Zumba...

I keep hearing about Zumba.  Zumba, Zumba, Zumba.  It's the new thing.  A few years ago it was Pilates.  Then Yoga.  Then Yogalates.  Now it's Zumba.  I had never heard of this until a few years ago.  Hannah and Noah were in a Kindermusik class and one of the other moms happened to be a Zumba instructor.  As I talked to Megan (the mom/instructor) my first thought was "huh?  Latin type dancing?  Really?"  I truly had no clue what it was.

Fast forward to now.

It seems like everyone is doing it.  So, because I tend to follow the crowd, I thought I'd try it out.  One of the perks of Y membership is that there's a variety of classes and Zumba happens to be one of them.  Downside?  Megan happens to be in the instructor!  She's super full of energy.  I had been taking a kickboxing class directly after Megan's Zumba class so I'd always see the last few minutes of her class.  First of all, she's insane.  She jumps around and whoops it up a lot.  High energy just doesn't even tell the whole story.  Every time she'd see me she'd try to get me to come to a class.  So I did.  Buuuuttt...I cheated a bit.  On Saturdays there is an instructor's choice class.  The instructor's rotate who leads the class.  This particular Saturday was...any guesses?...Yep, Zumba!  Megan was not the instructor but I figured it'd be best to work myself up to her.

So I went.  Luckily it was a pretty small class and most of the women had never done Zumba before.  I stood in the back like a normal person and waited for class to start.  As I looked around at the other women I thought "man I'm going to look like a fool".  Let me just say this...I went to a private, very conservative school.  Dancing was not allowed.  We didn't have Prom or Homecoming in the traditional sense.  We had banquets.  We'd get all dressed up and go somewhere to eat and have a program of some sort.  At the time we didn't really know any better but now I look back and think "WOW, that was lame!"

So these are the thoughts going through my head as class is starting.  Amazingly I somehow kept up with the instructor!  My hips did not move quite as nicely as hers but I got the footwork down!  As the song would end there'd always be a few seconds of downtime before the next song would begin.  In that few seconds of silence I'd realize I was sweating like a pig but really didn't notice because I was having fun!  I had the goofiest grin on my face the whole time.  All I could think of was that I looked like a complete idiot and I just didn't care!  Most of the other women in the class looked as ridiculous as me!  It was a nice feeling.

So tomorrow night will be my first class with Megan.  Her classes are always super packed so LOTS of sweating.  As I've observed her classes in the past there's always a few women who think they are good.  I will avoid standing next to them.  I may get annoyed and pull out a kickboxing move just to knock them over.  It'd be on purpose a complete accident though.  Truly.  :)  Wish me luck!  I'm sure I'll have much more to say about Zumba after tomorrow night.