I had heard of Zumba before coming to Terre Haute and I had heard that it was the
best in the world that has been “sweeping the nation,” at least that is what
the infomercial said. It is basically an
adult version of hip hop dance class and it is no joke.
Zumba is not a hip hop class, it is technically Brazilian
and if my skills in the Socratic Method aren’t rusty. I believe that it will make
everyone beautiful and thin and awesome. Because anything that has the word
“Brazilian” in front of it has to do just that!
For a town that is not as progressive as I am used to, there
is a lot of Zumba! You can’t go 3 miles without seeing some place advertising
Zumba. It is everywhere! Gyms, dance studios, schools and church basements. I
have never been to a class and I had more than ample opportunity to try it and
Jo from work finally cornered me (in a good way!) to go with her.
Jo is a bit older than my mom and has grown kids probably
around my age so I was expecting a class full of middle aged white women looking
for a bit of culture along with their workout.
I was right, but they weren’t the only ones.
I was also surprised at how many people there that were my
age! There were people of all different shapes and sizes and ages. I couldn’t
believe it! Our instructors were a 40-something Pilipino woman and a gay man in
his thirties!
I have been searching far and wide for diversity in Terre Haute just to go
and find it at the Ultimate Fitness behind the mall!
There I was swinging my hips and breaking a sweat with the
same goal as these other women: to find my inner sexy!
Now I understand why these classes are so popular here.
There aren’t many things to make you feel conventionally beautiful here. The
market for beauty products is minimal here, evidenced in the lack of an Ulta,
Sephora or a MAC Counter. At Zumba, I felt like I was bringing sexy back all on
my own and all it cost me was $5!
I normally have to laugh when white women dance, but this
time I was impressed. Jo, a woman that normally would let her self-consciousness
win out over stepping out her comfort zone was swinging her hips!
The very large woman next to me was moving like Shakira learned
from her and she was taking on clients!
And me?
Well, let’s just say that I was Jennifer Lopez. Not J. Lo, I
am talking circa 1991 breaking it down with Carrie Ann Inaba. (What? I’m black;
my family watched In Living Color on Sunday nights!)
I had been having a crappy couple of days. I was super busy at work and I haven’t been
sleeping well because of stomach issues. Zumba, it seems is a much bigger
stress relief than thrift stores, furniture rearranging and sharing a bottle of
wine with Sassy—although I don’t need to be stressed to do the latter!
Yes, I know exercise gives you endorphins and endorphins
make you happy, I learned that from Elle Woods ten years ago. This was
different.
This was a sisterhood.
A sisterhood of sexiness and sweat…with a gay man thrown in
for good measure.
Dear Zumba ,Even
though you worked me, I had a blast, I will be back and I think I wanna have
your babies. Love, Lainie
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