I took Zumba for the first time, and I don’t think I’ll be featured in any of their infomercials anytime soon.
I always dreamed of being a dancer. I took ballet classes at 5 years old where I got to wear a tutu and twirl. And then as quickly as it began, my fledgling dancing career ended. School happened, other extracurriculars happened and my dancing dreams were laid to rest.
So when I found a $5 Zumba class in my neighborhood, I made a reservation. I should have let sleeping dreams lie.
The studio where I took the class was mirrored. Which is great, because you can see yourself do the dances. It’s also awful because you can see yourself do the dances. The instructor was perfectly nice and happy. Really happy. Like she was smiling the entire time. Even while sweating and the rest of us had contorted pain faces. It hurts just as much to admit to myself that no one should pay me to dance for any reason. If I was the only one with legs in a village that desperately needed rain, the crops would die a quick death.
Vanity aside, Zumba is actually a great workout. It’s an hour of dancing and jumping around to upbeat songs. It’s brilliant how they took simple dance moves to popular songs and packaged them into such a fun class. I left feeling tired yet elated and I think I may go again, however embarrassed I might be internally. And I found some videos of actual Zumba classes. I guess I’m not so bad after all.
