About the teacher
Icaro
Icaro Abreu Viana was born in Belo Horizonte and had his first contact with forró in his childhood when he lived in the city of Tibau do Sul (RN). As a teenager, he started developing his interest in this manifestation again, but delving deeper into the university style.
Immersed in forró since 2009, in 2013 he joined Pé Descalço school as a student. Over the years, he took part of the presentation group, which was formed part of the school's examiners and part of the team of teachers at Pé Descalço Savassi (the main unit) and Pé Descalço Coração Eucarístico (Coréu). Within the school he taught classes in the various units, located in Belo Horizonte, Contagem, Niterói and São Paulo.
His first contact with cultural movements came through Capoeira Angola, which began as a child (1996) in the group: Associação Cultural Eu Sou Angoleiro – Mestre João Bosco. In 2017, in order to better understand the cultural relationship of forró with other cultural movements such as capoeira angola, samba de roda, coco, maracatu, candomblé, etc. He has been doing this until today.
On January 2, 2020, he left Pé Descalço institution and started a solo project, teaching classes in Belo Horizonte and other states. He currently takes forró in two models: private lessons and workshops, having already visited several cities: Belo Horizonte (MG), Teófilo Otoni (MG), Pedro Leopoldo (MG), Sete Lagoas (MG), São Paulo (SP), Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Niterói (RJ), Salvador (BA), Feira de Santana (BA), Brasília (BSB) and Itaúnas (ES).
Bringing the cultural aspect with him, in July 2022 he was the champion of the 1st Forró Tournament held by Buraco do Tatu in Itaúnas in partnership with Giovanna Silveira. In 2023, he made his first tour in Europe, teaching in 7 countries (Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland and Russia).
As a cultural agent, Icaro currently works with Capoeira Angola and Forró classes, as well as being part of a Rural Samba group called Samba D'ouro. In his classes, he seeks and encourages the understanding that forró, as a cultural manifestation, encompasses several ways of dancing and that each body can choose what suits its best, so that we have a dancing based on respect, dialogue, safety, delivery and energy.
Gustavo
A forró-loving person who originally comes from the north-east of Brazil and emigrated from Brazil to Germany 4 years ago. Dancing is his great passion, which he has been practising for 6 years alongside his studies and job. In the last 4 years he has focussed on Forró. He has participated in over 50+ Forró festivals in Europe and Brazil as a participant and in some as a teacher. In addition, Gustavo has won 1st place in the first European Forró competition and 2nd place in one of Brazil's biggest competitions, in Itaúnas.