FORRÓ GUEST WORKSHOPS
ONLINE CLASSES WITH GUEST INSTRUCTORS
Explore different approaches to forró through workshops, movement studies, musicality training, styling practices, partner dynamics, body awareness exercises, creativity sessions, and social dance concepts taught by guest instructors from Brazil and the international forró community.
More than 30 hours of recorded classes, live sessions, dance practices, and educational material exploring different styles, techniques, artistic perspectives, and teaching approaches inside forró.
FORRÓ GUEST WORKSHOPS
120$Every yearAccess workshops, recorded classes, live sessions, and movement studies with guest instructors from Brazil and the international forró community.- 30h+ of workshops and recorded classes
- Recorded festival workshops and live sessions
- Different artistic and movement approaches
Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of each billing cycle so you can continue your learning without interruption. You can cancel at any time before the renewal date, and your access will remain active until the end of your current period.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
The Forró Guest Workshops emerged during the development of the Forró New York online platform throughout the pandemic years and continued expanding through collaborations created between 2020 and the present.
During this period, Rafael Piccolotto de Lima - founder and educational director of Forró New York - collaborated with guest instructors from Brazil, Europe, and the international forró community to create a diverse educational library of workshops and online dance classes.
Some of these collaborations were produced through professional in-person recordings with full video production infrastructure. Others were created remotely by the guest instructors themselves specifically for the students of Forró New York. The program also includes live Zoom sessions, replay classes, recorded workshops from festival events, and classes filmed during guest instructor residencies and collaborations in New York City, especially through the Forró New York Weekend festival.
Rather than focusing on a single style or teaching philosophy, this program was designed as a complementary educational library where students can explore different perspectives, techniques, body mechanics, musical approaches, and movement ideas inside forró.
Topics available inside the program include:
Workshops & Topics Included
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Styling, arm movement, and embrace techniques with Mara Figueiredo
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Posture, axis, and turns with Roberta Fernandes
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Balance, body connection, and leg sacadas with Natália Militão
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Repique and rhythm variations with Lílian Miranda
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Footwork combinations and movement sequences with Camila Alves
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Roots forró foundations, travas, and foot variations with Victinho & Pamela
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Miudinho, body movement, and creativity with Marília Cervi
The platform functions as a subscription-based educational library, giving students access to a continuously available collection of workshops and classes taught by different instructors with distinct artistic and pedagogical perspectives.
All content is organized inside an online platform that students can access at their own pace from anywhere in the world.
This program is especially valuable for dancers who:
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want exposure to different teaching approaches
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want to expand movement vocabulary and artistic references
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enjoy exploring different perspectives inside forró
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want additional material beyond structured courses
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are interested in musicality, creativity, partner dancing, styling, and social dance development
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want access to workshops connected to the international forró community
WHO THIS PROGRAM IS FOR
EXAMPLES FROM DIFFERENT WORKSHOPS
The Guest Workshops library includes many different approaches to movement, musicality, partner interaction, coordination, body awareness, creativity, styling, and social dancing.
Below are a few examples of workshops and practices available inside the program.
MOVEMENT COMBINATIONS & SOLO PRACTICE
The following dance routine was developed as part of a workshop exploring movement combinations, coordination, rhythm, repertoire development, and solo practice inside forró. The complete workshop connected to this material is available inside the program.
Unlike many of the other workshops in the library that focus more heavily on musicality, improvisation, movement concepts, or social dance dynamics, this class works more directly with movement sequences, coordination, repetition, and guided practice.
Workshops like this help dancers expand movement vocabulary, improve coordination and movement fluency, and develop greater physical familiarity with different movement combinations and transitions inside forró.
CONNECTION, BALANCE & PARTNER DYNAMICS
This improvised dance (below) was recorded at the end of a workshop with guest instructor Natália Militão exploring connection, body communication, balance, leg sacadas, and partner interaction inside forró social dancing. The complete workshop connected to this material is available inside the program.
Rather than presenting fixed choreography, the dance incorporates many of the ideas, movement principles, connection dynamics, and technical elements explored throughout the workshop in a more natural and improvised social dance context.
