Dance yourself fit!

If you're looking for a new activity that's fun, social and calorie-burning, you sound like you're ready to dance yourself fit!

With 2012 being the year of the olympics, everybody everywhere is on a mission to get fit and boost their health and wellbeing. Unlike tedious running on a treadmill or pedalling on a bike, dancing is a form of exercise that requires no clock watching or strenuous motivation.

There are plenty of different types of dancing that can help you get fit but also leave you with an energy boost and a smile on your face!

Zumba - The latest dance trend that's captured the nation, Zumba fitness really is a fantastic way to get fit. The routines are easy to pick up and an hours session seems to fly by, leaving you buzzing and already excited for next weeks class. And the good news is you can burn up to 500 calories in one session! Great fun for all ages - last week my class ranged from 13 year old girls to 60 year old women!

Dvds - Especially just after Christmas there are tons of workout dvds available. The ministry of sound ones are really good and hard working and then there's all the celeb offerings to choose from. If you're body concious and could rather get fit in your own time in your own company, then these are the way for you. The thing I've found about doing a home workout dvd is as soon as one section ends and another begins, you nip to refil your water and take a breath and sometimes don't commit to finishing the whole hour. Another negative is there's nobody around to see you miss out a couple of the exercises, if you were in a class filled with other people, you might find the motivation to keep going.

Strictly - Just from indulging in watching Strictly Come Dancing every Saturday night we all think we can effortlessly do the Salsa or the American Smooth. They're easy right? If you fancy your hand at becoming a dancing pro like the stars on your screen, book into a professional ballroom class with your partner. You'll match Vincent and Flavia in no time!

Wii - Great for partys, family gatherings, time with the kids, or just playing on your own, the Wii is a great form of exercise if you take advantage of it. Games such as Just Dance and the Wii fit are there to provide a fun way of getting fit.

Aerobics - Not for everyone as some people prefer exercising on their own but going to an aerobics class with a qualified instructor is helpful because you can't get fed up half way through and quit (like you can at home) and you know you've got a professional teaching you so it really will be a good workout for your muscles! If you start in a beginners class, don't worry about not knowing the moves or getting out of breath, look around for support and every other person in the room will be the same as you.


Alexandra Baracska

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Posted in 2012 best dance fitness , 2012 top fitness , latin dance , salsa dance , salsacircuit 2012 , zumba dance

Zumba! Latin dance class still growing in popularity

She followed her favorite Zumba instructor around Bradenton for classes in venues such as the YMCA and other community centers.

Zumba is a trademark blend of dance-fitness exercise that combines Latin-style dance steps, fitness moves and exhilarating international music. Zumba creators call the classes a “fitness party.”

“In Zumba, they say ‘Come in and enjoy the party.’ You don’t feel like you are working out and that is the key,” said Aguirre.

“It keeps you happy because the music keeps you happy.”

Her devotion to Zumba eventually gave her an achievement to celebrate: She had salsa-ed, cha-cha-cha-ed her way to a weight loss of 83 pounds.

Only a few months after starting Zumba, Aguirre became an instructor. Today, she has her own following at places such as Shapes Fitness for Women on Cortez Road and YMCA branches in Lakewood Ranch and Parrish. She teaches 25 classes a week.

Since Zumba’s creation in 2001, the popular dance-fitness exercise has spread to 125 countries, according to the Zumba website. An estimated 12 million people take Zumba classes every week.

Still hot in 2012

Meanwhile, Zumba fever seems to be getting even hotter. Last October, the American College of Sports Medicine ranked it No. 9 in the top fitness trends to expect in 2012. The survey is created annually through polling more than 2,000 fitness instructors; the ranking for 2012 was the first where Zumba edged into the Top 10.

In Manatee, the “high season of Zumba” begins this month, said Esther Forestandi, a popular Zumba instructor who teaches at the Anna Maria Island Health and Fitness Center, and other local fitness and community centers.

Classes swell as winter visitors return to Bradenton and their favorite Zumba spots, she said.

Forestandi estimates the average age range of her students is between 45 and 75. Her oldest was an 89-year-old snowbird. Youngest: a 4-year-old and “you should have seen him dance!”

“The greatest benefit of Zumba is how you relax and have fun,” said Forestandi.

“People come in and can forget about their problems. They’re having a little fun … and they’re making noise, all kinds of noises.”

Students have told her the classes are their therapy, where they can decompress.

“It’s really nice for me. People have come up to me and said ‘You don’t know what it’s meant to me (to take classes).’ One woman was taking care of her mom and she had a lot of stress from being a caregiver. She would leave class saying she felt so good,’’ said Forestandi.

