New York City Hosts its First Forró Festival (2018)

Recently, forró has started to gain more attention in New York, a city known for its Broadway musicals, legendary jazz clubs, and large concert halls.

New York is a place for the unimaginable, and here, forró has carved out a space of its own. It began on small stages and in intimate venues, gradually gaining followers from many different nationalities.

People who wanted to come together, intertwine their bodies and minds, smile, and share joyful moments.

It’s hard to imagine that a city with such a small scene would host a big forró festival, but the reality is that New York City is one of the most multicultural cities on the planet, where almost anything feels possible.

But how did this all get started?

How is it possible that a city that, until recently, had no regular forró classes and musicians who would question its viability, can suddenly transform and host such a large event with a wide audience?

In 2017 and 2018, the New York scene grew and reinvigorated itself, creating the ideal conditions for a larger production. In just over a year, a city that had only two venues playing forró and a small number of active dancers began to shift.

Soon, parties and classes were happening almost daily, and to everyone’s surprise, the city hosted its first international forró festival. During this period, we were happy to be part of this “forró revolution” in the city with the creation of Forró New York in 2017.

Inspired by this growing scene, Eliano Braz (Brazilian musician) and Marla Guttman (American lawyer) came together to create the “New York Forró Fest 2018”, the first festival produced by New Yorkers. Unlike a previous festival attempt in the city, Eliano and Marla received strong support from the local forró community. I was also invited to coordinate the educational portion of the event.

It became a beautiful gathering, made possible through the participation and engagement of a dedicated group of forrozeiros.

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Dancers from Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco, Montreal, and even Europe came to take part in classes, watch shows, and dance non-stop. The festival included a total of 28 dance classes over three days, designed for all levels and interests, along with four nights of parties featuring live musical performances. Each musician, instructor, and dancer brought a bit of their own history, experience, and swing, all shared in a friendly and open environment. I did everything I could to collaborate with the organization of the event, driven by my own enthusiasm for forró. Many people came together and contributed in different ways, helping make the festival a great success. It was all worth it.

I believe this was the first time New York had seen so many strong forró dancers come together in one event. Beyond the well-attended and lively parties, the classes held a very special place for me. It was a valuable opportunity to study with instructors who are actively building their own forró scenes across North America, as well as to welcome talented guests from Europe and Brazil.

Since I am closely connected to the people in our New York scene, I knew this cultural exchange would be very well received by our community. Forró is a genre with a high degree of freedom, allowing space for multiple styles and regional expressions. In this context, one of our goals was to present this diversity to students, reflected in the variety of instructors we invited. As an instructor myself, I felt especially happy to see some of my own students, who have been studying with me for some time, becoming references and role models for newcomers.

Another very special moment of the festival for me was teaching a class that brought together two of my greatest passions, music and dance. During the festival, a small personal dream came true: teaching forró music elements to a live trio, alongside an introduction to music theory and analysis. We were able to lead a dance class using a beautiful original composition by accordionist Felipe Hostins, an active musician in the city. Based on his music, I spoke about the musical structure and demonstrated the dance with Camila Alves (a talented instructor from Lisbon, Portugal), my partner during the festival (see video below). Together with these gifted artists, I was able to encourage students to explore the relationship between sound and movement.

The NY Forró Fest 2018 was a historic event that helped place New York on the map for future forró festivals. It served as a catalyst for more dancing, more classes, more shows, and more parties. Many new friendships were formed among active forrozeiros who are helping to build and strengthen the presence of forró in cities across the U.S. We helped prepare the ground here in New York for the scene to continue to grow, and we were already looking forward to what would come next.

A second edition of the festival took place in 2019. After that, the festival did not continue.

Since then, the most consistent festival in New York, carrying forward this tradition of bringing together music and dance with local artists and instructors, as well as invited guests from across the U.S. and abroad, has been the Forró New York Weekend, produced by Forró New York, which has now reached more than seasonal 10 editions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rafael Piccolotto de Lima is the Founder and Educational Director of Forró New York, as well as a Latin Grammy-nominated composer, arranger, and music director.

More about his work can be found here.