Saucy Latin Dance Workout

Finds A Newtown Following

By Nancy K. Crevier

It looks like a party, with hips shaking and bodies swaying to a pulsating Latin rhythm that is loud enough to shake the walls. The lights are bright and the spirits are high. But what these Newtown women have discovered is more than a party, it is a new exercise craze that makes them feel good and feel good about themselves. Zumba, Spanish slang for “to move fast and have fun,” has found its way north.

The invention of celebrity fitness trainer Beto Perez, Zumba came into existence one day when the Colombian instructor forgot his aerobics tapes. With dozens of class members expecting a celebrity-sized workout, he quickly improvised a number of easy Latin dance steps with the only music he had — traditional Latin salsa and merengue songs. The on-the-spot creation became his most requested class and Zumba zoomed up the charts.

In 1999, Mr Perez brought the class to the Miami area of the United States where the concept was launched nationwide via infomercials and DVDs. By 2005, the Zumba Education Division had been created to meet the demand for trained instructors and to ensure quality standards in the development of Zumba.

As word got out about the workout craze, Zumba began to mambo its way out of the southern states and up the coast. In 2007 it sashayed its way into Connecticut fitness clubs where local instructors like Lynda Muir at Graceful Planet, Cherry Lee and Lauren Carter at Club NewFit, and Kim Johnston of The Fitness Loft are seeing a surge of interest in the energetic new way to get fit.

“I didn’t know what I was getting into at first,” said Lynda Muir of the first Zumba workshop she took in Long Island. “It sounded interesting and I took it mostly to get more CEUs [continuing education units] for instructing. But, wow! I loved it. I felt like we were working out and having a party at the same time.”

Ms Muir teaches fitness classes at several area gyms and has seen a following develop around the Zumba classes. “No one around here was doing it before last year. Now I’m teaching eight classes a week. People are becoming more and more aware of it,” she said.

At a recent Graceful Planet class that meets Monday evenings, “Zumbalians” ranged from pregnant moms to empty nesters. The warm-up of simple footwork — including a few easy to master cha-cha steps — moved smoothly into more vigorous steps. Before you could say “Ay, caramba!” the Latin beat had lifted the class into high gear, hips were switching back and forth, arms were swinging to the beat, and smiles were pasted on nearly every face. Then, just as smoothly, the pace slowed down, allowing Ms Muir to intersperse a mini lesson into the music to help with some of the trickier dance steps. The hourlong class continued in its intervals of high and low energy levels, as it is intended to do, until big, slow stretches and gentle moves signaled that the party was over.

But whether a person knows mambo and salsa or cannot tell the left foot from the right, Zumba is designed to be fun and easy to do. “No dance training is necessary to take the class,” said Ms Muir. “I modify the steps and offer options as we go along. Once students get it, they love it. There are only about three or four moves per song, driven by the music, so anyone can catch on.”

Lynn Kirol signed up for the class on the recommendation of her sister in Miami. “I had taken belly dancing at Graceful Planet and saw the advertising for Zumba. My sister said it was a lot of different dance and aerobic moves.” Always on the lookout for a new dance, Ms Kirol, a financial analyst by day, took the free class offered in December to try it out. “I thought, ‘Okay! I’m coming back!’”

“You do have to concentrate a little,” said Robin Tolla, who learned about the Zumba class from Ms Kirol and also from her sister-in-law. “But it’s a lot of fun the way Lynda teaches it. I just wanted to do something different, and Zumba is it.”

Both Ms Tolla and Ms Kirol have movement backgrounds, but Lauren Samson said that she had no prior dance experience before starting the Zumba class. “It’s fantastic. It’s hard, but it keeps you moving the whole hour, and is easy to follow.”

Ellen Spiers agreed. “I love the music, the movement. It’s a very good workout.”

According to Zumba literature, the fast and slow rhythms tone and sculpt the body, much as do aerobic interval classes. It maximizes caloric output and burns fat, but it is the fun factor that keeps Zumba participants coming back over and over again, allowing them to develop long-term good health habits.

Kat Barton, owner of Graceful Planet, is pleased with the response to the new class. “We were looking for something Latin and fun, so when Lynda approached me to instruct Zumba, it was great timing.”

If getting fired up for health is not enough motivation, maybe dancing the night away to support other women will do it. Zumbalians and Zumbalian wannabes can work out for a cause in February and March. Ms Muir will be one of the instructors leading Zumba classes at A Common Ground, 346 Main Street, Danbury, to benefit The Women’s Center of Greater Danbury. Join Ms Muir and other Zumba instructors February 12, 19, or 26, or March 4, 11, or 18 for just $10 a session. The Women’s Center of Greater Danbury provides free services to assist women in times of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other life transitions.

Cody Foss, owner of The Fitness Loft, is impressed by the popularity of the Zumba class that has been offered there since January. “It seems to be doing pretty well, with 18 to 20 people in a class. For a new class, that’s pretty good.”

At The Fitness Loft, the biggest motivation in offering a new class is to increase diversity. “The more options we have, the higher the attendance,” said Mr Foss. “My wife, Jennifer, brought Zumba to my attention, so we brought in Kim Johnston to teach it.”

The unusual combination of exercise, dance, and the music is the big appeal, said Mr Foss. “People really like Zumba. There’s something different about it.”

When Club NewFit general manager Dorrie Carolan heard about Zumba last fall from a friend in Danbury, she had to try it. “It’s great,” said Ms Carolan. “I told our managing director Penny Tavar, ‘We have to do it.’ It has been so popular already that we have two classes, one on Saturday and one on Wednesday.”

At Club NewFit, Zumba classes are open to nonmembers, but Ms Carolan noted that because the six-week sessions of Zumba are limited to 30 people per class, members are given priority when signing in.

After more than 20 years of teaching fitness classes in the Danbury area, Cherry Lee thought last year that she would retire from instructing. “Then someone I had worked for talked me into trying a Zumba workshop at Rockefeller Center in New York last year, and I loved it, got certified in Zumba, and I’m teaching this class. What I love is that anybody can do it. You just keep moving and pick it up to the music. I tell people not to watch their feet, to feel the music.”

Ms Lee likes to change up the music from class to class to keep interest high, but a few favorites, such as “Loco, Loco, Loco,” are a must each week, she said. She throws in some R&B and Reggaeton, too, but it is the Latin music that drives the class.

The class attracts mostly women in their late 20s and up, although in the southern states where Zumba started, said instructors, and at workshops, many men take part in Zumba. Big or small, old or young, light footed or dancing with two left feet, they come and keep on coming back, Ms Lee said. “The fantastic thing is that I started at age 53 and when I went to the workshop there were women in their 60s there. People are just looking for something new, and you know, it can burn up to 700 calories in a class. At the end of the class, they are still waiting for more,” said Ms Lee.