I love Zumba

For the last few months, I have been going to a Zumba class on Saturdays.  When I first started I was still really out of shape and was still nursing a sore ankle, but I needed something to give me a release from the stress of everyday life, and I figured Zumba would be a great place to start.  I am not a coordinated person. However, I do love to dance in my own fun, manic style.  I went to the first class and fell in love.  I actually was so happy that first day that I was almost a little emotional about it.  Now I am hooked, and I get bummed whenever I can't make it to class.

Like I said, I am completely uncoordinated.  In fact, I am pretty sure that the instructor only says "Yeah! Great job!" when I actually get the steps right.  I mean, I am literally going in the opposite direction of the rest of the class most of the time.  I hang out in the back (which doesn't help much because we turn around a lot...well, the class turns around and I am still facing the same direction...)  I have a really tough time with the medium paced songs that have a lot of footwork; however, I am actually OK at the songs that are high energy where I can jump around like a spaz.

Since I had been out of town the last few Saturdays, today was the first class I have been to on a while.  It was really warm today, so the room was pretty hot.  The class was as energetic as ever, and I got back into it.  Most of the songs were footwork songs (bummer) but the last song was one of my favorites and I threw myself around the room.  By the end of class I was covered in sweat and felt like a million bucks.

Sometimes I think I should probably be embarrassed by my really really bad dancing skills, but this class is something I do for me, and it makes me really happy to jump around and make funny faces at my ridiculousness.  My favorite Zumba moment was when one of the ladies came up to me after class and said, "I was exhausted and wanted to take it easy on that last song, but when I looked over and saw you with a big smile, full of energy and jumping all over the place, you inspired me to finish strong."  Hey, if my spastic dancing can be inspiring, then anything is possible, right?