What is Forró Roots Style?
Updated: 4 days ago
Forró Roots is a relatively recent style of forró dancing that has been growing among forrozeiros in Brazil and around the world.
But why do people call it Roots if it is a new style?
If you’d like to zoom out and understand where this style fits within the broader history of the dance, this overview helps connect the dots:
The emergence of Forró Roots
There is no single, widely accepted explanation for how the name “Forró Roots” came about. The term seems to have been adopted organically within the community to identify a way of dancing and a scene that were gradually developing their own characteristics.
One possible association is with the musical roots of forró itself. The scene that became associated with Roots placed a strong emphasis on more traditional repertoire, often played by DJs and vinyl collectors, creating a connection between this new way of dancing and a search for the musical “roots” of the genre.
The name also fits the more rustic and laid-back cultural aesthetic that became associated with parts of this community. Festivals, camping, gatherings in the countryside, and the Itaúnas scene, with its beach atmosphere and informality, created a setting quite different from the large urban centers where Forró Universitário had developed and become popular.
Another interpretation connects the term to a kind of return to the “roots” of the dance, particularly through a renewed emphasis on close position and proximity between partners. This does not mean that Roots brought back an older way of dancing. Its movement vocabulary is contemporary and includes many innovations. What it did bring back was a stronger emphasis on dancing as a couple in close position, developed through a new movement language.
There is also a possible connection with the Rootstock Forró Festival, one of the events that played an important role in the development and circulation of this way of dancing. The festival’s name itself reinforced the idea of “roots” and helped associate the term with the dancers, musical repertoire, aesthetics, and dance culture found in this type of event.
These explanations are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Music, dance, festivals, social environments, and cultural identity were developing simultaneously and influencing one another. The term “Roots” may have become established precisely because it could represent several aspects of this emerging scene at the same time.
The exact origins of the style are also difficult to pinpoint. Many forrozeiros identify the Festival Nacional de Forró de Itaúnas (FENFIT) and especially the Rootstock Forró Festival as important spaces for its development and popularization, while related experiments were also taking place in other cities and communities.
Because this movement is relatively recent and continues to evolve, many aspects of its history remain open to interpretation. The perspectives presented here are based on observations, conversations, and experiences gathered over the years rather than an attempt to establish a definitive historical account.
Precursors of the style
Before the term “Forró Roots” existed, dancers were already exploring similar directions.
I remember going to forró parties in my hometown of Campinas in the mid and late 2000s and noticing that some people were dancing differently from most of the crowd.
While most people were dancing Forró Universitário, a small group used fewer open turns and incorporated walks and small kicks into their repertoire.
If you’re not familiar with Universitário style, this breakdown provides a useful point of comparison:
These dancers would often go to a dance venue in São Paulo called Remelexo, where another approach to forró was emerging.
At the time, we used to call this style “Paulistinha.”
One of the important figures in that movement was Evandro Paz, an instructor at Remelexo who referred to his style as “Forró Balada” or “Forró Urbano.”
Although it was different from what we now call Roots, it already represented an alternative to the more traditional Pé-de-Serra or Universitário approaches.
While these experiments were happening in Campinas and São Paulo, similar developments were likely taking place at other parties and in other cities, driven by the constant exchange between dancers, events, and festivals.
A social dance style does not come from one person
It is difficult to attribute the creation of a social dance style to a single person, school, or specific moment.
Unlike more individual art forms, social dance develops through relationships between people, parties, festivals, and communities. Movements and aesthetics emerge gradually through experimentation and shared influences.
Some people identify Daniel Marinho as an influential figure in the development of what we now call Forró Roots. His way of dancing, teaching, and circulating within the scene certainly had an important impact on that process.
At the same time, his dancing was also shaped by earlier references, exchanges with other dancers, exposure to different styles, and his own experience on the social dance floor.
This process helps explain how styles develop in social dance: gradually, through shared references, cultural exchange, and collective experiences within a community.
Forró Roots Style dance characteristics
Forró Roots differs from Pé-de-Serra and Universitário in noticeable ways, particularly in its movement vocabulary and body language.
The boundaries between these styles are not always clearly defined, and many people understand Universitário as a modernization of traditional Pé-de-Serra dancing. Even so, there are important differences in how each approach organizes movement, dynamics, and the physical relationship between partners.
