It is beyond me why I thought in 8th grade that I wanted to be a choreographer when I ‘grew up’ … maybe it was because I was infatuated with TRL and music videos were like forbidden candy since my parents banned me from watching MTV.

I’m not sure if it’s my lack of music video dance knowledge dating back to age 13, or the fact that I don’t have a drop of latin blood in me, because last night at my first Zumba class I was totally lost… looked like a fool… sweating like a pig… but it was actually fun!

I went into this class a complete virgin.  I had never taken a gym class before.  Never.  I’m more of a go to the gym and run on the treadmill kind of person.  But then again, I haven’t been an avid gym goer for years.  Years!  So with this new gym membership hubby and I have, I figured I’d start fresh and try something new.  I had heard of Zumba, and thought it would be a fun first class to try.  Plus my girlfriend Erin was looking for a class to go to-she had taken a class before somewhere else.  Perfect.  So, with water bottles and shoes in hand, we headed out for a girls night at the gym…

The anticipation and excitement built as we waited outside the studio for the class before us to finish.  The crowd around the doors grew and grew… and when we went in, it was like the flood gates had opened.  We walked in, left our water bottles up by the mirror in front of us, and by the time we picked a spot on the floor, the room was filled – forty or fifty women.  Holy crap!  Then the music started and the overly happy, pony tail bouncing instructor jumped up to the front of the group.  Here we go…

Up, down, bend, shuffle right, twirl, pump… holy crap this is fast!  I was a jumble of arms and legs for the first 3-4 songs.  Luckily we were in the second row, with a great view of the instructor (something I knew to do after going to line dancing with Erin) and she would repeat a move 3-5 times before going to the next, so I would catch on and nail the move, then we’d move onto the next.  Man did it keep me on my toes!

After the first song, Erin and I looked at each other with wide eyes, sweating, catching our breath and laughing about how silly we must look!  Then it was onto another song… and they just seemed to get harder and harder!  At one point I was stepping on my own feet, totally confused when we were supposed to shuffle or grapevine?!  I tried keeping up, at least moving to the right and left so I didn’t smack into the person next to me.  But I musta looked like a clown because during the dance, the instructor pointed at me and slowed down to show me the move… thanks lady!  Totally embarrassing.  And to add to it, the woman we were chatting with before the studio opened pipped in ‘This is only her first time!’ and at that point I was so thankful the music was really loud! Thank god Erin was there with me, because after that one she joined me in a good laugh that I needed to wipe away the embarrassment.  And then it was onto another song…

Most the dances were Latin inspired.  But one that was super-hard had South Asian dance moves… and I know this because Vinay and I go to Boston’s yearly Bhangra competition.  The dancers area amazing and holy crap are those moves hard!  We were swinging legs to the right, then the left, and kicking the air like a rocket!  So much fun, but so difficult!  And there were lots of ‘sexy’ moves with attitude  like fanning our faces and putting our hands on our hips…oh and the thrusting!  But after a while I got into a rhythm of first following the foot moves, then adding the hand moves, and wa-la, I got it!  It was a much better way to tackle the move than trying to mimic everything she was doing at once.

Before I knew it, we were doing a slow number with stretches and the class was over.  As we walked out, I told Erin I thought it was supposed to be an hour long class (thinking it had only been 30 minutes) and she glanced at her watch and said that it was.  Wow that flew by! And after it was done, I felt great. I had sweat for an hour, shared some laughs with a friend, and tried something new.  I was proud of myself.  And I’m sure I’ll be feeling the aching muscles later today…

When we parted ways last night we decided to make this a weekly thing… maybe not Zumba every week – although it’ll get easier as we learn the dances, but I also want to check out the kick-boxing class, and maybe pilates and yoga… oh dear I can see myself falling on my face in that one…

Have you tried Zumba?  Do you have any tips and tricks to share?  What other gym classes should I try… as a newcomer?

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