Un año después

One year ago to the day, I qualified as a Zumba Fitness instructor and joined ZIN. Like many other things, this happened by accident. For a couple of months, I was entertaining the idea of becoming Zumba instructor while still in the UK (the plan to move here was around for much longer). However, according to the Zumba website, there were no Zumba Basic training anywhere close to Cambridge. In February, I was visiting the USA and came back to England for a few days before flying to Fuerte. Out of curiosity, I went to check the Zumba web again. And behold, a miracle! There were places for training in Peterborough on 15 April. So I went ahead and booked my place. As soon as I did that, the Zumba web site was showing the same course as “sold out”. Maybe there was just one place available, the cancellation or something.

The training, with Naomi Mokoena and Natalia Bull, was great. By the end of day I was thoroughly exhausted and just wanted to lay down. The rest... well, is not history yet, but it is covered in this blog in reasonable detail.

All in all, it was a rewarding thing to do, if not financially, then as an experience. How long will I stay with ZIN and give Zumba classes, is another matter. Check this space one year later.

Thank you Tamara Kulikova and Luisa Curbelo: I would never go that far without your support.

Cardio Samba Workout

with Quenia Ribeiro

I loved The Samba Reggae Workout so much that I decided to get another one by Quenia Ribeiro. Perhaps inevitably, I kept comparing this DVD with SRW.

Here, Quenia introduces samba no pe (Rio-style samba). She breaks down the basic steps — and then not-so basic steps — in the tutorial section, and there are enough repeats to get at least some hang of them. If not, go to the beginning.

The warm-up, just like in SRW, is more like cool-down. But here it is extra-long: 27 minutes! This is like a workout on its own. During the cardio workout proper, we are going through all the steps and moves from the tutorial, first slow, then at the “real samba tempo”. Which means, fast. Really fast. At least for me. Unless you know the choreographies from the tutorial real well, it’s almost impossible to follow the fast bits. The good news is, that the first four sections of cardio workout exactly correspond to the sections of tutorial, so you can work, say, on section 3 only. The last part of the cardio workout combines all four choreos at the full speed.

The cooldown is surprisingly short (under three minutes!) but, as it utilises some of the warmup moves, I guess one could freely borrow from that section to pad it up.

SRW features the live samba band playing on the same stage as the dancers. Alas, no such luxury here. The backing track is very repetitive, even by samba standards. But I guess you were not going to use it anyway.

Cardio Samba Workout

Welcome	00:00
Learn Basic Samba Steps	01:44
Step-by-step Tutorial
Workout Section 1	13:11
Workout Section 2	18:25
Workout Section 3	22:51
Workout Section 4	29:26
Basic samba steps between segments	40:11
Warmup	41:19
Workout
Workout 1	1:08:23
Workout 2	1:16:42
Workout 3	1:20:26
Workout 4	1:24:19
Full workout fast	1:28:46
Cooldown	1:34:03
Total time	1:36:52

Now this is what I call ZIN 37

Check it out: live class with Beto. Cardio party with Beto, Tanya and Gina. Beto. Beto. Tanya. Live class with Beto, one-on-one with Gina. Beto. You get the idea. Tanya, with guest appearance of Beto. Beto with some guys. Beto again. And now, ladies and gentlemen... Tanya and Gina. Why am I not so thrilled? I’ll tell you why.

But first, I have to declare that I may be prejudiced. I heard a lot of (mostly negative) opinions about ZIN 37 long before I started to worry whether my own copy was lost in transit. Which seems to be the case. Finally, when the MegaMix 28 arrived, I sent a note to Zumba Home Office and, to their credit, they sent me a replacement copy pronto. After watching it, I almost regretted troubling them. It was so not worth waiting for.

Remember the worst ZIN MegaMix you ever heard? I promise, music-wise ZIN 37 is even worse. The live class in Frankfurt is... to say “disappointing” would be an understatement. The dance routines feature a lot of clapping, apparently designed both to work the class into frenzy and enliven the dull choreography. When Tanya and Gina appear together on the stage, the choreo does not seem to be well coordinated between the two. It is embarrassing to listen, embarrassing to watch. It must be embarrassing squared to dance to it — not that I tried. How does it feel to teach this?

One-on-one class with Lindsey Taylor is more watchable (as far as the annoying distorted-honeycomb background allows) and the choreo looks more interesting. But it cannot save the sheer awfulness of the music.