Traditional Pé-de-Serra is often associated with a structurally simpler way of dancing, based largely on a lateral basic step in close position, commonly described in Brazil as “dois pra cá, dois pra lá” - two steps this way, two steps that way.
While Universitário developed an extensive vocabulary of open-position turns, with characteristics also found in dances such as Salsa and Samba-Rock, Roots tends to favor movements in close position, with greater emphasis on full-body interaction and figures that may resemble Samba de Gafieira or even Tango - not necessarily because of direct lineage, but because of observable similarities in body dynamics and movement organization.
Although there are countless variations within the style, some characteristics appear frequently in Roots:
Focus on movements in close position
A variable embrace that adjusts proximity and angle according to the movement
Greater emphasis on footwork and the lower body
Less use of the arms and upper body
Use of leg sacadas
Walks and turns in close position
Use of offbeats and rhythmic variations in the feet
Preference for mid-tempo music
This does not mean that Roots is danced in a permanently closed embrace. The proximity, angle, and space between partners change according to the movement, including to create room for walks, turns, and leg figures. Likewise, the greater importance of close position in Roots does not mean that other styles, such as Universitário, are necessarily danced in open position.
The inverted turn, also known as the “Giro Paulista,” is also strongly associated with the style.
This movement was very common in São Paulo during the 2000s, lost ground as five-count turns became more popular, and regained prominence with the development of Roots.
If you want to see how these elements actually look in practice across different dancers and styles, I’ve analyzed many examples in detail:
Technical level and entry point
This is an important topic, and it can be controversial.
Forró Universitário is known for being accessible and welcoming. With only a few basic steps, beginners can already participate in social dancing.
Forró Roots often requires greater technical control and body precision. This can make it less accessible to complete beginners, and the environment itself may sometimes feel more demanding.
At the same time, Universitário can also become highly complex at more advanced levels.
The main difference is the entry point.
This shift reflects broader changes in the way forró has been taught and structured over time.
How about the music? Is there such a thing as Forró Roots music?
No.
What exists is a preference. Roots dancers tend to choose music that works particularly well with this type of movement, but the same songs can also be used to dance other styles of forró.
There is no musical genre called “Forró Roots.” Still, forró DJs - especially those who play vinyl - often curate sets featuring mid-tempo tracks, strong rhythmic presence, and a more traditional aesthetic.
Diversity within Forró Roots
An important part of this discussion is that different people often use the term “Roots” to describe ways of dancing that can look quite different from one another.
Two contrasting examples are Daniel Marinho and Juruna, both guest teachers at past Forró New York Weekend editions and both frequently associated with the broader Forró Roots scene, but with very different approaches.
Marinho’s dancing tends to be more fluid and continuous, with extensive development of movements in close position. Juruna brings a more rhythmic, groovy approach closely connected to the social energy of the forró scene in Itaúnas. Some people refer to his way of dancing simply as “Itaúnas Style.”
This is where many discussions about terminology and influence begin.
Some people closely connected to the traditional Itaúnas scene argue that Juruna’s style does not have a direct relationship with what many schools and teachers now call Forró Roots.
Others see it differently, arguing that contemporary Roots was indeed strongly influenced by the aesthetics, musicality, and social dynamics found in Itaúnas, although through a gradual process of transformation, adaptation, and incorporation rather than simple reproduction.
Perhaps this is one of the most interesting aspects of social dance: influences continuously circulate between cities, festivals, and dancers, being reinterpreted until they develop into new ways of dancing and new identities of their own.
Below are videos recorded during Forró New York Weekend, an educational project and festival we produce in New York City that has hosted both dancers and teachers in different editions.
Forró as a dance in constant evolution
Forró Roots did not develop in isolation from other ways of dancing forró.
It evolved at parties, festivals, and within communities where different approaches already shared the same dance floor, including Forró Universitário, Itaúnas Style, regional variations, personal influences, and more traditional ways of dancing.
Often, the music was exactly the same. What changed was how each dancer interpreted it through their body, their partner connection, and their own history within the dance.
Today, it is common to see dancers incorporating elements from different approaches and developing hybrid ways of dancing forró.
I am one of those hybrid dancers, incorporating elements of Roots into a foundation that comes from the Pé-de-Serra/Universitário style of the countryside of São Paulo, where I learned to dance in the 2000s.
