“Baila ‘Pa Emociona…”

A LOOK INTO A ZUMBA INSTRUCTORS PREPARATION

Kimberly BarreraAnthropology 102Dr. Leanna Wolfe10-26-10

What is Zumba?

Maria: “Zumba is doing exercise and dance with different rhythms. It’s a workout without much of a “workout”. It is dance and exercise combined.”

How did you first get involved with Zumba?

Maria: “ A friend told me about it and I saw a segment of it on T.V. I found it very interesting and fun. Soon after I enrolled to become a certified Zumba instructor, and now I instruct part-time at a friends house, a non-profit organization, and at churches.”

How do you prepare for a class?

First I practice a routine Second, choose the

music Third,I practice the

music with the routine

Practice

“I have selective DVDs sent to me through ZIN (Zumba Instructors Network) which have different routines. Each routine have 2 versions and I mix and match to best suit my classes.”

Creating a routine with music

“I choose songs based on the classes I will be teaching. The first level is beginning, gold, intermediate, and advanced. A lot of the music I get is music that comes with the ZIN DVDs and some are songs I choose myself based on the kind of music I think the people will enjoy.”

Practice With A Playlist

“After I have chosen my routine, and music I practice both to make sure the beats match and as well to practice and memorize the music and the sequence in which it appears.”

Warm- Up:

“First I start by stretching all the muscles and by instructing controlled breathing exercises so they don’t feel too exhausted during the exercise.”

Cardio

“After a 15-minute warm-up we begin the cardio and this includes both dance routines and aerobics or in this case step- aerobics.

Me: I was getting pretty tired, and some steps were pretty complicated. It was really interested how dance was combined with aerobics. Unfortunately, I was not quite able to capture some of the more complex steps because of the rapid movement. Some people arrived prepared with a towel in hand.

Cool Down

“After the 30-minutes or cardio we slowly progress into the “cool down” section of the class and we do that by stretching and controlled breathing exercises.”

Me: It was truly a workout and the people were really tired, including myself. The breating exercises really helped and it really helped control my respiration.

“Baila ‘Pa Emociona”

Maria: The reason I love Zumba is because, it is for all kinds of people whether elderly, disabled, kids, and teenagers.”

Me:In this exercise I learned that Zumba is more than a coordinated dance. I precisely enjoyed this class because it was a combination of exercise with dance and you got a workout while moving your hips and while working out some core muscles and while singing along with tunes you heard while growing up. I never would have guessed Zumba to be this much fun! I am definitely attending next week!