Our Journey
About Forró For All
Forró For All is a non-profit and volunteer project that offers forró dance classes in Toronto, ON, Canada. It was founded in 2013 by students at University of Toronto who were exchange students through the Brazilian Science Without Borders program.
Forró For All Philosophy
Our Vision
Our vision is to create a community full of love for Forró dance and Forró music. We want everyone in our community to gain from our classes a lifelong love and appreciation for Forró.
Our Mission
Our mission is to keep Forró culture alive by providing weekly, quality forró dance classes in an environment that is friendly, respectful, welcoming, and conducive to building self-confidence and to learning and improving at one’s own pace.
Our Values
Community
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All are welcome to our community.
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We strive for a positive and respectful community, and we expect all community members to treat others with positivity and respect.
Excellence
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We strive for excellence, in both dance and in life, and for having fun along the way.
Commitment
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We are committed to the students, to emphasizing proper technique while encouraging creative expression, and to making the classes as regular as possible.
Our Team
Our team of volunteers all first joined as students of Forró For All and now want to give back to this project. They come from a variety of backgrounds and contribute many different skills to maintain and further the Forró For All project.
Maristela CHaddad
Instructor, Admin Manager
Maristela is Brazilian-born, Canadian by choice, and speaks Portuguese, English, and Spanish. She joined FFA in 2014 as a student and quickly became a volunteer. In 2017, After a brief period of no classes and difficulty in finding a venue, Maristela reopened the group, and it has grown into what you see now, thanks to Maristela's passion for the forró family community we've built in Toronto.
Vinicius Dantas
Instructor
Vini Joined FFA in 2015 as a student, when he learned his very first steps. After a few months, he moved to Brazil and co-founded a forró group in his hometown to keep the fire burning. After a few years and participating of a number of forró festivals, he moved back to Toronto in 2021 and joined the group as it was resuming its activities in the post-covid era. Vini is very curious about the history of forró and its traditions.
Cem Yildirim
Instructor
Cem joined FFA in 2019 as a beginner coming from a salsa background. He's been enjoying dancing forró since then and has been involved heavily with the club to help bring it the attention it deserves in Toronto. Cem enjoys coming up with new moves that he can use to ensure chaos on the dancefloor.
Marketa Tokova
Instructor
Marketa first visited Brazil in 2006 and since then, she loves everything Brazilian - food, culture, music, people, and... dance! Her first forró party was at a Brazilian island Ilhabela and since then, she has been looking for a forró community - until she found FFA. She loves gafieira maybe even a little more - but that's a story for another bio.
Pedro Bastos
IT Support
Pedro is an expert in good coffee and in good vibe t-shirts. "You can’t buy joy, but you can join Forró For All, that’s the same thing." (Bastos, 2023)
Jimmy Kizito
Instructor
Jimmy dances in general to bring more play into grown-up life; and dances forró in particular because he adores its folksy sentimentality. He hopes to be able to share a sense of lighthearted spontaneity with whomever he dances.
Clara Steinhagen
Instructor
Clara encountered FFA by chance at the University of Toronto, introduced to the group by someone who convinced her that forró was similar to Irish dance (it is not, but she was hooked anyway). When not dancing forró, Clara writes, competes in Irish dance at the Open Championship level, bakes pies, organizes events, volunteers as a print shop apprentice, and tries desperately to make proper sourdough. Her favorite things about being part of FFA is sparking the love of dance in others and seeing how people draw joy from the community.
Nesrin Akdemir
Admin Manager
Nesrin joined FFA in 2019 with a love of Brazilian arts and culture. Excited to be contributing to the growing force of forró in the city. Budding triangulist. Will never say no to dessert
Sal D’Souza
Instructor
Sal joined FFA in 2015, when she was invited by her Colombian housemate who was doing her PhD in Brazil and an exchange program in Toronto. She loves and champions the FFA community's friendly and very non-competitive nature. Sal loves teaching newcomers and loves watching them learn new skills and grow into regular members of the group. Sal's parents are from India, and they have lived in Canada since She was one year old. Since she joined FFA, Sal has been mistaken for a Brazilian on more than one occasion.
Sérgio Cruz
Instructor
Sérgio joined FFA in August 2022 and became a volunteer in March 2023. He discovered his passion for Forró and dancing in his hometown (Sao Paulo), and after more than a year living in Toronto and missing Forró, he found out about our community and is an assiduous member ever since.