Other well-known dancers who move comfortably between these approaches include Milena Morais, Mardio Costa, Ícaro Abreu, Pamela Barrón, Victinho Maia, and Camila Alves, just to name a few.
Watching these dancers is one of the clearest ways to understand how these styles intersect in practice. In the Forró Dance React series, I’ve analyzed many of these examples in detail.
If you’d like to understand how these characteristics relate to the broader mechanics of forró as a dance - including rhythm, connection, and movement structure - I’ve written a more general breakdown here:
Frequently Asked Questions About Forró Roots
What is Forró Roots?
Forró Roots is a relatively recent style of forró dancing that gained momentum primarily during the 2010s. Common characteristics include an emphasis on foot and leg work, walks, sacadas, rhythmic variations, turns, and a particular exploration of close position and the embrace.
These characteristics are not rigid rules. As with other social dance styles, there are considerable differences among dancers, teachers, and communities that identify with Forró Roots.
Is Forró Roots the original or traditional way of dancing forró?
No. Despite the name “Roots,” the style known by that name today is relatively recent.
One interpretation of the term relates to a renewed emphasis on close position and proximity between partners. This does not mean, however, that Roots represents a return to the way forró was originally danced. Roots developed its own contemporary movement vocabulary, including movements and characteristics that do not necessarily belong to older forms of forró dancing.
Are Forró Roots and Itaúnas Style the same thing?
No. Forró Roots and Itaúnas Style are related terms, and there are similarities and influences between these ways of dancing, but they are not synonymous.
Itaúnas Style is associated with the dance culture that developed around the parties and community of Itaúnas, while what is now called Forró Roots developed its own movement language through the circulation and transformation of different influences.
The relationship between these two approaches is important for understanding the recent history of forró dancing, but treating Roots and Itaúnas Style as the same thing overlooks important differences between them.
Is Forró Roots always danced in a closed embrace?
No. Close position plays an important role in Forró Roots, but that does not mean partners remain in a fixed or completely closed embrace throughout the dance.
The Roots embrace often changes in angle, proximity, and the amount of space between partners. Walks, sacadas, and other leg movements may actually require the dancers to create space between their bodies.
It is also an oversimplification to describe Roots as a “closed” dance and Forró Universitário as an “open” dance. Universitário can also be danced in a close embrace, just as Roots includes turns, traveling movements, and different configurations of the embrace.
How are turns different in Forró Roots and Forró Universitário?
Both styles use turns. The main difference lies in their vocabulary and in how turns are organized within the dance.
Roots includes turns around the dancer’s own axis as well as traveling turns, but turns generally occupy a smaller portion of its overall movement vocabulary. Forró Universitário developed a particularly extensive repertoire of turns and combinations, often involving greater use of the arms and upper body.
The difference between the two styles therefore cannot be reduced to simply dancing “together” versus dancing “apart.”
What is the body language of Forró Roots like?
Forró Roots often features a more controlled organization of the body and a more economical use of upper-body movement. Compared with some forms of Forró Universitário, Forró Estilizado, or Forró Eletrônico, there may be less emphasis on pronounced hip movement, body waves, and other upper-body articulations.
This does not mean that the body in Roots is rigid. There is considerable diversity among Roots dancers themselves. Some use a more contained movement quality, while others incorporate hip movement, changes and tilts in the body axis, small jumps, and different forms of physical expression.
It is therefore more accurate to understand this as an aesthetic tendency within the style rather than a technical rule.
Is there a cultural aesthetic associated with Forró Roots?
Yes, although it is not a requirement of the style. As discussed earlier, parts of the Roots scene developed around festivals, beach settings, camping, and informal gatherings, contributing to a more casual, rustic, and laid-back aesthetic.
This contrasts, to some extent, with the urban aesthetic often associated with Forró Universitário and even more with some forms of Forró Estilizado or ballroom-oriented forró, where more formal clothing and dance shoes may be common. These are cultural tendencies, not dress codes or requirements for dancing any particular style.
Can Forró Roots only be danced to old music or vinyl records?
No. Vinyl has cultural importance at certain parties and within some DJ and Roots communities, but it does not define the style.
As explained earlier, there is no musical genre called “Forró Roots.” Some parts of the community simply favor certain repertoires, recordings, and musical aesthetics. A song does not become “Roots music” because it is on vinyl, just as a digital recording does not become unsuitable for Roots dancing.
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.
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