Zumba!

I am always willing to try any sort of group fitness regimen because I love being chatty while doing my exercise.  So, when I heard about Zumba, a new crowd favorite for moms in the Midwest, I figured I should give it a try.  I am neither a mom nor a Midwesterner, but something about Latin dance for exercise sounded super fun.  So I convinced my fluent Spanish speaking besty who loves all things Latin to come along for the ride.  We waltzed into the Equinox feeling confident and ready to show our best moves.  Class began like this:  The instructor walked over to the iPod, turned it on, and without a word she along with the rest of the class began dancing in unison to intensely choreographed moves.  Clearly we were the only two in class who had not done our homework.  While everyone segued seamlessly from Samba to Indian dance into Merengue, we stumbled behind them like bumbling idiots.  I was convinced I twisted a knee during a very quick one-two step, while my equally disabled dance partner had to take a break mid Zumba for a towel and water while the grandmother in the front row shook her hips like Shakira.  So, lesson learned:  Zumba requires actual dance skills for maximum participation, otherwise you may end up hurting yourself.  Other than being shamed by older more able women, we had a great time, broke a sweat five minutes into the hour class, and I might dare say learned some dance moves we could use outside just a fitness studio.  All in all a big success, but I will be practicing with the do-it-yourself DVDs before I try and tango with the professionals again.