Swinguerra focuses on disadvantaged queer communities of color in Recife, Brazil, with an emphasis on transgender and nonbinary performers. The film features three contemporary dance styles—swingueira, brega funk, and passinho da maloca—as performed by three competitive dance groups. These mixed dance styles recall Brazil’s colonial and slave trade history, where music and dance functioned as discreet methods of organizing politically under oppressive regimes. Fast-paced, athletic, sexy, dreamlike, and aggressive, the dance styles, like the music, make Swinguerra an exhilarating and unforgettable viewing experience, illustrating how dance and music offer rich sources of agency, resistance, and community for marginalized individuals.

In the sports court of a school, dancers rehearse under the watchful eye of a choreographer. Tensions haunt personal desires as they are observed by a rival troupe.