From its onset, the Association has been involved in various solidarity activities. It has organised specific events such as a fund- raising activity for OMPAC (a multi-resource organization for people who suffer from cancer), and it has also collected food, school supplies, and warm clothes to be given to different organisations.
Association Biodanza Canada has also created a special fund to support social action projects in the community, in order to pursue and support the work that facilitators have undertaken with specific clienteles such as : senior citizens, women who have suffered domestic violence, people living in prison, etc.
Achieved projects subsidized by the Association:
» Biodanza for children, with Dr. Julien’s Foundation, by Éva Kyzirides
» Biodanza at Centre des Femmes de Montréal, by MarieClaire Martinez.
» Biodanza with women who have suffered domestic violence, in Québec, by Brigitte Lafleur.
» Biodanza for caregivers, in Laurentians, by Louise Tremblay.
» Biodanza at La Maison Vivre, Montréal, by Maira Martinez (assisted by Lyne Lavallée).
Social Action in Biodanza:
In Biodanza, social action refers to the means through which the human community takes action to encourage the well-being of all its members. These means consist of actions geared to helping those of its society who are more fragile in order to improve their life. As a matter of fact, Biodanza in itself is a social action activity, as the people who practice it improve their community through the quality of their presence and the enhanced expression of their identity.
Practicing Biodanza promotes equal relationships with our fellow human being; it stimulates the emergence of natural kindness as well as the capacity for compassion and empathy. We can therefore become more sensitive to the difficulties of others and develop a greater capacity to welcome differences.
Biodanza rests on the biocentric principle which puts forward the absolute respect for life as a base for all our actions. This vision of life paves the way for a protective attitude, induced by the recognition and respect of the intrinsic dignity of each and every living being. Helping one’s fellow human then becomes an act of solidarity instead of a charitable gesture.
Association Biodanza Canada’s Social Action Committee
The social action committee is overseen by the Association Biodanza Canada. Its mission is to make sure that social action becomes more and more natural as a practice; furthermore social action should be geared to increase the sense of improving life in general, in accordance with the biocentric principle.
In order to meet its commitments the committee chooses to favour the following means of action:
» To offer Biodanza activities in financially underprivileged milieus.
» To coordinate various fund-raising events in favour of community organizations in the weekly groups.
» To organize fund-raising vivencias to support social action.
Social action in Biodanza gives us the opportunity to step out of helplessness and take action towards building the world of our dreams.
