I would like to say that I successfully completed a Zumba class but I’m afraid that would be stretching it a bit. While I did attend and participate for a full one hour of class, I’m sure I missed at least 30% of the steps.
There were a number of ways to try to follow along:
1 – The teacher that kept moving about & turning therefor providing an extra challenge of trying keeping track of the whole left-right thing
2 – The students to my right, who were 3 twenty-somethings, one of whom mentioned her many years of tap which seemed to come in handy. Neither of them were strangers to salsa dancing.
3 – The late 60s/early 70ish woman on my left that had no problems with the steps. apparently, she & her daughter are “Zumba junkies” and tour the different classes.
4 – The most frightening: the mirror!!
It was seeing myself in comparison to the rest of the class that made me realize how great at physical comedy I’d be, if only was was doing it on purpose. I’d manage to get the feet right after a couple repeats and then the move would change. I would step left while everyone else went right, pivot a second too late and nearly backed into a tub of free weights. There is a lot of that fancy little “chest shimmy” move that seems to make its way into all the Latin inspired “Dancing with the Stars” routines, you know that one that they ALL make look so damn easy? I’m here to tell you, not all bodies move that way. I tried, but all I could manage was a weird sort of shoulder shake that made it look like I had just discovered a tarantula crawling up my back. I am the “Keystone Cop” of Zumba.
All in all, it was fun – I might even try another dance fitness class again, provided auditions aren’t required.