Well, dreams do come true...I have long been a devotee of the "Figure Method", a combination of strengthening and lengthening exercises, based on the Lotte Berk Method and refined by my friend Cindy Sites. The promise is to deliver long, lean sculpted muscles. It's tough love, but if you attend consistently and work hard, nothing can compare to this total, one hour body work out. Cindy has been so successful that she has opened 4 studios in the Fairfield area. For those looking for a cardio work out, Spin classes are also available.
I am not a huge fan of sweating. I also have some lingering resistance to anything cycle related, since wrapping myself and my lilac Schwinn around a telephone pole, at age seven (My Mother warned me not to ride in my new flip flops. At least she refrained from saying, "I told you so", as they whisked me to the Emergency Room, in the back of my Father's Cadillac). Still and all, I know somehow, for heart health and fat burning, I have to figure out a way to amp it up.
Before there was a name attached to it, I dreamed of a class, that you could go to, to dance, (and yes, sweat), to fabulous music, for an hour. I have mentioned it to Cindy many times over the years...Persistence being my nickname, I brought it up again recently and she said, "Yup. Zumba. We are going to start it in the the fall". "Fantastic", I replied, "I'm in". Now all I had to do was find out what the puck "Zumba" is...
I went home, Googled it and got very excited! Zumba was founded by a Columbian dancer, Alberto 'Beto" Perez, in the mid 90's. "Zumba" literally translates to, "move fast and have fun". The inspiration, comes from Latin and calypso dance music. His first class was improvised. Perez was teaching and forgot his aerobic tapes, thinking quickly, he grabbed tapes from his car and just salsad in. It was much more fun than his regular class and equally aerobic. Thus, a fitness movement was born. Today over 3 million Zumba DVD's have been sold and 9000 instructors are teaching classes in the U.S. Wowza!!!
I stumbled upon a little blurb in Westchester Magazine about Zumba classes and called for information. My gal pals know I can be a catalyst for organizing fun events, but I am not always wildly organized, so if you get a voice or email with my latest stunt, you either "in, or your ", to quote the great Heidi Klum. I would love your company...but if you can't make it, I am going anyway, solo. Zumba was being taught in a Veteran's Hall, in a neighboring town. Luck would have it... my friend Lynn was in. Suffice to say, that compared to Lynn, Madonna has a paunch and a club foot...she is flawless. We are dressed like twins, in adorable hip hugger yoga pants, tiny ribbed tank tops, with black shoes. We walked in 5 minutes late, so there would be no graceful rumba, to the exit...The room was filled with grandmother's in Sag Harbor Villager Bermudas, golf shirts, tube socks and cross trainer's. We were in trouble. Our cheerful instructor definitely had the moves. My hope was, however, that her heart, was in the condition of an Olympic Pole Vaulter, because the good stuff, was not in evidence on the outside...
How did it turn out??? We had a ball!!! The music was great (they even had a conga drum accompanist), the choreography was fun, but easy to follow, (mental gymnastics are not a favorite of mine. I am there to sweat , not think). We were drenched, but not exhausted. In short, we loved it!!!
So, I am rallying the troops for next Tuesday's class, girls. 7:00 p.m. Are you in, or are you out???
xox,
Dd
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