Schedule a call to explore your interest in the Biodanza School program
Biodanza School of New York State
A training program opening your path to Biodanza, unfolding identity in deep community.
Schedule a call to explore your interest in the Biodanza School program
The Biodanza School of New York State has formed to offer Biodanza facilitator training. The School will be directed by Maira Martinez, who currently directs The School of Biodanza of Montreal and Southwestern Quebec. This training is an internationally accredited, 30-month course, generally occurring one weekend per month, beginning March 13-15, 2025. Training details, including the full calendar, are provided below. The program is open to Biodanza practitioners who wish to receive certification by the IBFed to become Biodanza facilitators, or practitioners who wish to dive deeper into Biodanza without becoming facilitators. Previously-trained facilitators are warmly welcomed to join us for a reduced fee, and most modules can also be taken individually, with the Director’s approval. We welcome your questions to tara@newworldritualdance.com.
Why take this training?
The motivations for undertaking facilitator training can be diverse. The desire to become a facilitator may be present from the outset and constitute the main motivation for undertaking this training. However, it is also possible to undertake this learning cycle without necessarily having the desire to facilitate.
For some people, following this training as students of the school responds to a real desire to deepen their knowledge of the theoretical and conceptual elements that form the basis of Biodanza.
Others are more motivated by the desire to join a group that, over a period of three years, will undergo an intense evolutionary process through Biodanza.
And it also happens that the desires may shift during the training.
Whatever the motivation that drives each individual, the training is the same for everyone. It is at the end of this training that vocations are confirmed or revealed. Our goal is to accompany an integrative process while respecting the desires and needs of each and every individual.
What does it mean to enroll in the training?
Enrolling in the Biodanza facilitator training means choosing to embark on a profound process of personal transformation. If you decide to join us in this cycle, we will invite you, throughout these three years of training, to immerse yourself with us in a space where our relationships will be our field of experimentation, and our vivencias the crucible in which we will forge the gold of our identity. Since we all arrive with knowledge, experiences, achievements, and a history, we can offer each other the possibility of putting the wisdom that dwells within us at the service of our growth and that of the group. In this way, we can learn from each other at all times and create together a safe and stimulating place for the development of each and every one of us. In short, the facilitator training process offers both a comprehensive and varied curriculum and a process through which we transform ourselves as we train.
There are several ways to participate in the facilitator training:
Enrolling in the training group provides you with all the supervision and materials you need to be a certified Biodanza facilitator.
Those who wish to deepen their knowledge and experience of Biodanza without committing themselves may register as auditing students during the first two years of the cycle. (Auditors may request to join the training group at any time, provided they meet the admission criteria and submit the integration reports from previous courses.)
Many modules are open for attendance at the permission of the instructor.
Biodanza facilitators who wish to re-experience a module are warmly welcomed to join any module at a reduced cost.
What, When & How Much
The training program consists of three main sections: 21 theoretical modules, seven methodological modules, and five in-depth modules. Two unusually intense personal transformation workpractices, called the "Minotaur Project," and two theoretical seminars complete the curriculum. It unfolds as approximately-monthly residential weekends from March 2026 through December 2028 in Accord, NY.
I’m in!
Your Instructors
Maira Martinez, School Director
Maira has been working with love and passion at the development of Biodanza for over 20 years. She is the Director of the <Montreal and South West of Quebec School of Biodanza>, and she also facilitates and gives workshops all over the world. In addition to training Biodanza facilitators and creating powerful Vivencias, Maira has been active in the field of alternative approaches to health, wellness, and joy for almost 40 years as a coach, hypno-coach, ritual guide, breathwork facilitator and artist. Her passion is to see human beings blossom and unfold in all their splendor. At the heart of her work is a deep belief in the power of the imagination and creative expression to nurture the unfolding of healthy and rich identities and communities.
Pablo Concha, Biodanza Didactic facilitator
Pablo has been dedicated to the growth of Biodanza with heart and depth for over a decade based in New York. Originally from Chile, he studied at the School of Biodanza Santiago de Chile, directed by Fernanda Morixe. He facilitates regular weekly groups and workshops. He collaborates with Tejiendo Vida Collective, with whom he celebrates diversity and authentic expression through meditation and healing music. Pablo is a composer and theater-maker whose creations explore movement and music as paths to human integration. With a background in Early Childhood Education, Pablo’s heart lies in nurturing spaces for babies, children, young and adults alike. His passion is to awaken joy, presence, and love through the transformative power of expression to unfold their unique expression in community.
Clara Rubin-Smith McKie, Biodanza Didactic facilitator (she/they)
I am a certified Biodanza Facilitator and Didactic Teacher Trainer, leading Biodanza groups in English and Spanish across Massachusetts and previously in the San Francisco Bay Area. I first encountered Biodanza 25 years ago in Chile, and have been facilitating since 2007, with additional specializations in working with youth and families as well as organizations and teams. Over many years as an interdisciplinary teacher and artist, I have focused on community facilitation and capacity-building, creating accessible participatory arts experiences that build the conditions for individual and collective wellbeing. With a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, Modern Languages and Dance, my undergraduate thesis looked at ways that womxn in Latin America have mobilized social change through folk arts, music and dance. Growing up in traditional dance and music communities, I am fortunate to have experienced the power of this kind of generative, collective action from early on. I went on to explore diverse movement forms, teach physical communication workshops, and work in diverse fields including nonprofits, education and health care, from pregnancy and early childhood to end of life. I have been an invited presenter to a wide range of groups and events, most recently bringing Biodanza to a California statewide early education conference for teachers and parents, and to mental health providers in Massachusetts. It is a privilege to create circles and sanctuary spaces for people to tap into the wisdom of their bodies, find and use their voices, and step into greater connection, creativity and healing for themselves and this world we live in together.