Rolando Toro (1924-2010)

Biodanza was born from Rolando's deep passion for human expression and connection. He began his career as a professor, holding the chair of Psychology of Art and Expression at the Institute of Aesthetics of the Pontifical University of Chile, and later teaching at the Center for Anthropological Medical Studies at the University of Chile's School of Medicine.

During this time, he developed Biodanza through a combination of his personal and professional experiences, along with his extensive studies in biology. While working with psychiatric patients at the Psychiatric Hospital of Santiago del Chile, Rolando made a remarkable discovery: certain music and movements could stimulate positive emotions like vitality, creativity, and the joy of human connection.

He dedicated his entire life to studying, researching, and teaching Biodanza. His work spread throughout Latin America, across Europe, and to many other parts of the world.

Through Biodanza, Rolando wanted to offer people a second chance at life—an opportunity to see their experiences through a positive lens and nurture the beautiful aspects that already existed within them.

Rolando was also a gifted painter and poet who cherished these forms of expression, believing they allowed us to feel "the heart of the world beating."

I feel grateful that I had the opportunity to meet him and participate in several of his workshops. I will always remember him as someone with an enormous, open heart and a profound love for both people and life itself.