Wednesday 31 October 2012

What are we gonna do with it?

In the unlikely event that you are following this blog, you could have noticed that I am not a big fan of Zumba-ing double acts. Now imagine how happy I was receiving ZIN 41 and watching another live class. With another double act. Mind you, in some respects it’s very different from Tanya and Gina, Lindsey and Kass, or Zumbatwinz for that matter. Most importantly, Betsy Dopico totally out-dances her co-presenter Ricardo Marmitte. One-on-one class with Donna Giffen is all right. I quite like her way of building up the routine, it is just that the music, once again, fails to inspire.

No bhangra, flamenco or samba. Doesn’t matter, I gave up on the music from ZIN long time ago. But... as funny as it sounds, my favourite choreo on the DVD is the one for Now That We Found Love, a cover of the most ridiculous cover I ever heard.

Song List

  1. Mueve ese Eskeleto — Electro Merengue — by Fulanito ☙
  2. Pretenciosa — Salsa ◊
  3. Me Gustan Todas — Techno Cumbia * ☙
  4. Pose — Reggaeton * ☙
  5. Now That We Found Love — Disco Rap *
  6. Mereketengue — Pasito Duranguense ◊
  7. Bem Vindos — Funk ◊
  8. Taca Taca — Merengue / Calypso *
  9. Como un Angel — Reggaeton Pop — by Zulayka ☙
* Covers
◊ Zumba Fitness originals
☙ Spicy Lyrics

Thursday 25 October 2012

One year on

You know what, I just realised that I did my first real Zumba class exactly one year ago. Time for a progress report?

Well, there’s not much to report. My morning class on Tuesday and Thursday was all but dead for weeks — only one student was attending and then not always. So I decided to stop the morning classes in the Botanical Park for a while. The only class still running is the Wednesday evening at FuerteFusión. Sometimes I have two students, once I had eight students (all hip scarves were in use!) but most often I have four people there. I can’t say this keeps me extremely busy, but at least it’s a weekly event I look forward to — something the morning classes ceased to be long time ago.

One rainy sunny rainy (yes sometimes it rains even here) day I was sitting and contemplating whether it was the time to close the shop and concentrate on something else. Ironically, it was exactly when my Facebook page accumulated 100 “likes”. To help me to celebrate this momentous achievement, Facebook presented me with €30 publicity voucher, which I can spend to promote my page so it could get even more “likes”. Oh bother. I would prefer just €30 in cash. It turns out that in order to redeem the said voucher, I have to give Facebook my credit card details. Thanks but no thanks, I’m fine.

Sunday 7 October 2012

I prefer Gangnam Style

The latest ZIN offering is, as per usual, not especially good, not especially bad, not especially fresh. All standard Zumba fare except maybe covers of Chic’s Le Freak (which was big in 1978 and ever since) and Rihanna’s We Found Love (which by now everybody should be thoroughly sick of).

Forget Zumba for a moment (or longer). This weekend (better late than never), I discovered Gangnam Style by Korean rapper Psy — apparently, the most “liked” video on YouTube. And I can see why.

MegaMix 31 Song List

  1. We Found Love — ElectroPop / Warm Up *
  2. El Lapicero — Merengue — by Raul Acosta & Manikkomio ☙
  3. Al Son De Los Cueros — Salsa — by Sonora Carruseles
  4. La Cumbia Tribalera — Tribal * ☙
  5. Ahora Es — Reggaeton * ☙
  6. Agachadita — Cumbia * ☙
  7. Danca Da Cordinha — Samba / Axé *
  8. Le Freak — Disco *
  9. Trikitrikitran — Rumba Flamenca — by Mayka
  10. Las Cosas Pequeñas — Bachata *
* Covers
☙ Spicy Lyrics