Forró

Forró (pronounced ‘Foho’ in Portuguese) is both a music genre and the most popular partner dance in Brazil. It originated in the North-East of the country in the 19th century and became known throughout Brazil in the 1940s. Since then, forró has gained widespread popularity beyond Brazil’s borders, with a young but nonetheless well-established forró scene in Europe.

As music, forró has five famous rhythms: xote (the slowest), baião (the original forró rhythm), xaxado, arrasta-pé (the fastest), and forró itself. The instruments typically heard in forró music are the zabumba (bass drum), the triangle and the accordion. Due to this variety of rhythms, the dance itself ranges from wild and fast to calm and relaxing. These different styles of dancing differ from region to region and may be known by different names according to the location. Forró is danced in pairs and, as in most partner dances, a distinction is made between two dance roles: leader and follower. Especially in European forró communities, the traditional gender roles of leading men and following women are questioned, so that, unlike many other partner dances, it becomes more and more common to see same-sex couples or leading women and following men on the dance floor. Usually, forró is danced very close, with the leader’s left hand holding the follower’s right hand, the leader’s right arm around the follower’s back and the follower’s left arm on the leader’s shoulder blade. However, depending on the dance style or preference, different figures and turns can be built into the dance. With forró dance styles constantly changing and new ones developing, you will now hear a lot about roots. Roots is a dance style within forró that is danced much closer to one another and is characterized by the use of footwork or tricks with the feet, resulting in less arm movements or turns. The influences from swing, Cuban salsa, samba de gafieira, and Brazilian zouk, make forró a truly unique dance that is definitely worth a try!