A PROFESSIONAL DANCE AND TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAMME
Be creative, be detailed, be determined, be exceptional.
Forral Intensive is an exclusive concept of a full professional training programme in Forró for dancers and teachers in Europe in only 10 days, now for the first time in Finland!
📝 Click here to go to the registration form.
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Forral has a clear and progressive structure and a complete methodology of teaching Forró. It is designed to guide everyone through the process of finding their own style of expression and constructing their own dance, well-balanced and connected to the music. The level system from 1 to 5 gradually adds more demanding movements and combinations. It expands the number of variations for each figure and introduces more details, body awareness, technique, and music perception. Finally, increasing the complexity, and range of possibilities of the dance as a whole.
The structure and speed of this professional dance and teacher training programme is exceptional. Each level has content for 6-12 months of training. Now it is possible to go through levels 1-2 only in one weekend and up to 4 levels in 10 days. Tip: Take notes and make video recordings.
We do not expect you to learn everything and embody all the content immediately. Forral Intensive is a process where each of the participants follow their own goals through the structure and take in what they need the most to develop the quality of their dance. Forral Intensive gives you tools to also work on your own and come back after 6 months to evaluate the results.
The learning environment in Forral is inclusive and dialogic. Learning happens through sharing. The training programme aims to build stronger communities and sense of unity, cooperation and sharing also between the communities in Europe. A very important element of Forral Intensive training programme is getting personal feedback and guidance throughout the structure from professional dancers and teachers that have been studying the music and culture from the grand old masters in Brazil.
The structure and form of this programme requires focus and determination to go beyond your limits, but we guarantee that the outcomes of this training programme are rewarding, and the experience is totally unique. And even if we take learning very seriously, it is not serious at all. We are having fun while doing it! Forral Intensive focus on delivering the best quality of teaching and facilitating the personal growth and development goals of each individual. The rest is up to you.
Teachers 💃🕺
Douglas Dias is a three-time Brazilian Forró champion as a professional dancer, and founder of the Forral school and methodology that is 4 consecutive times the champion school of Copa Brasil de Forró. He teaches Forró since 2010 and was awarded as a model teacher by Copa Brasil de Forró in 2016. His specialization is in Musicalization and Technique, the main factors that led him to receive all of his titles. Since 2016 he has been touring Europe taking the Forral methodology to other countries, training Forró dancers and teachers around the world. His greatest motivation is to convey Forró culture to as many people as possible, a culture that has positively transformed his life and made him a much happier person.
Katlyn Matos is a Forró teacher and dancer who completed two Forró schools: Forral and Baião de Três. She is also the director and teacher of a Forral school in Belo Horizonte. Her great differential is her vast experience with several dances, from dances for two like Zouk and Samba to solo dances like Funk and Hip Hop. Especially with the solo dances, she has won prizes in competitions and presentations with the Grupo Anjos de Rua from Belo Horizonte. She met dance in a troubled moment, and it transformed her life, bringing self-knowledge, acceptance, friendships, motivation, new dreams and several other benefits. She teaches dance so that more people can also enjoy these benefits. As she always says and now has tattooed: “She found love when she learned to dance in the rain”.
Schedule 📅
Based on feedback from the previous editions and discussions with the teachers, we designed the schedule to be organic and hopefully in a way that fits your schedule as well. We are planning on organizing dancing evenings or another activity (like sauna) at least on Fridays or Saturdays, observing it’s not yet possible to organize larger parties. We may plan something together for Monday, and you can check My Helsinki for other recommendations.
Download here as an image or as a PDF for print.
Content 🔍
Levels 1-2 will get you into the fundamentals of the dance, music and culture, as well as the leading/ following skills in Forró. It is where the basis of a comfortable social dance is built, while introducing a vast collection of movements that hold the essence of this dance. In Forral Intensive levels 1-2 will be a full immersion to variations of movements and possibilities to combine them in a surprising and skilful way. Levels 1-2 will exponentially exceed your repertoire of movements in Forró and swell your creativeness, encouraging you to go beyond your habits and patterns. Levels 1-2 is for people who have been dancing Forró for at least 0.5-2.5 years. It is highly recommended for everyone, regardless of experience in Forró. If you are attending Forral Intensive for the first time, you must attend this course. Unexpected benefits guaranteed!
