Zumba and dancing

A couple of months ago, a few of us from work—over the umpteenth cupcake—decided we wanted to finally drag ourselves out of our chairs, and for a change, try our legs at something. So, six of us joined a Zumba class. We’d carpool or cab it after work and rush to make the 7 pm session. The class was a motley crew of 12-14, at a small studio, where I discovered that Zumba was quite fun. I got to make a new friend, and most importantly, it was my first-ever tryst with dancing. But the studio's rent was too high and the troupe eventually moved.

Cut to me reading the pamphlet that said the new gym had a Zumba class. I quickly dialled my friend from the previous class and asked if she’d like to come with me for a session. She readily agreed. 

We got there early and generally caught up while stretching at the studio. A 55-year-old regular joined our conversation and began discussing her daughters in The States, and her love for working out. Slowly but steadily, girls and boys were trickling in. 

When it was time, Shalini, the gym’s founder and by far the fittest 40-some-year-old I know, entered with her stack of CDs. 

Now, I’d done Zumba before, and it is one of the easy peasy workouts I’d actually look forward to. But this session was something else. We were about 35 people at the studio, and we danced the hell out of the hour that followed.

Zumba is a complete dance-oriented workout, with set dance steps to certain songs regardless where you do it, which sometimes includes free-weight exercises like squats or lunges to tracks you can’t really make sense of unless you know Spanish or the language in question. Ideally, the trainer needs to be certified to teach you.

My friend and I knew the steps to a song or two but Shalini’s pace of dancing was unprecedented. That evening was retro night so she also made us dance to songs like Queen’s–‘We will rock you’ apart from the usual. One song’s steps involved nothing but grooving to it while squatting the whole time. Literally red in the faces by the end of the hour, and gasping for breath, we unanimously agreed that the energy of the class was absolutely mad.    

Recommendation level: Dance nahi kiya toh kya kiya!?

Good for: anyone who likes to dance like no one’s watching. And trust me, no one is. Also, age no bar. 

Pain points the next day: Thighs. A LOT. And the love handles pretty much will hate you too.