Heitor Libânio started studying forró and related dances in 2002. In 2010, he graduated as a dance teacher from the famous Jaime Arôxa school. Since then, he gave classes in the schools ‘Vem dançar’ e ‘Caribeño’ in Brasília (capital city of Brazil). His main focus is ‘forro pé de serra’. His international project (Forró pelo Mundo) works disseminating musicality, balance, conection, character, criativity and the use of Brazilian culture in Forró!
Marcio Juruna, started dancing at the age of 12 (1995) observing his older siblings in the Brazilian forró capital, the Itaúnas village. Since then throughout his 22 years dancer and teacher of forró has been developing and creating new steps, thus acquired his own style of dance.
In recognition of his talent for forró Marcio Juruna excelled in the world of dance, specifically in the forró pé-de-serra; which has earned him several participations in festivals in Brazil (Remelexo, Rootstock, Minasroots, Bar Forró, Rio de Janeiro, Montes Claros, Brasilia, …). As a result, he has participated in several festivals in Europe (Festival de Domingo 2013, Pé na terra and Viva Baião in Portugal 2013, Dublin, Russia, Amsterdam, …).
In 2017 he participated in ForróFest in Boston-USA and gave a workshop in New York.
Luana Santos, began to dance in February 2016 in a project of forró pé-serra lessons in Vila de Itaúnas. In May of the same year he began his classes with Marcio Juruna; she has since become her dance partner.
In the year 2017 he began his experience with classes in a project of Teofilo Otoni, MG- Brazil. It then expanded into FENFIT 2017 (forró de Itaúnas festival), together with Marcio Juruna, in group classes at Bar Forró and Café Brasil; besides offering during the 7 days of festival private lessons.
Ana Flávia, 20, entered the middle of the dance with only 10. She graduated as a teacher at the Pé Descalço school. She has already held workshops in several cities in Brazil, such as São Paulo, Juiz de Fora, Niterói, Itajuba, and this year spent a season in Japan participating in the first Forró festival in the Orient
Luiz Henrique has been professor of Forró in Pé Descalço school since 2014. In addition to knowing and being a teacher of other rhythms, he is part of the school’s examiner group. Luiz has already held workshops in several cities in Brazil, such as Juiz de Fora, São Paulo, Niterói, Itajuba and this year in Japan along with his partner Ana Flávia, participating in the first forró festival in Oriente
Ricardo Ambrózio is a dancer with technical trainning in hip-hop, capoeira, different rhytyms of ballroom dance, Ballet, Jazz and Contemporary, he uses his larger and unusual approach of the body to analyze and build up his own style and didactic, bringing together mixed styles of forró.
Sarah Collings fell in love with forró while living in Milan and she hasn’t looked back since. She has travelled all over Europe and to Brazil to study with different teachers. When she arrived in Brussels in 2013, she discovered forró was almost unknown there.
She quickly started to contribute to the organization of workshops and other events in Brussels, and has developed a now rapidly-growing community of forrozeiros. Building on her experience in sports and language education, she started teaching classes in Brussels in 2014, and now teaches four different levels weekly.
At festivals, Sarah has taught and performed with Ricardo Ambrózio, gaining crucial insights into the technical and creative aspects of dance and developing her own style and approach. She has also worked with Bruno Prado and Enrique Matos among others, broadening her horizons and her understanding of dance.
Sarah believes that, above all, forró is about connection and community. Her classes emphasise the importance of listening, connection with our partner, and musicality – all while having fun!
Together with Ricardo and Martina Ambrózio, and Thiago Lima, Sarah organises the festival Ai Que Bom Brussels, now in its fourth year.
Daniel Polari is a MSc. in Psychobiology, whom have been dancing for 14 years. Dan works with consciousness studies, approaching how dancing and social gathering may improve cognitive capacity and the dance ability itself.
His style was developed in Brazil, learning while dancing 24/7 in Brasília. Right now he lives between Natal and Brasília, while organizing for his PhD in Neuroscience, in which he will study consciousness from different aspects, also observing how our brain reacts to forró music and dance.