It will make you sweat

An aerobic interval-type workout, Zumba includes a warm-up and cool-down. As the class progresses, students can pick up the pace or slow it down, depending on how they want to push themselves. Fitness moves such as bicep curls are blended into the routine to add toning.

Like other aerobic exercise, Zumba is good for the cardiovascular system and designed to make you sweat.

“Everyone wants to sweat!” said Aguirre about her students.

For the people with two left feet, not to worry. Zumba is dance-exercise but it’s OK to not follow all the steps when you’re learning. It may feel a little frustrating, but just move side to side until you can catch back up, said Aguirre.

Other types of Zumba

In addition to basic Zumba, there are other forms that are specific to special needs or preferences. Aguirre teaches Aqua Zumba at Shapes for people who want a pool workout that is “salsa in the water” and gentler on joints.

She leads Zumba Gold classes – a slower Zumba-style for older adults – at senior community centers.

There also is circuit Zumba, such as the classes at Curves on Manatee Avenue that add Zumba moves to Curves’ 30-minute circuit routine.

To find a Zumba class in the Manatee County area, go to the Zumba website, www.zumba.com.

One thing to know: Don’t wear athletic shoes with treaded soles to class. They aren’t good for the side-to-side and front-to-back dance steps; wearing them means you won’t be able to slide your feet. Cross-training shoes or aerobic dance shoes are recommended.

Susan Hemmingway, Herald health correspondent, can be reached at shemmingway@hotmail.com.

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Posted in 2012 top zumba dance , 2012 zumba , latin zumba , zumba , zumba dance , zumba fitness

If you can move, you can zumba

What is it?

Zumba, as any self-respecting Zumba instructor will tell you, is all about the party. Choreographer Alberto "Beto" Perez created the Latin-inspired workout in the '90s.

It combines hip-hop, Latin dance, aerobics, salsa and belly dancing and has become a phenomenon around the world.

The experience
As someone who has never quite mastered the art of shimmying, I am not entirely sure Zumba is for me. The instructor soon puts me at ease though; anything goes, she says, it's all about the party and having a good time. It's darn near impossible to not have fun when the music to accompany our shimmies, booty rolls and grapevines is so pleasingly cheesy.

The steps are mostly quite simple aerobics moves with a bit of jazzing up. I do have to concentrate intently to get trickier footwork right. I soon discover the best thing about Zumba is that if you get lost you can just waggle your hips and nobody will blink an eye.

My favourite part is the freestyle song where everybody can pull out their best moves. I'm also a bit in love with the gentleman in the skin-tight orange onesie who looks like he is having the best time of his life. The girls outnumber the blokes but everybody is enjoying themselves.

Worth it? RATING: 4.5/5
I have a stitch and may have over body-popped as there is a twinge in my side but I've had so much fun it doesn't matter. The instructor's enthusiasm is infectious and I leave feeling much happier.

That night I demonstrate what I learnt to my partner and I don't care that he is more amused than dazzled by my sizzling new moves.

Source Annie Stevens

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Posted in 2011 best zumba , Alberto Beto Perez , latin dance , salsa circuit , salsa dance , zumba , zumba dance

Zumba classes help women get fit

PINELLAS PARK – The lunchtime Zumba class at the Broderick Recreational Center in Pinellas Park Sept. 6 starts with a word of encouragement to its newest participant.

“Everybody's been in the same place before, where you're like, 'What the heck am I doing?'” instructor Michelle Mazuros says, cautioning the newbie against worrying too much about getting the dance moves just right.

She switches to Spanish for the benefit of some of the nearly dozen women in the room, all dressed in workout clothes and ready to dance and sweat to the upbeat music.

You've got to make sure you're enjoying Zumba, Mazuros explains. It's about having fun while you exercise. Otherwise, what's the point?

She runs through some of the more strenuous moves, demonstrating what she'd like to see in regards to safety before turning on an iPod plugged into a large portable speaker in a corner of the room.

“OK, who's ready?” she calls out as Cascada's “Evacuate the Dancefloor” begins to set the pace for the hour workout. “Let's do this thing.”

The Broderick Center features Zumba classes three times a week: Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:10 p.m. and Saturdays at 9:15 a.m. Mazuros is one of many Zumba-licensed instructors who teach classes throughout the Tampa Bay area.

“I love Zumba,” says Jill Donaldson, a retired city of Pinellas Park employee who's been taking the classes since June. “It's addicting after a while.”

The Zumba program itself is designed to burn calories through easy-to-follow dance moves based on a wide range of Latin and international dance styles including salsa, merengue, samba, tango, belly dancing and hip hop.