Song List

1. If You Wanna Dance — Techno Cumbia ◊
2. Hasta Que Se Rompa el Cuero — Salsa *
3. La Bomba — Merengue / Techno Cumbia ◊
4. In a Search — Reggaeton — by Obie P
5. Mr. Saxobeat — Eurodance *
6. Vino Tinto — Rumba Flamenca / Pop
7. Sexy Movimiento — Electronic / Reggaeton *
8. Asi Te Quiero Ver — Merengue — by Fulanito
9. Quiebra — Quebradita ◊

* Covers
◊ Zumba Fitness originals

MegaMix 28

If you (like myself) thought that MegaMix 27 was bad, what can be said about the latest compilation? MegaBad? Don’t you feel sick of another axé by Ceceu Muniz, another rumba flamenca by Bandoleros? Apart from Nachde Ne Saare, absolutely nothing, I repeat, nothing of interest.

One would think that with so many new ZIN members paying their licence fees, ZIN should have enough money to bring us some decent music. Instead, they send something that I wouldn’t bother downloading for free.

Song List

1. Merengue con Letra — Merengue *
2. Barranquillero Arrebatao — Salsa *
3. Lovumba — Electroflow / Reggaeton *
4. Todo Duro — Axé — by Ceceu Muniz
5. Rumbatone — Rumba Flamenca / Reggaeton — by Bandoleros
6. I Wanna Go — Dance pop *
7. Baile Privado — Urban Merengue *
8. Ay Mami — Socaton *
9. Nachde Ne Saare — Punjabi — by Devender Khannewala
10. A Heart That’s Full of Love — Acoustic Pop ◊

* Covers
◊ Zumba Fitness originals

La vida es un carnaval

Spring is here, and the carnival came to Corralejo! So it was decided (a) to move classes to 10 am (by mid-day the sun is getting really hot) and (b) to dress up for the occasion. (And beyond, because in search of carnival accessories I went to FuerChina shop and bought there, among other stuff, the bellydancing hip scarves for €2.90 each.) We had two lovely classes on Tuesday and Thursday.

The new song we tried this Thursday was Busamba (from Aqua Zumba Vol. 5). I think I managed to confuse most of my students with some non-traditional steps, so have to work on cues for it.

This year’s theme is “musicals”. Whatever I am wearing is supposed to represent Berger from Hair. I should say the ’60s wig did not stay on my head longer than warm-up, mostly because I couldn’t see much in it.

Zumba in the school

Once upon a time, I mean, Some time last Autumn, I went to my son’s school, CEIP “Antoñito El Farero” to attend the parents’ meeting. Apart from discussing Timur’s progress, we’ve talked with his teacher about the end of the year school trip, or rather, the ways of raising money for it. I have suggested giving a class of Zumba at the school, and, to my surprise, got an enthusiastic response. Nothing followed though for three months or so. And then... I was asked to do it!

So: on Monday 5 March I did my very first fundraising Zumba class with 25 people attending! Tamara helped me a lot, not only managing to attend the class after her chi kung marathon, but also doing one song with me. (I know, I know, I do have to work on those cumbia steps, but still, I impressed myself by remembering most of them.) Also, several students from my morning class came to support me. All in all I think it was a success. After the class, a number of ladies came to talk and I hope I will get some new students. Most importantly, Spanish audience seemed to like what they saw and did. In the evening, the president of school’s AMPA (Asociación de Madres y Padres de Alumnos) sent an email to all the parents which I found very flattering... Fingers crossed, we will have another Zumba party!

Song List

1. Anatomic — Warm-Up — by Afro Celt Sound System
2. Baila Pa Emociona — Calypso
3. La Fiesta Ya Se Encendió — Merengue
4. Taboo – Axé / Urban
5. Toul Omry — Salsa / Bellydance
6. Tunak Tunak Tun — Bhangra
7. The Click Song — African / Cha-cha-cha — by Miriam Makeba
8. La Batidora — Reggaeton
9. Dança Da Mãozinha — Axé
10. Rosa — Cumbia
11. Zu Bailaito — Quebradita
12. M’Toto — African — by Zap Mama
13. Last Tango in Paris — Cool-Down — by Gotan Project

The Click Song

The final result of the last month’s Zumbathon (released on 27 February) is... €7,443.50 for charity! Well done Zumba Lanzarote!

In case you did not notice, I was not writing anything here for the last three weeks. I am pleased to say that the morning classes saw an increase in attendance. (On Thursday 1 March we had 11 Zumber@s, including two gentlemen!) Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about the classes in FuerteFusión. Two people at most. Where are all those who wanted the evening classes? As a result, this month there won’t be classes at 19:00. I am taking a two-week break and then the classes will resume at a different time slot. Watch this space!

The new songs we practiced these weeks were La Fiesta Ya Se Encendió (ZIN 36), La Vida Es Un Carnaval by Celia Cruz, Samba De Janeiro (ZIN MegaMix 24), The Click Song by Miriam Makeba and Vivre by Zap Mama.