Levels 1-2 in Forral Intensive is not for beginners! You are expected to have already mastered your basic steps and figures. If you are new to Forró and would like to attend Forral Intensive, get ready by taking private classes for individuals, couples or small groups. Contact us here.
Level 3 increases the complexity of movements, body skills and adaptability of details required from dancers, increasing also the speed of the dance significantly. The challenge on this level is to truly embody the different rhythms in Forró while maintaining good technique and being precise, finalizing the movements, and complementing the music. It also adds styling that combine multiple movements in the whole body at the same time, as well as more subtle movements that demand good sensibility, flexibility, and hold of the body. Level 3 is an intermediate level, for people who have been dancing Forró 2,5-5 years.
Level 4 dives deeper into music theory to give more tools to explore differences in intensity, duration, and nuances in dance. Motion qualities are the centre of the studies on this advanced level, which is for people who have been dancing Forró 3,5-6 years, or attended already levels 1-3 on previous Forral Intensive programmes.
Level 5 is designed for semi-professional dancers and teachers, and it will not be available in Forral Intensive this year.
Pricing 💶
The base price is 145 € for the Level package and an additional 95 € for the teacher training of that level, and with progressive discount for each additional package. Hopefully this will fit well in your budget. Let us know if you would like a different, a more flexible payment option, or if it’s impossible for you to pay the intended amount, and you’d still like to participate.
If you have already been to a previous Forral Intensive, and want to take some of the same levels again, contact us.
Levels
Level 1-2 | 145€
Level 3 | 145€
Level 4 | 145€
Level 1-2 + 3 | 277€
Level 3 + 4 | 277€
Level 1-2 + 3 + 4 | 384€
Total training time
Levels 1-2 | 21 hours + 17h TT
Level 3 | 21 hours + 17h TT
Level 4 | 19 hours
Up to 95 hours!
Includes breaks.
Teacher Training
Level 1-2 TT | 240€
Level 3 TT | 240€
Level 1-2 TT + 3 | 360€
Level 3 TT + 4 | 360€
Level 1-2 TT + 3 TT | 432€
Level 1-2 TT + 3 + 4 | 447€
Level 1-2 TT + 3 TT + 4 | 495€
Accommodation 🛌
We’ll do our best to accommodate guests from abroad as well as we can. Please, let us know in the registration form or contact us directly, if you would like help in finding a host or other help with accommodation.
Transportation 🛴
Here is a non-exhaustive list of how to get to the event by different means, and about moving around in Finland and Helsinki. Let us know if you need any help to arrange your transportation.
Getting to Finland, and Helsinki
There are a few different ways to get to Helsinki. You can come by plane, train, ferry, bus, car, or a combination of these.
If you come by land (car, train, bus), you can take a ferry to Finland (Turku or Helsinki) from Stockholm (Sweden), Tallinn (Estonia), St. Petersburg (Russia), or from Germany.
If you arrive to Turku first, it’s a 2-hour trip by car, train, by bus to Helsinki.
The Airport is in Vantaa, part of metropolitan Helsinki. There are train and bus connections (see HSL below) to Helsinki. Check the schedule, as trains don’t run 24h, but there are night buses.
In Finland
You can go around by plane, train, bus or car. Google Maps, Waze and Yandex Maps are pretty good at giving directions in Finland, if you go by car. Otherwise, check the train and buses connections.
In Helsinki
Public transportation is operated by HSL, and you pay one ticket that’s valid for 80min on a specific area. There are city bikes (operated by HSL) and scooters around, as well as Taxi / Uber / Yango services.
Check directions from HSL, including local trains (get the app with the blue icon from the Play/App store).
City bikes (also on the HSL app) require an additional sign-up step.
Rent a car from a local (there are parking spots at the venue).
Face masks are mandatory in public transportation only.
Restrictions
You can check Visit Finland for travel restrictions. They reference all official sources in that article. PS: Check their website. There are beautiful photos and other curiosities about Finland.