Samba Tirada Ao Lado

Lateral pull-out ("side draw") figure in Samba de Gafieira

SambaLevel: Improver2 min read4 citations

Samba Tirada Ao Lado — literally a "side draw" or "lateral pull-out" — is a lead-and-return figure of Samba de Gafieira, the contemporary Brazilian partner ballroom samba danced in the gafieiras, the dance halls of Rio de Janeiro whose dancers give the figure its name.^[1] From the closed frame the leader draws the follower laterally out of her central front position toward his side and then re-collects her, so the couple keeps advancing along the line of travel while changing its lateral alignment.^[1]

Lead and frame

The figure belongs to samba's tirada family, in which the leader "pulls" or draws the partner from one place to another rather than turning her on the spot; such lateral exits rank among the dance's fundamental partner movements.^[2] The couple holds the closed frame throughout, and the displacement works because the partners keep mirrored footwork — as the leader opens toward his left, the follower answers with her right — letting her cross the front toward the same physical side without the feet colliding.^[3]

Rhythm and bounce

What marks the action as samba is the bounce: the springy down-up flex of the supporting leg that carries the style's contratempo, its off-the-beat accent, so the lateral travel reads as a continuous glide rather than a flat step across.^[2] The timing sits inside samba's 2/4 measure, the lateral displacement laid over a slow–quick–quick rhythm that paces the draw outward and the gathering return.^[4]

In practice

Like most gafieira material the figure is improvised within the line of travel rather than fixed in a routine, so it demands the floorcraft to clear neighbouring couples as the leader chooses the moment to draw the follower out and bring her back.^[1] From Rio's dance halls it passed into samba de gafieira schools across Brazil and, later, into international samba communities.^[1]

How it's danced

Lead and follow cues

CountSamba de Gafieira 2/4 time, danced on the contratempo. Counted slow–quick–quick across each measure; the side draw rides the quick-quick and resolves into the following measure's basic. It spans roughly one to two measures.

Lead

From a closed frame on the samba contratempo, the leader marks the basic, then opens the frame to his left and draws the follower laterally out of her central front position toward his side — leading the displacement through frame and body, never an arm yank. He keeps the down-up bounce on every step and re-collects her to closed position to resolve, all kept within his line of travel.

Mirroring with the opposite foot, the follower yields to the lateral draw and travels across the front toward the leader's side, stepping to her right as he opens left and covering most of the displacement over the quick-quick of the measure while keeping her own bounce. She reorients at most ~¼ turn as the frame guides her — a small, staged adjustment, not a turn of her own initiative — then returns to closed position on the resolution, never anticipating the pull.

Song timingSits comfortably in mid-tempo samba de gafieira and choro, roughly 100–130 bpm (2/4); the lateral draw stays clean through that band. Slower partido-alto sambas give room to stretch the pull-out, while above ~140 bpm the travel compresses and the figure is usually simplified.

Learn first

Prerequisites

Samba de Gafieira básico (basic step) with the contratempo down-up bounce
A stable closed-position frame and a lateral (non-arm) lead-follow connection
Comfort traveling and changing direction within the line of dance (gafieira floorcraft)

Watch out

Common mistakes

Leader hauling the follower sideways with arm strength instead of leading the displacement through the frame and body
Losing the samba bounce/contratempo and dancing the side step flat-footed
Follower anticipating the side draw and stepping before the lead arrives
Under-displacing — failing to clear far enough to the side, so the figure reads as a plain basic
Collapsing the closed frame, which severs the lateral lead
Neglecting floorcraft and crowding adjacent couples while moving laterally

Don't confuse with

Easily confused moves

Saída Ao Lado / Saída Lateral — a lateral exit/release (saída) from a position, conceptually distinct from a tirada (a pull-out)
International / Ballroom Latin Samba 'side basic' or 'samba side walks' — a different dance entirely, not this gafieira figure
Salsa cross-body lead or side break — a slot-based salsa figure, unrelated
'Passo ao lado' / a literal 'side step' — denotes basic lateral footwork, not this figure

Around the world

Other names

Rio de Janeiro (gafieira scene, Brazil)
Tirada Ao Lado
canonical name; literally 'side pull-out'
Brazilian samba de gafieira schools (general)
Tirada Lateral
interchangeable lateral-direction label used in some schools; not a separately attested figure, the same pull-out

References

1.Samba de Gafieira - Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org
2.Samba (dança) — Wikipedia contributors, Wikipedia
3.Library of Dance - Samba — www.libraryofdance.org
4.Como dançar samba? Aprenda com o nosso passo a passo! — www.superprof.com.br

How to cite this article

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APA

Bailar Editorial Team. (2026). Samba Tirada Ao Lado. Bailar Biblioteca. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from https://bailar.site/biblioteca/move/samba-tirada-ao-lado

MLA

Bailar Editorial Team. “Samba Tirada Ao Lado.” Bailar Biblioteca, 2026, bailar.site/biblioteca/move/samba-tirada-ao-lado. Accessed 29 June 2026.

Chicago

Bailar Editorial Team. “Samba Tirada Ao Lado.” Bailar Biblioteca. Accessed June 29, 2026. https://bailar.site/biblioteca/move/samba-tirada-ao-lado.

BibTeX

@misc{bailar-move-samba-tirada-ao-lado, author = {{Bailar Editorial Team}}, title = {{Samba Tirada Ao Lado}}, year = {2026}, howpublished = {Bailar Biblioteca}, url = {https://bailar.site/biblioteca/move/samba-tirada-ao-lado}, note = {Accessed: 2026-06-29} }

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