Samba Beginners Level 1:

Our Samba Beginners course teaches you Brazilian Samba from the ground up. You will learn the technique for the Samba basic step including the foundation footwork and hip movement. We also work on arm placement, basic body movement and simple transitions. We teach and break down the timing and movements in fine detail to ensure that everyone in class learns at a comfortable pace.

Ideal for absolute beginners (no dance experience required) or beginner level Samba students who want to refresh their basic skills.

Our level 2 Samba Improvers course focuses on improving your Samba basic technique and building your foundation movements. We build on Samba no pé Sapateado technique, hip isolations, basic travel, simple caminhadas (walks) and transition steps. The course also incorporates technique work to help you with weight placement, control of your movements and smooth transitions.

Ideal as the next step after completing at least 1 term of Samba Beginners or those who have a basic knowledge of Samba and want to brush up on skills.

Our level 3 Samba Intermediate course is focused on building your Samba no pé technique and overall skills. We introduce Samba rotation technique and expand on your repertoire of footwork transitions and body movement. We continue to work on hips and arms and increase Samba speed and fitness. We also work on incorporating more “gingado” (vibe / swing) in your Samba so that you can dance with more feeling. Ideal as the next step up from Samba Improvers and prepares dancers for the Advanced Samba course.

Samba Drills focuses heavily on refining the technique required for advanced level Samba dancers. We work on speed technique and endurance as well as refining transitions, body movement and caminhadas with short combos designed to drill the Passista fundamentals. The class also includes musicality focus and freestyle work.

Our Samba Advanced course is designed to level up your skills. In this course we introduce the advanced technique required for fast Samba no pé and building resistencia (endurance) at faster speeds. We refine and expand on Samba variations, hips, arms, footwork transitions, caminhadas (walks) and body movement. We also work on freestyle and vibe in your Samba styling.

During certain parts of the year this is also a performance level class based on the Passista style of Rio Carnaval, focusing on both Passista show and Passista ala performance. This class involves short choreographies, styling, desfilando (parading) and drills for technique and endurance. Musicality, dancing with meaning and feeling and understanding Samba culture are all important skills that are taught in this class. We also work on developing your own individual Samba “jeito” in freestyle and learning to working together in group performances or ala.