Daniel is the founder of Forró-UFRN, a project that brings forró dance back to the Rio Grande do Norte, enriched with the southeastern influences. He is also the founder of Baião de Canto, a growing cultural project that aims to spread forró message with professionalism and responsibility.
Evandro Paz is a much respected teacher, teacher of a lot of teachers, and always holds interesting classes that fascinated his students. Look out for some clever footwork.
Evandro’s expertise has always been the Forró Pé-de-Serra style of Forró as seen in many night clubs in São Paulo.
Evandro has been working in Forró since 1995, sharing his skills in classes and workshops worldwide as well as at one of the most famous and traditional clubs in Brazil, Remelexo in São Paulo.
He´s graduating in dance from the University Anhembi Morumbi focusing His studies on bringing pupil’s attention to their balance and movement through steps and body awareness.
His teaching style focuses on leading and following using all parts of the body through various techniques in the dance to understand more deeply the concept and dynamics of the couples harmony that makes Forró so special.
Hugo Silva has been dancing since he was 13 years old. Hugo began his career as a teacher of ballroom dancing in 2004 when he won a scholarship to study ballroom dancing at the 7 & 8 School Cultural Hall Dance Association – Fatima Ramos. In addition to classes, he began his work as a DJ for Dance Hall and Forró. Today nightclub in several houses of events of Belo Horizonte and also in other States of Brazil. He graduated as a teacher at Escola 7 & 8 and started to teach classes of all rhythms, besides participating in choreographic shows by the school. In 2015 he decided to leave school 7 & 8 to start his own space. Today, he is Project Director # SimboraDançar, a school that has as its predominant rhythm the Forró Pé de Serra (Roots). He also has group lessons from Samba de Gafieira, Zouk and Kizomba. Other rhythms are also taught in private lessons. Hugo teaches private lessons and workshops throughout Brazil.
Aline Souza has been dancing since she was 10 years old. He started attending forró houses at the age of 16 and was a student of BH dance schools. In 2014 participated in the 4th coreofráfica da7 & 8 Dança de Salão, where he stayed for approximately 1 year. She started her career as a professor of forró roots in 2015, when she and Hugo Silva started the # SimboraDançar Project in Belo Horizonte, MG. Before that, I gave some private lessons and small forró workshops in partnership with Hugo. Today, she is the Managing Partner of the # SimboraDançar Project, a school that has Forró Pé de Serra (Roots) as its predominant rhythm. He also has group lessons from Samba de Gafieira, Zouk and Kizomba. Other rhythms are also taught in private lessons. Aline teaches private lessons and workshops throughout Brazil.
Ricardo H. Zambon was born in Valinhos, a small city in the state of São Paulo. In 2005, I began to learn to dance Forró in a well-known nightclub and dance school in Campinas-SP, called Cooperativa Brasil. For many years this dance house was the main reference of Forró Universitário in the state.
At the end of 2005, after going through a selective process, I started as a student in the dance group of Cooperativa Brasil, where I stayed for a year. In 2006, I started teaching Forró at Cooperativa Brasil and I did it until 2012, the year in which the place was closed. In that same year, I started my degree in Physical Education at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), since then Forró became my main activity. In 2014, together with a partner, Guilherme Mansini, we founded a Forró Universitário group called “Proibido Cochilar” We had the proposal of teaching Forró in a funny and relaxed way, so that these concepts could cross the limits of the classrooms, adding to the students’ lives.
In 2015, we participated for the first time of Copa Brasil de Forró (Brazilian Forro Cup). As the main technician and adviser, I helped our teacher Wenderson Rocha and, until then, our two monitors Aline Ferreira and Fernanda Brito to compete. In that year we won the 4th place in Pé de Serra Salão modality and the vice champion in the category of Pé de Serra Estilos, both in the semi professional category.
