Forró Volta Simples
Forró's foundational underarm turn ("simple turn")
ForroLevel: Beginner2 min read6 citations
The volta simples ("simple turn") is forró's foundational underarm turn — typically the first rotation a dancer learns — performed in the close-embrace partner dance of northeastern Brazil to the baião, xote and arrasta-pé rhythms.[1] It grows directly out of forró's basic step: the couple holds the signature close embrace, the leader's right hand resting at the follower's back and his left hand joined to her right, rocking through the side-to-side pattern often counted "dois pra lá, dois pra cá" — two steps to one side, two back to the other.[2]
Leading the figure
The leader raises the joined hands above the follower's head and indicates a clockwise direction; she steps beneath the lifted arm and rotates to her right, opening roughly a half-turn away across the first steps and closing the remaining half as she comes back to face him and the embrace re-gathers around her.[3] The rotation is folded into the ongoing pulse rather than danced as a pause — it is usually spread over one to two bars of forró's 2/4 measure so the underlying step is never interrupted — which is part of why it ranks among the first figures a beginner is taught.[4] English-speaking scenes keep the Portuguese name: dancers in communities such as New York's still call the figure the volta simples.[3]
Across forró styles
The figure's formal name and staged shape belong to forró universitário, the codified, figure-rich school that systematized turns like this one and carried them from Brazilian university scenes to forró communities across Europe and North America.[5] In the older, rootsier forró pé-de-serra the same underarm rotation still occurs, but it is improvised within the embrace and less formally codified than its universitário counterpart.[6]
How it's danced
Lead and follow cues
CountLed on the 2/4 forró basic ('dois pra lá, dois pra cá'); the rotation unwinds across one to two bars, the follower completing the turn over the steps of a single side-pass while keeping the continuous pulse — forró marks no distinct salsa-style break beat.
Lead
From the side-to-side basic ('dois pra lá, dois pra cá'), the leader raises the joined left hand (his left, her right) above the follower's head and indicates a clockwise rotation, letting his right hand release lightly from her back; he marks a compact basic in place while she turns, then lowers the hand to re-gather the embrace as she re-faces him.
Follow
On the raised-hand cue the follower steps beneath the lifted arm and rotates to her right (clockwise), turning roughly 180° to open away from the leader across the first steps and completing the remaining 180° to a full rotation as she re-faces him, keeping her own continuous step timing and re-settling into the embrace.
Song timingComfortable in mid-tempo xote (roughly 100–130 bpm), the slower rhythm on which the basic is usually taught; brisk baião and arrasta-pé tempos (around 150 bpm and up) compress the rotation and demand a tighter, quicker turn, marking the fast end of the figure's comfortable range.
Learn first
Prerequisites
- Forró close embrace and frame
- The side-to-side basic ('dois pra lá, dois pra cá' / two-step)
- Basic lead/follow connection through the joined hand
Watch out
Common mistakes
- Follower turning on her own before the hand-lift instead of waiting for the raised-arm cue
- Leader yanking or over-tensioning the arm to force rotation rather than lifting a relaxed frame and indicating direction
- Raising the joined hands too low, so the follower cannot pass cleanly beneath
- Rushing the rotation and breaking the underlying pulse instead of spreading it across the steps
- Follower under-rotating and stopping short of facing the leader, leaving the embrace misaligned
- Over-gripping or dropping the joined hand mid-turn and losing the connection
Don't confuse with
Easily confused moves
- Volta dupla — a double turn of two full rotations; a separate, harder figure
- Salsa/bachata underarm turn — a different timing frame on a fixed slot; forró has no slot and no break beat
- 'Giro' — a Spanish-language term from salsa/Latin-ballroom vocabulary, not forró's Portuguese terminology
- 'Passo básico' / the basic two-step — footwork, not a turn
Around the world
Other names
Brazil — forró universitário
volta simples
standard Portuguese term, literally 'simple turn'
Brazil — forró pé-de-serra / forró de raiz (Northeast)
volta
the underarm rotation is improvised within the close embrace and less formally codified or named than in forró universitário
International / European forró scenes (Lisbon, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris)
volta simples
the Portuguese term is retained in non-Portuguese-speaking scenes
North American / English-speaking forró scenes (e.g. New York)
volta simples
Portuguese term kept; occasionally glossed in English as 'simple turn'
References
- 1.Forró - Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org
- 2.What is Forro? Traditional music and dance from Brazil — www.nextstopbrazil.com
- 3.Forró Basic Steps and Movements: What to Learn from Beginner to Intermediate — www.forronewyork.com
- 4.Forró Basic Steps and Movements: What to Learn from Beginner to Intermediate — www.forronewyork.com
- 5.Forró | Encyclopedia.com — www.encyclopedia.com
- 6.Introduction To Forro - Heritage Institute — www.heritageinstitute.com
How to cite this article
Choose a style and copy the citation.
Bailar Editorial Team. (2026). Forró Volta Simples. Bailar Biblioteca. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://bailar.site/biblioteca/move/forro-volta-simples
Bailar Editorial Team. “Forró Volta Simples.” Bailar Biblioteca, 2026, bailar.site/biblioteca/move/forro-volta-simples. Accessed 29 June 2026.
Bailar Editorial Team. “Forró Volta Simples.” Bailar Biblioteca. Accessed June 29, 2026. https://bailar.site/biblioteca/move/forro-volta-simples.
@misc{bailar-move-forro-volta-simples, author = {{Bailar Editorial Team}}, title = {{Forró Volta Simples}}, year = {2026}, howpublished = {Bailar Biblioteca}, url = {https://bailar.site/biblioteca/move/forro-volta-simples}, note = {Accessed: 2026-06-29} }
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