It’s way too fun to think of Zumba as exercise. The sexy dance moves seep into your soul — and before you know it — you’re hooked. It’s Thursday night — and in desperation, you scan the rec center schedules and gyms for a Zumba class. When you find none — malaise sets in — until your next class.
Maybe it’s the tribal drum beats that vibrate the walls that speak to you — or that slow romantic ballad sung by Enrique Iglesias that has you swaying your hips back and forth — or the hip-hop songs more likely to be found at night clubs.
People flock to Zumba’s Latin-inspired dance workout for many reasons besides the promised calorie burn evidenced by the puddles of sweat and spent muscles. Some say, including me, going to Zumba is like going clubbing — whether it’s a Monday at 5:30 p.m. or Saturday at 8 a.m.
The pure fun and creative expression of Zumba keeps many folks coming back for more, says Kelly Greisl, who teaches classes at Premier Health and Fitness in Tallahassee
To play up the idea of going clubbing during Zumba, Greisl even refers to classes as “club cardio.” And she gets a fair amount of kudos for picking the right songs that keep her dance mates moving along —from salsa and samba, to Bollywood, or even some Russian inspired music genres.
“Most people come for the atmosphere and let the music drive the movement,” Greisl says.
April Pinner, one of her regulars, fell in love with Zumba three years ago, and refers to herself as “dance crazy.” As a natural born lover of dance, she anxiously awaits each class and sometimes wishes they wouldn’t end.
“The clock flies when you’re in Zumba,” says Pinner. Then she realizes, sadly, “There’s only two minutes left.
While Zumba may seem to possess a cultish following, the thing is, people who love to dance love to Zumba — and the desire to dance wins.
“We get really happy about dancing. I do other classes like conditioning, but I actually get excited to do Zumba, it kind of puts you in the mindset of dance,” says Pinner.
People in her class love it so much, they sometime even break out into flash mobs and two-hour fundraising “zumbathons,” says Pinner.
In Greisl’s class, she keeps things interesting by occasionally “pulling songs out of the vault” — the old favorites that people forget until hearing familiar tunes that send them into fits of booty-shaking arm- rattling fun.
Turns out, the film “Slumdog Millionaire,” directed by Danny Boyle, may have popularized the term Bollywood, film productions rooted in Indian culture and Hindi language. The Bollywood-inspired song Mast Kalander is one of Greisl’s top picks.
“Bollywood has gotten very popular,” says Greisl, adding that “Moomba is another genre — with an Indian, eastern feel and one that’s closer to hip-hop.”
Greisl often puts the two genres together and refers to it as a Bollywood, hip-hop “mashup,” something her class raves about.
She said the choreography used for Bollywood and Moomba songs includes flexed feet and chest popping — where you thrust the chest out while squeezing the shoulder blades together.
String together some shoulder shimmies and hip rolls and you’ve got a sexy move that kills calories.
By using slow and controlled muscle movements, or isometrics, it’s easy to tone up your core, biceps and triceps. While side lunges, or squats, combined with bent knees that keep you low to the ground target the leg muscles and bring on the burn.
By pointing your toes out 45 degrees during squats, Greisl says it targets inner thigh muscles.
But that sounds like exercise — while Zumba feels like a high energy expression of body — loaded with fun sexy dance moves.
Try it — you just might get hooked, roped in and mesmerized by the music and the moves.
Top 10 Zumba tunes
If it’s the sensual sounds of Zumba music that keeps you coming back, then check out my top 10 song list. Here are a few of my favorites—and possibly my next Day of the Dead party playlist.
1.Bailando, by Enrique Iglesias
2. Marioneta, by Zumba Fitness
3. La La La, by Shakira
4. Zumba He Zumba Ha (feat. Soldat Jahman & Luis Guisao), by DJ Mam’s
5. Calabria, by Enur Natasja
6. Mumbai Mashup – Bollywood Fusion, by Zumba Fitness
7. Sweet Girl, by Zumba Fitness, (Ferda & Maike)
8. Cubia Arabe, by Afrosound
9. Fruko’s Boogaloo, by Pa Goza Con Fruko
10. Tie — Zumba, by Thorax, (Pitbull Album) and Zumba, by Don Omar
