Aleksei Pak & Violetta

Aleksei

Hi, my name is Aleksei Pak. Originally I’m korean, but was born in USSR and now I live in St. Petersburg, Russia. For the first time I was introduced to capoeira, forró and other Brazilian cultural activities in 2008. Since that time I participated in lots workshops, festivals and concerts and the more I learned about Forró, the more it inspired me.

I really felt in love to forró since 2013, when I returned from my first trip to Brazil. I decided to learn, develop and share forró in more active way in St. Petersburg – I started to teach forró and to built our own Forró club, called “ForAll”. Since 2013 I did lots of workshops in different cities of CIS countries. And since 2015 I was invited to teach on european forró scene (Festivals and workshops in Lisbon, London, Berlin, Freiburg, Darmstadt, Munich, Stockholm etc.).

As a dancer I don’t specialise on the certain way|style of dancing, cause I believe that the way you dance depends on music which is playing on the dance floor. Forró unites so many rythmic grooves and music is so different that you can’t express it on a one certain way. I believe that when we dance our movements and energy should express musical groove or melody lines of the song.

And as a teacher I’m always trying to connect my background and knowledges in sports/body movements and in music, to teach dance movements connected to the music in a simple and natural way.

Violetta

My forró journey started in St. Petersburg in 2015. Since 2017 I’ve been assisting Aleksei Pak in regular and festival forró classes in St. Petersburg and in other cities across Russia. Together we’ve given classes at festivals in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Novosibirsk, as well as taken part in many festivals and workshops in Russia and abroad. As a dancer I focus largely on musicality, precision, and comfort; as a teacher I try to encourage attention to detail, respect for music, and positive exchange of emotions. I believe that if you work enough on your technique and body awareness, your dance will be healthy, natural, beautiful, and will give you plenty of ways to express yourself regardless of whether you dance as a leader, follower, or both. I perceive forró as an interaction between two people and music, where all three components are crucial to create something that can really be considered a dance rather than just a series of body movements. I’m interested in different aspects of forró, not just the dance itself, but also its history, music, and culture behind it. I’m exploring forró rhythms by playing triangle and pandeiro, and I’m excited to continue improving in this area.