Workshops like this help dancers develop greater awareness of connection, responsiveness, body organization, adaptability, musical interaction, and movement possibilities while experiencing different approaches to partner dancing inside forró.
A LIVING ARCHIVE OF THE INTERNATIONAL FORRÓ COMMUNITY
More than a collection of online classes, this library also documents a particular moment in the international development of the forró community.
Many of these workshops were created during a period when dancers, instructors, and communities around the world were searching for new ways to stay connected, continue learning, exchange ideas, and keep the dance alive across different countries and realities.
The program brings together collaborations developed across Brazil, Europe, and the international forró scene through festivals, residencies, online sessions, workshops, and artistic partnerships created throughout these years.
Beyond technical content, the library also preserves different teaching philosophies, movement aesthetics, musical approaches, social dance perspectives, and ways of thinking about forró developed by instructors from different backgrounds and communities.
As the international forró scene continues evolving, this collection also functions as a living archive of artistic exchange, movement research, pedagogy, and social dance culture across different parts of the world.
MEET THE GUEST INSTRUCTORS
MARILIA CERVI
Marilia Cervi is a forró dancer, instructor, and choreographer originally from Brazil, internationally recognized for her work teaching and performing forró around the world.
Winner of the Brazilian Forró Championship and several national and international awards, Marilia has taught in countries including Australia, Japan, Germany, Turkey, Russia, England, and France. Her teaching is known for its strong focus on body movement, musicality, creativity, and expression inside the dance.
She is currently based in Lyon, France, where she helps develop the local forró community through the association Forró em Lyon.
ROBERTA FERNANDES
Roberta Fernandes has been teaching forró since 2005 at Canto da Ema, one of the most important traditional forró venues in São Paulo, Brazil, where she continues to coordinate the school’s dance program.
Alongside her background in forró, Roberta also studies ballet and incorporates principles of posture, axis, balance, and body organization into her teaching approach, helping dancers develop cleaner and more efficient movement technique.
MARA FIGUEIREDO
Mara Figueiredo began her dance training through ballet before specializing in forró. Since becoming an instructor and co-owner of Fuá Forró dance school in São Paulo, she has taught at important festivals and events throughout Brazil.
Her teaching approach combines technical precision, body awareness, styling, and movement quality, with particular attention to arm movement, embrace, and fluidity inside social dancing.
VICTINHO MAIA & PAMELA BARRÓN
Victinho Maia and Pamela Barrón are internationally recognized Brazilian forró instructors known for their versatility, musicality, and dynamic approach to social dancing.
Their work moves naturally between different styles and aesthetics inside forró, including roots and universitário approaches, while also drawing from their broader experience with partner dances and movement training.
CAMILA ALVES
Camila Alves has been teaching forró internationally since 2012 and is recognized for workshops exploring creativity, movement combinations, role dynamics, and contemporary perspectives inside social dancing.
Over the years, she has been actively involved in the European forró scene through teaching, artistic collaborations, and participation in the organization of important events, including Baião em Lisboa Festival and Forró Douro Festival. She also collaborated for many years with Espaço Baião in Lisbon.
Today, Camila continues developing her own independent artistic and educational work through her personal studio and teaching projects.
NATÁLIA MILITÃO
Natália Militão is the founder of Fuá dance school in São Paulo and has been teaching forró professionally since 2014.
Her work explores balance, body connection, movement awareness, and social dancing technique, combining roots forró influences with detailed attention to body mechanics and partner connection. She has taught at festivals and events in Brazil, Europe, and online international programs.
LÍLIAN MIRANDA
Lílian Miranda became deeply involved with forró through Pé Descalço dance school in Belo Horizonte and later became an instructor at the school’s São Paulo unit.
Her classes often explore rhythm variations, repique, footwork, musicality, and dynamic movement combinations, always encouraging students to expand their coordination and rhythmic understanding inside the dance.
MEET THE HOST (INSTRUCTOR)
Rafael Piccolotto de Lima
is the Founder and Educational Director of Forró New York, where he has been teaching forró classes and developing the project’s educational programs since 2017.
He is a Latin Grammy-nominated composer, arranger, and music director, with a teaching approach focused on the techniques that build a strong foundation for connection, creativity, and musicality in dance.