In 2001, fitness trainer Beto Perez started Zumba Fitness as a company in Miami with entrepreneurs Alberto Perlman and Alberto Aghion, according to the company website, www.zumba.com. Perez had developed the fitness program in his native Columbia after accidentally combining aerobics with traditional salsa and merengue music, eventually taking his classes to the United States.

Since then, the popular new way to combine exercise, dancing and fun has become a worldwide phenomenon, taught by thousands of licensed instructors in 110,000 locations.

“It's great to keep up your stamina,” says Marian Capozza, of Pinellas Park, who's been a Zumba enthusiast since December.

As the high-energy rhythm of several songs pumps the class through the fitness dance moves, Mazuros directs with her expressions as much as her hand gestures, reminding the women to breath and get into the music.

“Just as a student and teaching Zumba, I've lost 60 pounds,” she says later.

After a couple of years as a student, Mazuros, who grew up in Panama, began teaching classes in August 2008.

“The nice thing about the program is that you see instructors of all different ages, all different sizes, all different backgrounds, just like our students,” she says. “There's something for everybody.”

And the Zumba program isn't intimidating, Mazuros adds.

“You go to a gym, and you can be intimidated if you're not a person that exercises. This isn't like that,” she says. “Obviously you're getting a workout, but the emphasis is on fun first.”

Pinellas Park resident María Pepe, a mother of three children ages 4, 9 and 17, agrees that fun plays a big part into why she loves the Zumba program.

“As a mom, I don't go out dancing much anymore,” she says. “It transports me back to my 20s.”

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Posted in Broderick Recreational Center , salsa dance , zumba classes , zumba dance , zumba program

Joyous Zumba:Dance and exercise to a Latin beat

(July 21, 2011)  Six bucks can buy you a margarita. That’s also the fee consummate musician and merrymaker Marla Joy charges for the Zumba classes she teaches from Fortuna to Trinidad.

“Drink one margarita and you might consume 300 to 600 calories,” Joy says. “You might feel OK, but for six dollars come in and get a better high than a cheap margarita and burn 600 calories. You don’t need three or four drinks to reduce your inhibitions and express yourself dancing. We get right into business for an hour.”

Zumba is an aerobic-cardio fitness system of short dance combinations taken from merengue, salsa, cumbia and other Latin-inspired steps choreographed to mostly Latin rhythms. Zumba classes incorporate fitness exercises such as bicep curls, knee lifts and squats into the dance combinations. The rousing music and choreography make for a jubilant atmosphere, more of a dance party than a fitness class.

Zumba was born of a happy accident in Cali, Columbia, in the mid-‘90s when aerobics instructor Beto Perez forgot his aerobic music and grabbed cumbia, merengue and salsa tapes from his backpack, then improvised steps from those dance traditions for the workout he was leading. The crowd loved it. And this totally fun craze began.

When I lived in New York, I didn’t need a gym membership. I walked everywhere and swam at my neighborhood pool. I could take modern dance classes of infinite styles any day of the week from morning until nightfall. Disappointed by the lack of modern dance classes here in Humboldt, I joined HealthSport and started taking Pilates, which, by the way, along with being great for anyone’s back, is particularly good training for dancers. Delving into the minutia of muscles and bones while doing Pilates is an absorbing addition to but no substitute for dancing.

Why not aerobics? Way too mindless for me, and bad for the knees. My best friend from high school, a size-two aerobics queen, would drag me to a class whenever I visited her. She and her friends would be high kicking it, all buffed out in the latest gym fashions, flashing tennis bracelets, pumping their arms in the air. (It was the ‘80s). It was a demanding workout, but too repetitive and I found the pop music annoying. Yet there was a palpable group energy; the women were definitely experiencing a collective rush. That’s what I needed: a big, sweaty, group-dance high to get me into the gym on a regular basis. But I wanted one with some artistic merit.

When I saw fliers for Marla Joy’s Zumba classes, I saw the potential for a wild ride. Joy is an incredibly hot and versatile musician who plays flute, bass and drums. Hip to dance, Joy has collaborated with choreographer Laura Munoz in live performances — she even wrote music for Munoz’ piece Take Off Your Skin — and more recently accompanied the modern dance classes Munoz teaches at Dell’Arte. Joy taught Israeli folk dances for the band Chubritza; she also gets crowds dancing playing bass in the Cajun band The Bayou Swamis. A musician teaching a musically rich form like Zumba was a sure win.

