Forró Volta Simples
Forró's foundational underarm turn ("simple turn")
ForroLevel: Beginner2 min read5 citations
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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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5]
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
The bracketed numbers in the text show which source each fact comes from. Tap or click one to jump to that source in this list.
- 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 | Encyclopedia.com — www.encyclopedia.com
- 5.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 October 13, 2026, from https://getbailar.com/biblioteca/move/forro-volta-simples
Bailar Editorial Team. “Forró Volta Simples.” Bailar Biblioteca, 2026, getbailar.com/biblioteca/move/forro-volta-simples. Accessed 13 October 2026.
Bailar Editorial Team. “Forró Volta Simples.” Bailar Biblioteca. Accessed October 13, 2026. https://getbailar.com/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://getbailar.com/biblioteca/move/forro-volta-simples}, note = {Accessed: 2026-10-13} }
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