Have you heard of Zumba? It's the new "thing" in exercise - apparently. I stumbled upon it about 7 days into our new gym membership. I was already hitting the yoga classes pretty heavily, as they are hidden in the back of the gym by the nursery in a dark, wooden-floored, candle lit room where all the fat old ladies hide. (You can skulk in the back door and never have to cross paths with any of the hot body building types who live in the front, main gym.) So far I hadn't had the guts to wander towards the big front aerobics room, where occasionally I would see extremely cut, tanned people jumping and crunching under the direction of a very tightly muscled man of indeterminate sexual preference named Maurice.
Then, flyers advertising a new class called "Latin Hip Hop Zumba" started appearing in the bathrooms and bulletin boards. I was drawn to the "latin" part... not so much "et tu, brute" but more "arriba arrriiba! viva mexico! tequila tabaco y ron! dale pa' atras!" and all that. So I went to the first class...
Our teacher is this bootylicious lady, possibly Dominican or something, but definitely bootylicious and so full of spunk and fun that she infects an entire room with it. How she has turned a bunch of 40-something white ladies into a bunch of dancing fools! (There are some younger folks, including a crazy Middle Eastern girl with no rhythm, a gangly high school senior who dances like a mascot, some cute older Indian ladies, and one rowdy Puerto Rican lady who always requests Cumbia Kings. Oh, and then there's me, the abnormally excited white girl who knows the words to Spanish songs but had never heard "I'm Bringing Sexy Back" until the class) Teacher's name is Camelia and she's a Zumba pro, teaches all over Dayton, and her Wednesday night in Centerville is actually her 3rd back to back class of that day... so we get a crazed woman who's not holding anything back :D
Anyway, last night my friend Tabby came with me to Zumba. It was her first time, and she did great and had a fun time shaking her booty. I had missed a few classes here and there, so it was a little bit of a refresher for me... and as each week goes on, I'm moving more and more into being a pregnant lady doing Zumba instead of just doing Zumba. I think that when Baby comes out, he/she is going to not cry, but yell "I'm bringin' sexy back..." and all the nurses will respond... "What!?!?".
About midway through class, we were approached by a cute little middle aged blond woman; she was the embodiment of country-fried sweetness... she's in Zumba almost every week and is probably about a buck twenty and five feet tall. She came up to us both, but sort of looked to Tabby and said, "Now, I don't want you to take this the wrong way..." I started thinking immediately that any constructive criticism was not necessarily welcome, as I considered myself a Zumba semi-pro and thought Tabby was doing good enough to not appear a beginner. Mind started racing for a defense... unnecessarily, as she continued... "Now, I don't want you to take this the wrong way... (long pause and uncomfortable smile)... but you two have the cutest hip movements!"
Haaaaaaaaaaaaah!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MirhQhqAXBw
Our instructor's site... oh God, she's a life coach... I didn't realize :P http://mobetterme.com/site/
Anyway, Zumba is super fun so go out and do it!
1 comment:
I did not see you in that Zumba video or on the Mobetterme website!
Lina, I want to give you a little homework. Think about an issue you are passionate about or a story you just want to tell, and start thinking about getting it published. I smile the entire time I read something of yours, and I think you have a real talent.
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