As we mentioned in a previous post, the Forró Dublin crew are moving onto a new challenge, and I am delighted to announce it here.
In the first and second editions of the Forró Dublin Festival we asked local forrozeiros to give up space in their homes for guests from other parts of Europe, and many of them kindly did that.
As some of us were CouchSurfers in a previous life, it came natural to us to host people, on couches or spare beds, and it is a great way for forrozeiros from around Europe to get to know each other more closely.
From that sprang an idea… What if we could create a system to facilitate other festival organisers to do the same, to encourage forrozeiros to travel more, to reduce the cost of accommodation, and to make it a bit more viable to run festivals and gatherings.
So we contacted a number of festival organisers around Europe and asked for feedback. Initially we had the idea of a basic web form that would take enquiries from prospective hosts and guests and be re-directed to hosts via coordinators. This turned out to be too much responsibility on the festival organisers or coordinators, who already make a huge contribution to forró. Some of the people we had contacted had recommended we build a full Airbnb/CouchSurfing style solution, and at the time this was way too large a project to take on.
But the seed of an idea had been planted, and it slowly germinated in our minds.
Over the next 6 months the project was put on the backburner while we focused on others, including the Forró Dublin Festival. And due to some fortuitous circumstances, over the recent Christmas period we had the opportunity to pick the project up again and extend it in some very interesting ways.
Think of this project now as a cross between Airbnb, CouchSurfing and Meetup.com, where you can host or stay with people who share your interests in other cities. People will be able to search for forró events or hosts, see friends-in-common and recommend each other as guests/hosts.
We’ve renamed the website TuVens.com and were joined by 3 friends, two of whom are forrozeiros, and another is a developer in Brazil. There are now 5 of us behind the project, including 2 developers, a designer, community manager and project manager, and we are lucky to have the support of a small number of volunteers interested in contributing. We are expanding and looking for more developers & designers too, so if you know of any please give them our contact details.
We are planning to launch our private beta (test website) in March, and are looking for between 10 and 50 forrozeiros who would be interested in testing and providing feedback on usability and new features.
Why do you dance forró?
As an Irish person, I did not grow up exposed to Latin rhythms and when I started dancing salsa & bachata in Dublin about five years ago, in no time at all, I had Latin fever! Six months ago, when I decided to dip my toe into trying Forró, it provided me with yet another gateway to experience not just some dance steps but new music, culture and language. In Dublin, there are a never-ending stream of live Forró bands with native Brazilian musicians. We are treated to multiple Forró rhythms as they play triangle, accordion, the zabumba drum & guitar. I can’t help but notice the sneaking similarities between our own home-grown trad music and Forró, the accordion being a common sound to both.
The Dublin Forró community is brimming with – amongst other nationalities – Brazilian natives. Most have come to Ireland to work, study and further themselves on the Irish Isles and in return have nurtured an open dance community to be proud of. I was warmly welcomed by dancers the first time I tried a Forró class and over the following weeks I grew as a forrozeira and became comfortable dancing this new style. It doesn’t matter how good you are at dancing or what level you are at because Forró is about so much more than that. For me, it is about connection. Connection whereby you hug, embrace, smile, step together, turn, twist, laugh, close your eyes, dance fast , slow or in-between the rhythm. It feels like the most natural thing in the world, to reach a point where you can embrace, rest your head against your partners , close your eyes and be lead on the dancefloor! Sometimes, without even taking a step, Forró connects us in a way that no other dance can.
Just a quick update about our forró schedule this week.
Forró is free entry every Wednesday in Woolshed Baa & Grill on Parnell street. We usually dance upstairs in the side room at around 9pm but often downstairs after 9:30pm before the band starts if the upstairs is pre-booked.
Hongsie of Bora Forró, one of Europe’s most popular up-and-coming forró teachers, is flying all the way from Amsterdam to help you add a bit of style, flare and creativity to your dance. This is an improver/intermediate class, so suitable for anyone above an absolute beginner. Its also suitable for leaders as offering the space for followers to express themselves is one of the most important things about a great leader.
Hongsie will be followed by DJ Heron from 9 – 10:30 before the live band upstairs.
Zé Pierno is back in Dublin for 1 night only and is joined on stage by a couple of the members of Namangaia to bring you classic forró tunes, and a few of his own.