Menu

VIVA LA ZUMBA!

skater_cartoon

I have had a controversial relationship with physical activities from early childhood.

My mom took me to gymnastics when I turned 3, then to figure skating at 4 and finally piano at 5. For the piano bench my bottom turned out to be a perfect fit but in figure skating my bottom was frustratingly non-cooperative when it came to creating figures… I fell on it every time I tried to sit on one leg and extend another one forward. If I remember correctly, it is called the PISTOL-figure. Some of my mom’s friends still call me PISTOL-girl, bringing those unforgettable and somewhat fun memories of my early childhood…

Then came my public school PE classes with its terrifying rope climbing, horse jumping, and high standards of Russian gymnastics. Our PE teacher did not suffer from a tremendous amount of sophistication or as a matter of fact, any kind of human compassion in general and “lovingly” assigned me a nickname-The Bag of Fertilizer.  This was the beginning of my journey in the field of physical education. Despite these troublesome childhood experiences, I was not scarred for life and turned out just fine, except that I really do not like working out and have to make a special effort to get some exercise into my routine.

Most of my friends do yoga, hot and cold, or spend a tremendous amount of time dressed in sexy leotards navigating between slick torture devices called muscle building equipment in the fitness club. I even know and genuinely admire one Elliptical Queen! I am proud to declare that I tried all of it during my 23 years in the US and still am bored to death with all kinds of sweat-producing repetitive motions. Looking at the mirror without regular exercise has become equally painful and I knew SOMETHING NEEDED TO BE DONE! So I started looking for ballroom dancing, ideally within walking distance of my house, and I found ZUMBA!

Unobtainable Dream-THE PISTOL

Unobtainable Dream-THE PISTOL

Cuban Salsa, Puerto Rican Merengue, Greek Syrtaki, Russian Kalinka, Arabic Belly Dancing, Jewish 7/40, to name the few.  This is sort of a Musical Bridges Around the World in it’s own way. The idea of Zumba fitness is actually quite international. It merges elements of different cultures through the rhythms, harmonies, and dancing steps of folk and traditional music and then… it gets kicked up a notch by infusing some beloved exercises for a desirable outcome… I could go on and on how all these cultures work well together and how much fun it is to dance all of them within a one-hour time frame, but I will not…

Now, I am extremely proud of myself because four times a week I am dancing Latin Salsa, among other things, with a small group of women behind our very fit and very sexy Zumba teacher and trying hard not to get intimidated by the size of her bottom. (Just in case you wonder, she is a size 3). The music is fiery and beautiful, it feels great to move and I am loving every minute of it! One day I hope to remember all my steps and learn to move as gracefully and effortlessly as my new teacher.  My bottom is out to the new test in Latin rhythms where I hope it will not let me down. No PISTOL for me any more! VIVA LA ZUMBA!

10 years, 8 months ago Comments Off on VIVA LA ZUMBA!