In 2016, we continued to participate of Copa Brasil de Forró. As the leader of the group, I created a training program to improve the couple’s harmony, lady’s autonomy, musicality, among other concepts. The training program aimed to make the dance more dialogic and harmonious. With the total dedication of the team, the results appeared: Aline Ferreira and Wenderson Rocha were the champions of Pé de Serra Estilos modality, semi professional category; Fernanda Brito and Matheus Franco were vice champion of Pé de Serra Estilos modality, professional category; Aline Ferreira and Wenderson Rocha won the third place in Pé de Serra Estilos modality professional category.
In 2017 our participation in the competition has consecrated us as the group of Forró Universitário most awarded in Pé de Serra Estilos modality of Brazil. Even competing with great dance schools from all over the country, our group brought significant results: Maria Ap. Martins and Tales L. da Aparecida were champions in the style of Pé de Serra Estilos modality, amateur category; Aline Vilhena and Tiago Oliveira were vice champion in Pé de Serra Estilos modality, amateur category; Fernanda Brito and Wenderson Rocha were champions in Pé de Serra Estilos, semi professional category; Aline Ferreira and Wenderson Rocha won the third place in Pé de Serra Estilos, professional category.
In three editions of Copa Brasil de Forró we got three champion school trophies and several podiums! Today we can say that we are the most awarded Forró Universitário group in our region and one of the best in Brazil.
In the academic field; Minister forró lessons in the extension project of UNICAMP since 2013. In 2017, I wrote a project “Tá na sangue e no suor: The signs of corporal practices of Forró Universitário” that was contemplated with a PIBIC scholarship. This paper was done with the aim of contributing to the democratization of knowledge, offering tools for the Physical Education teachers to include it in the school curriculum. It was already presented at a congress, and it is just waiting for the publication process.
Sabrina Lima started dancing in 1991 having Jazz and Ballet classes. In 1999 she started working as a professional. In 2002 she enters the Cia Marinho Braz and begins studying Forró and Ballroom Dancing. In 2010 she graduates as a Licenciate in Dancing (Licenciatura Plena), at the Faculdade Universidade. Specialized in Jazz, Samba e Forró. She gave classes in big schools in Rio de Janeiro such as Cia. Marinho Braz Reboco Das Artes, Academia Jimmy de Oliveira , Marquinho Copacabana.
Main Works With Forró: 1) Choreographic Show of Ballroom Dancing with Forró Cia. Marinho Braz .(May 2003).
2) Women in the Ballroom Dancing Show (2010 – 2011).
3) Choreographic Assistant at G.R.E.S Caprichosos de Pilares – Ala Choreographed – 2013.
4) Forró Professor at Forró de Domingo Festival – In Stuttgart Forró de Domingo – Germany – 2014.
5) Idealizer of the Forró Carioca Workshop and Promoter of the “Festa Forró Sem Juízo” that took place in Rio de Janeiro.
Thiago Sasaki
Mission
Disseminate the various forms of manifestation of Forró (music, dance, philosophy, culture …)?
Values
Freedom, fun, friendship and innovation
Professional Resume
I started my career as a student of ballroom dancing, following monitor and teacher. Currently ministering forró classes, and for always keep me updated, I participate in workshops, courses, workshops and festivals related to dance. I had a brief experience abroad (London) as a guest lecturer.
Professional experience
Professor of Forró in regular classes
Anderson Fernandes Dance School (EDAF), 2012
Space Dance, 2014 – 2015; 2017
Studio Contratempo, 2016 – 2017
Teacher at events and workshops
Forrozeá (Meeting of Forró da Baixada Santista), 2014, 2015 and 2016
Discover the secrets of Forró Pé de Serra
Contact, Driving, Embrace and Displacement
Xote in the Ballad
Connection and delivery, Rotation and Leg Game
Academic and personal development
Musical Theater – Beginner (4 Act)
Training in Coaching (Instituto Appana)
NLP applied to ballroom dancing (Stella Aguiar)
Update and specialization
Remelexo Brasil (Evandro Paz)
Barefoot Foot (Belo Horizonte)
Jaime Arôxa
Forró’s workshops with several themes such as: walking, body structure of Forró Pé de Serra, set of legs, among others
Participation in events
Russia Forró Festival
Cream Forrozeira
Forró do Gonzagão
Forró dos Sonhos
Copa Forró 2016