I like that she’s older, too. At HealthSport the younger Zumba instructors I encountered emanated positive energy and clearly taught the steps. But they did it to the max without considering the varying ages and levels of fitness in the room, or reminding participants to listen to their injuries and limitations, or suggesting modifications (not doing squats as deeply, for example). They were young fillies who do not yet harbor concerns for the longevity of their bods.

Source Stephanie Silvia

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Posted in Cumbia , health sport , Latin-inspired steps , Marla Joy’s Zumba classes , Merengue , Salsa , zumba dance , zumba fitness , zumba fitness class

Dancing To Stay Young and Sexy - Who Knew?

Dancing has been around for ages and it began as form of enticement and adoration. Today it's something much much more. Dancing offers incredible health benefits along with hours of enjoyment.

Since a major portion of the American population is quickly aging, dancing and it's simple techniques are being used to elevate cardio health. Americans and baby boomers with today's relaxed way of life find dancing to be a fun activity and an enjoyable way to get moving.

The newest forms of dance are really the oldest forms. We don't know the exact origins of ancient dance but we are finding an increasing interest in Middle Eastern belly dancing and in Salsa. There are amazing benefits to these types of dance such as lowering the risk of coronary heart disease, depression, loneliness and reducing stress.

As we age, which seems to happen over night, it seems to bring with it a feeling of defeat. What we see is something that only happened to other people. How can this be happening to me? We silently ask ourselves as we look into the mirror. And, hopefully it ignites a desire to work with our aging bodies and to become the best we can be.

Dancing is Great for the Mind


Barring any medical complications our mind still functions as it always has. It's the changes on the exterior of our bodies that bothers us. And luckily these are the ones we can fight. Being active keeps us strong when everything begins to slow down.

Dancing increases endorphins which help heal our body while it increases muscle tone and coordination. Dancing also makes us feel younger and happy.

Today the most fun type of dancing combines belly dancing with salsa. Zumba the current rage and belly dancing gives our aging bodies a sense of sexuality which can always lead to additional enjoyment.

Shake That Wild Thing to Lose Weight


One of the greatest things that dancing provides is a way to get rid of unwanted weight. Using most of the muscle of your body, dance burns off the most calories. So, just get up and do it.

If you want to decrease blood pressure and strengthen the bones of your legs and hips, get your groove on. If you're concerned about your state of mental acuity dance helps with it as well by increasing the blood flow to the brain. Since dancing requires memorizing steps the mental challenges it provides increases in brain health.

Find a class, check out the dance videos on YouTube and get your groove on.

Article  Source: Carolyne Mroz

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Posted in Best Latino Dancers , Dance , dance exercise , dancing salsa , salsa dance , sexy latin dance , zumba , zumba dance

Zumba Dance Craze!

Are you tired of doing the same endless dieting. Fed up with buying expensive slimming pills and potions to make you slim that just dont work? Well, I have a great news for you! It's the newest Zumba Dance Craze in town! Currently the fastest growing fitness program suitable for every person who wants to be physically attractive, beautiful and healthy inside and out. It can be beneficial for all types of people, different age groups, races and sizes as it is simple and addictive. For those who want to stop their never-ending sacrifice of going through these ineffective and expensive methods of getting physically fit, a Zumba fitness class is a great way to learn how to stay healthy while having fun.

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Get a stress free life and attain that physic body that you desire by trying out the latest Zumba fitness craze. Zumba uses many different Latin styles of dance. Typical styles are Salsa, Merengue, samba, Bachatta, Reggaeton, even bollywood and Flamenco. It makes you enthusiatic when you listen to the music and you are having so much fun you dont realise you are doing a workout. It gives you the opportunity to work out your entire body thus keeping your heart pumping and feet jumping. A good and healthy heart pumps when you are on the move therefore burning fat and cholesterol in your body. Aside from keeping your body in shape, it also circulates oxygen around your body making your feel fresh and alive after each class.

Did you know that even the winner of Big Brother in the UK this year takes Zumba classes! Zumba have even launced a new fitness programme similar to Wii keep fit, so soon you will be able to practice at home!


Just imagine when you shake your hips like Shakira, you will realise "its a party not a workout"! It is a fast and effective way to become a better and healthy you? There's no fitness class like Zumba! So if you need a healthy and inexpensive way to unwind and become physically gorgeous while taking away all the stress this chaotic and busy world around you brings, then find the nearest Zumba class in your hometown. It is growing at such a rate of knotts there is bound to be a new class opening up near you soon. Having a sexy, Hurry though as the classes fill up so quick you might not get in as everyone wants to join the party!

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com

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Posted in Dance , dance lessons , dance steps , latino , match salsa dance , zumba , zumba dance