Capturing the vibrant energy of passinho dancers in Rio’s…

Funk is life — The fast-paced dance first emerged in the early 2000s at illegal baile funk parties, but has grown into an international phenomenon in recent years with the help of social media. Photographer Jonangelo Molinari has spent years documenting its moves, characters and culture.

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London-based photographer and film-maker Jonangelo Molinari has spent many years visiting Rio’s favelas. When he started seeing the relatively new dance culture known as passinho, he knew he had to meet the dancers and document what they were doing.

How did this photo project manifest itself, Jonangelo?

I actually did a project a few years back about illegal baile funk Fluxo Parties in the favelas of São Paulo. I would often see passinho dancers at them and was fascinated and blown away by their energy and moves. A few years later when I was in Rio, I was able to meet a few and I knew we needed to shoot a project with them.

What is passinho for those who don’t know?

Passinho is a super fast and expressive Brazilian dance culture that came from the favelas of Rio, really developing in the early 2000s on the dancefloors of illegal baile funk parties. It has been declared an “intangible cultural heritage” of the state of Rio. Passinho evolved from baile funk culture during illegal baile funk parties and battles. The dance grew and evolved alongside funk music and the two are heavily interconnected, sharing their birth and evolution across the favelas of Rio.

Read next: Street photographer Boogie explores the favelas of Rio

Shirtless Black man wearing gold chain necklace against painted wall with horizontal green, yellow and white stripes.

Crowded nighttime scene with young people gathered around white car with open bonnet, lit by green lighting against concrete wall.

Person with curly dark hair lying on concrete floor wearing yellow sports bra and black shorts, surrounded by feet in trainers and sandals.

You’ve also made a short film about the dancers where one of them says: “Culture doesn’t arrive inside the favela.” Does this mean they’re forced to create their own? And is that culture passinho?

Yeah exactly, the favelas are famously marginalised areas of Brazil, cut off from formalised culture. Things like museums and galleries would never reach the favelas, and youth from the favela going to visit them would often be frowned upon and wouldn’t feel welcome in them. So, naturally, they created their own art and culture, which is now taking over Brazil and spreading around the world. It’s incredible to see how far the culture is spreading and the love people have for it. Passinho is relatively new – it only really started to develop in the early ’00s and is absolutely owned by the youth of the favelas.

How did you meet the passinho dancers that you photographed?

I met the dancers through a good friend of mine, an incredible filmmaker called Matheus Daft. He actually grew up in one of Rio’s favelas with a lot of the dancers, so it was amazing to get to get to know them all and they made me feel super welcome.

Have you stayed in touch with them?

Yeah, we have all stayed friends and I visit them each year. I actually have one of the dancers staying with me now in London as he’s doing a European tour of his passinho.

Read next: Favela ballet: inside a dance school unlike any other

Shirtless man with gold chains and sunglasses shielding eyes from sun, colourful buildings blurred in background.

Two shirtless men wearing red caps sit on concrete block at beach, facing turquoise ocean with white waves and blue sky.

Crowded nightclub interior with densely packed people, green lighting overhead, white decorative elements on left wall.

Young boy mid-jump with arms raised, wearing yellow shirt and white shorts, on sandy ground with palm trees and tropical vegetation.

Black Volkswagen Golf with white alloy wheels surrounded by crowd of people on street at night.

Dense informal settlement with orange brick buildings and metal roofs in foreground, modern city skyline visible in background.

Man in white t-shirt and dark shorts dancing on concrete street between buildings, arms positioned as if holding something.

Person in red shirt and blue cap climbing concrete steps between colourful graffitied walls in narrow urban alleyway.

Man performing high kick martial arts move on beach, wearing white gi, blue sky and ocean in background.

Shirtless Black man with red-dyed hair and gold chain necklace, blurred colourful buildings and foliage in background.

Which favelas did you go to document the dancers?

We went to a few but most of the guys are based out of Complexo de Alemao and Rocinha, which is Rio’s largest favela.

One of the dancers you spoke to states that “funk is life”. Is it really that important to favela life?

It is – for the dancers it really is. Passinho gives a lot of them an escape route from a place where a lot of young people can be drawn to gangs and crime but now have a new opportunity via dance instead. It also gives them an outlet and the ability to dispel negative stereotypes and share positive stories from the favela with the rest of Brazil and the whole world.

What’s your connection to Brazil, Jonangelo? You seem to get right under the skin of the city and into the places a lot of foreign photographers dare not tread?

Brazil is now my second home. My wife is Brazilian so we go every year to visit her family, and I’ve now made lots of friends and feel super at home there. I know that I should only go where I’ve been given the all OK. I guess we are able to get into the places others might not because I’ve made close friends with lots of the people living in the favelas, and they really want their music and culture celebrated and spread around the world.

Read next: A portrait of teenage resistance in Brazil

Shirtless young man in grey shorts and sandals jumping with arms outstretched on construction site with brick buildings and blue sky.

Shirtless man in grey shorts stands on construction site with unfinished brick buildings and concrete pillars under blue sky.

Shirtless man carrying concrete beam on construction site with brick walls, blue sky and unfinished buildings in background.

Shirtless man carrying concrete beam at construction site with orange bricks, blue sky, and unfinished buildings in background.

Shirtless man mid-jump at construction site with exposed brick walls, concrete beams and rebar under bright blue sky.

Young man jumping with arms raised at construction site with exposed brick walls and concrete pillars under blue sky.

Shirtless man with arms outstretched stands amongst concrete construction beams and orange brick walls under bright blue sky.

Shirtless man in grey shorts dancing at construction site with exposed brick walls and concrete beams under bright blue sky.

Shirtless man jumping with arms raised at construction site with orange brick walls and concrete beams against blue sky.

Shirtless man jumping with arms outstretched at construction site with exposed brick walls and concrete beams under blue sky.

Shirtless man with arms outstretched stands on construction site with exposed brick walls and concrete pillars against blue sky.

Shirtless man performing handstand on construction site with exposed brick walls and concrete beams against blue sky.

Josh Jones is Huck’s editor. Follow him on Instagram.

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Capturing the vibrant energy of passinho dancers in Rio’s favelas

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