Twenty years ago, if you told anyone your preferred workout was a ‘Zumba’, they’d probably look at you as if you’d lost it. Today, there are few who haven’t been lured into the global rage that calls itself-Zumba. I started attending the Pretty Tuff Zumba class ‘coz well, I’m such a dutiful and loyal member of the club. Ok, honestly I just needed to find out what was the big fuss about it. So I decided to give it a shot. Before the class, I had spent my time wisely ‘googling’ what this Zumba Bazinga thing was. Well, come on. How else could I confirm it wasn’t some ritualistic tribal freak show? Apparently this Colombian dude Alberto Perez thought it would be simply hilarious to mix up hip-hop, soca, samba, salsa, merengue, mambo, martial arts, Bollywood and belly dance. Hold your horses. AND couple all that with squats and lunges and whatnot. Yes Shakira, we know where you got those moves from. Having done absolutely none of that before (random Bollywood dancing at Indian weddings apart), I went in, terror-struck. There were about a dozen girls in there, and they all seemed to know what they were doing there, unlike me. Our Zumba instructor finally came in, introducing herself as Yvonne. She liked to keep things short, by the looks of it. Before I knew it, we were all tapping our feet..’Like a G6…like a G6…feelin’ so fly like a G6’. Yes, her playlist was awesome. That’s one thing about Zumba : you actually WANT to move and roll and shimmy and all that. Also, you can’t get all conscious of your body movements, Yvonne doesn’t allow that. It’s all about letting go for that one hour, with no inhibitions. The next one hour was a delightful melee of intensive exercise; various dance forms and some really catchy music. We would hardly realize how we would transition from hip-hop to Salsa to Mambo to Bhangra to Belly-Dance. Yvonne was really trying hard to make us shake our bums but with moderate success. I was feeling a bit reserved myself, till she actually came and held my hips and swung them till they flew off. Yeah well after that, I’ve been doing my bit. Zumba shouldn’t be underestimated. It not only gives you a great workout, but adds elegance and grace to your body. I can realize the difference in my postures and body language, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. The class runs continuously for an hour, so you don’t really get a break unless you fall flat or something. But I guess that’s why it’s so popular. Having so much fun in such an intensive workout is too good to be true! In the end, we could all technically say that we had done a dozen different dance forms, lost about 200 grams (hey, that’s a lot for a day), grooved to the top chartbusters, and actually enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. I’m three classes old now, and I look forward more and more to each class with increased enthusiasm.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 10:23:38 +0000
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