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
Dancers from different countries and backgrounds participate in the Forró New York online learning ecosystem through courses, workshops, guided practice, festivals, and musicality training.
This map reflects part of the international reach of the project throughout these past years.
STUDENT EXPERIENCES & TESTIMONIALS
Dancers from different countries and backgrounds use the Forró Guest Workshops to explore new movement ideas, different teaching approaches, musicality concepts, partner dynamics, styling, creativity, body awareness, and social dance perspectives through workshops with guest instructors from the international forró community.
Because each instructor brings distinct artistic influences, technical focuses, and ways of organizing movement, the program allows students to experience different dimensions of forró beyond a single methodology or aesthetic perspective.
“His approach to music and rhythm completely changed the way I dance.”
Lívia Silva (New York)
“With any song, you can make it your own and experiment with new things through your body.”
Tuomas Ranta (San Francisco)
“Amazing place with awesome people and a great vibe! I felt really welcomed there and I can’t recommend it enough.”
Camila Alves (Guest Instructor from Lisbon)
“I’ve been able to grow my relationship with my body expression and rhythm connection.”
Marina Zurita (New York)
“In every class he gives us elements to build new vocabulary in our dance.”
Angelica Vargas Prada (San Francisco)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Do I need a partner to participate in these workshops?
Not always.
Some workshops focus more on individual development, body awareness, styling, rhythm, musicality, coordination, and movement organization, while others include partner interaction, social dance concepts, combinations, and connection work.
Many of the exercises and ideas can still be practiced individually and later integrated into social dancing situations.
Are these workshops only for advanced dancers?
No.
Some workshops explore more advanced concepts, but many classes focus on fundamental ideas such as rhythm, posture, body awareness, movement quality, musicality, coordination, and social dancing principles.
Different dancers often benefit from the material in different ways depending on their level and previous experience.
What makes learning with different guest instructors valuable?
Different instructors often organize movement, rhythm, musicality, connection, creativity, and social dancing in very different ways.
Exposure to multiple teaching approaches can help dancers expand movement possibilities, develop adaptability, deepen body awareness, and better understand the diversity that exists inside forró.
Are these workshops focused on choreography?
No.
While some workshops include combinations, movement sequences, and partner material, the broader focus of the program is movement understanding, musicality, creativity, body organization, social dancing, and different ways of approaching forró.
The goal is not simply memorizing patterns, but expanding movement possibilities and dance understanding.
→ Read more: Learning Forró as a Dance Language - Beyond Steps and Patterns
What kinds of topics are included inside the workshops?
The workshops explore topics such as musicality, creativity, body movement, posture, axis, styling, connection, improvisation, rhythm variations, partner interaction, footwork, movement sequences, social dancing concepts, and different approaches to movement organization inside forró.
How is this different from the other online courses?
The other courses inside the Forró New York ecosystem are generally more structured around specific areas of development such as foundations, musicality, connection, improvisation, or solo training.
The Forró Guest Workshops function more as an expanding educational ecosystem where students can explore different teachers, artistic perspectives, movement approaches, and workshop experiences inside forró.
Are the workshops recorded during real events and festivals?
Some are.
The platform includes workshops recorded during festivals, guest residencies, live sessions, and special collaborations connected to the Forró New York community.
Other classes were produced specifically for the online platform in both professional studio and remote recording formats.
Can these workshops improve social dancing?
Yes.
The workshops explore many aspects directly connected to social dancing, including adaptability, musical interaction, movement vocabulary, body awareness, partner communication, creativity, rhythm interpretation, and responsiveness.
Because different instructors bring different movement perspectives and social dance approaches, the material can help dancers develop a broader and more flexible understanding of forró.
→ Read more: Why Adaptability Matters in Social Dancing - And How Forró Develops It
FORRÓ GUEST WORKSHOPS
120$Every yearAccess workshops, recorded classes, live sessions, and movement studies with guest instructors from Brazil and the international forró community.- 30h+ of workshops and recorded classes
- Recorded festival workshops and live sessions
- Different artistic and movement approaches
Your subscription will automatically renew at the end of each billing cycle so you can continue your learning without interruption. You can cancel at any time before the renewal date, and your access will remain active until the end of your current period.