejection, so I reject and remove myself
before others can do it to me.
Biodanza teaches me over and over that I do belong…
and that in truth,
I cannot be separate from any aspect of this universe.
I will re-learn this lesson of love
as many times as I need to.”
Martina Glaros,
Berkeley
"Zora is a truly gifted being,
who comes to greet you each time
with a powerful promise shining in her eyes:
Yes!
Life can be beautiful when we embrace the moment
with joy and pleasure, come dance with me!"
Marta Delgado,
Tahoe
Process Art
Where Art meets Mind Body Spirit Therapy
Art is a mirror reflecting back who we truly are.
Most of us are afraid to take a look...but when we finally find the courage,
we can see right in the depth of the unconscious.
Are you looking for a gentle and safe way to express and release emotions
that lay right under the surface of your conscious mind?
Beyond talk therapy and creative expression,
I hold space and guide you with care and sensitivity.
No art experience necessary!
Process Art is a holistic and effective practice
that can help you shed light on unconscious content, support you to release deep buried emotions
and accompany you on your path to integration and wholeness.
By quietening down the judging mind, one can awake the intuitive, unconscious, active imagination.
By allowing oneself to be in the flow, let go of control, follow the energy, magic happens on the paper.
Painting for the process and not for the product, will reveal to you a new way to let your emotions,
feelings and unconscious guide your brush.
Find the freedom to express what lives beyond the mind and surprise yourself with your own unlimited creativity!
This process is deeply therapeutic and transformative whether you're an artist
or haven't touched a brush since first grade!
For artists experiencing a creative block, this practice can support you to unleash your creativity
and give you permission to paint like you've never dared before!
~~~
What do people say about Process Art with Zora?
"My experience with Process Art has been very special,
I like to connect with that space where there is no mind, look at the colors and just follow my senses,
I feel that it is like a way to explore myself and see what there is, sometimes I can feel that I have expressed emotions or feelings that were repressed or that I find it difficult to accept, as well as I have learned that sometimes it is just a way to express my energy. For me it is a way to channel energy through art and translate it into something tangible.
Thank you Zora for your guidance and your acceptance."
Romina Mori, Peru.
"Joining the art process class with Zora, I didn't know what to expect and was surprised to find myself in front of a big white paper; human's biggest fear! What came next was an experience I never had before - "random" color, "random" strokes of the brush and a painting started getting a life of its own as hidden emotions of my heart reveled themselves to me. With gentle, mature and wise guidance, Zora was able to guide me through those new exposed emotions, in a safe container held by all that witnessed. This was not a random case, every session I joined had stripped another layer, and the personal transformation in return is tremendous. I'm beyond grateful for this unique practice and the sacred way Zora guides the process."
Meyrav Daon, Israel
"The art process with Zora has been priceless. It gradually allowed me to travel beyond my own borders into emotional, psychological and artistic realms I would have never have imagined. If you yearn for expansion and honoring your own process this is your ticket beyond talk therapy and artistic expression. Zora will be your honest and sensitive guide."
Mirjam Krohne, Biodanza facilitator and Education Specialist, California
BIODANZA RETREATS
SELF ESTEEM
SELF ESTEEM
SELF ESTEEM
Ditch New Year's resolutions and love who you are!
January 10-12th, Lakeport, CA
We are all unique, with a unique intrinsic value.
Yet many of us lack self esteem.
We need, wait for the other to recognize our value.
It's our task to heal our own shortcomings, otherwise we will keep waiting to get recognition from others and will never be fully satisfied.
Self-esteem starts with ourselves.
It's our task to know how to recognize,
to respect and nourish our own value.
It's our task to learn how to love ourselves
for what we are,
to feel good with ourselves
and dare to be fully who we are.
This weekend is an invitation to recognize and assume
our own value and the value of others,
and to develop the ability
to look at ourselves with caring,
comforting and loving eyes.
In a safe and loving container
we will deepen and support the strengthening
of our identity.
How do my self awareness, my relationships
and my life change:
When I'm not trying to be loved at all cost?
When liberated from the constraints of a tyrannic ideal,
I accept myself as I am?
When I fully occupy the space of my existence
with my presence?
When I recognize myself as being responsible
for my own life?
What does life taste like when I discover or rediscover
the deep feeling of my own intrinsic value?
To develop better self esteem is to develop the courage
to live and to love oneself, to take good care of oneself,
to be a good friend for oneself.
Residential retreat
Friday 5:00pm-Sunday 5:30pm
Sky Temple is surrounded by nature, has amazing views,
a beautiful dance floor, hot tub, steam room, cold plunge,
a great kitchen and common sleeping quarters.
Cost: $ 350 before December 1st, $395 after.
Register by bringing a non-refundable $100 deposit
to your weekly class.
Although this retreat is open to all,
I recommend that you participate
in a few weekly sessions before signing up!
EVOLUTION PROJECT
SELF ESTEEM
SELF ESTEEM
An Existential journey of Growth
July4-6th 2025, Gualala CA
The Evolution Project invites us
on an existential journey of growth.
It uses, as a tool and metaphor, the Tree of Life.
Its objective is to awaken the evolutionary process inside each of us, by activating the potentials still hidden, insufficiently nourished or put to sleep by the constraints of existence.
The following five themes, based on our big existential questions, will help us move forward together:
Roots
What soil gives us the necessary nourishment
to sustain our live?
Do we currently have what we need to grow?
Trunk
What kind of structure and stability organize our life,
as a child, as an adult?
Does this structure support us as we desire?
What choices can allow our being to develop further,
with power, dynamism and joy?
Branches
What are the directions, the paths,
that we have taken in our life?
Can we find the means to expand, develop,
grow to always give more meaning to our lives?
Flowers
What have we already expressed about ourselves
in this world?
What can we still bring out from the beauty
and splendor of our life?
Fruits
What flavors have we offered,
what achievements have we already accomplished by expressing our deep being?
What are the fruits that we still want to cultivate
and savor in our existential project?
Residential retreat
from Friday 10:00am to Sunday 6:00pm
Camping included
in a beautiful retreat center surrounded by nature.
Indoor sleeping options available for an extra fee.
We will all bring food and prepare delicious
and healthy meals together.
Cost: 395$ before May 1st, $450 after.
Register by bringing a non-refundable $100 deposit to your weekly class.
One year of weekly Biodanza practice is required to attend and fully benefit from the depth of this workshop.
BIODANZA SCHOOLS TRAININGS
The Vivencia
Transcendence
Transcendence
November 21-23, 2024
Maryland
USA
Transcendence
Transcendence
Transcendence
February 21-23, 2025
Quebec City
CANADA