Someone asked me the other day what all the brouhaha was about Zumba. What, you’ve never heard of it? You have no idea what this marbles-in-the-mouth-sounding exercise class is all about? Here’s what you’re missing: loud Latin-beat music, constantly-moving legs, lots of open-mouth panting, buckets of sweat, easy-to-follow steps, and a mumble-jumble whirlwind of arm movements.
Why go to a class like this? To shake yourself silly, that’s why. To dance the blues away. For a change of pace. To move like crazy to songs that make you want to clap and stomp your feet. To race over to your water bottle and glug down a gulp or two to revive yourself before you hop, skip, and jump back to your spot. To move and groove like there’s no tomorrow.
No, don’t shake your head and say Zumba’s not for you. Try it. I promise, it’s not hard to follow the teacher’s moves. As soon as the music starts, you’ll find yourself shimmying, jerking-ing, salsa-ing, and cha-cha-ing up a storm. You’ll be instantly gratified.
Does this old body of mine sometimes balk? Sure, but when it does, I just slow it down and go through the motions. When it doesn’t, I find myself Zumba-ing with the best of them.
Yes, yes, sometimes it’s a struggle for my 61 year-old body to gyrate and wave its arms around like a June Taylor dancer, but since I’m far, far from one, who cares. Sure, I look kind of crazy in the mirror, but that’s the beauty of Zumba: it doesn’t matter.
No, I’m not being paid by the Zumba people to hype it. I just wanted to let you know what’s available, in case you’re as stubborn as I am and don’t like to try new things. Or you're sad because your best friend died and all you want to do is hibernate. Zumba-ing helped me pack up my sorrows, lace up my dancing sneakers, and celebrate living like it was 1999.
1 comment:
A friend of mine from grad school teaches Zumba in Evanston when she is not teaching. Yet another reason why if we ever move to Chicago you guys should move too. Where are you doing this zumbaing? Where is your new gym? Oh wait...should you not say where it is online in case someone stalks you?
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