Samba no pé is a solo dance that is most often danced impromptu when samba music is played. The basic movement involves a straight body and a bending of one knee at a time. The feet move very slightly - only a few inches at a time. The rhythm is 2/4, with 3 steps per measure. It can be thought of as a step-ball-change.It can be described calling it and-a-one, and-a-two, then back to one. The basic movement is the same to either side, where one foot moves to the outside lifting up just before the first beat, lifting on the "and-a" and replacing itself on the floor on the one beat (i.e. The right leg moves slightly to the right) and this leg is kept straight. The other foot moves slightly towards the front, and closer to the first foot.
The second leg bends slightly at the knee so that the left side of the hip lowers and the right side appears to move higher. The weight is shifted to this inside foot briefly for the next "and-a", then shifted back to the outside foot on the "two", and the same series of actions is repeated towards the other side.
The dance simply follows the beat of the music and can go from average pace to very fast. Men dance with the whole foot on the ground while women, often wearing heels, dance just on the balls of the foot. Professionals may change the steps slightly, taking 4 steps per measure instead of 3, and often add various arm movements depending on the mood of the music.
There are also regional forms of the dance in brazil where the essential steps are the same, but because of a change in the accent of the music people will dance similar movements to the slightly changed accents. For instance, in bahia the girls tend to dance tilting their legs towards the outside instead of keeping their knees close to each other as in rio de janeiro.
This is the type of samba one sees in the brazilian carnival parades and in other samba carnivals over the world.
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