Zumba classes blend aerobics, dance for effective, joyous workouts

“I never taught a class that was so much fun,” said Patty Brown, who teaches this fitness craze in Schenectady, Glenville, Clifton Park and Amsterdam. “Usually, participants are concentrating on what they are doing and look serious. But Zumba is so much fun. It’s kind of like a dance club party at a gym.”

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Zumba dance

Patty Brown and her Zumba class work out at the Clifton Park YMCA.

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As a result, her students follow her from gym to gym, which is another first for this fitness instructor. “It’s infectious.”

And, she said, effective. A hybrid of aerobics and Latin dance with hints of Middle Eastern and Reggaeton hip-hop, Zumba will slim the hips, define the waist and give its participants a cardio workout. Zumba students say they feel looser in the hips. They also claim their posture improves.

Better still, said Brown, “If you have having a horrible day, you walk out saying ‘what horrible day?’ ”

Enthusiastic classmates

Linda Reese and Donna Marino, who take Zumba with Laurie Zabele Cawley in Saratoga Springs, can testify to that. Reese said she doesn’t like to exercise. She tried aerobics and Pilates and felt it was drudgery. She fell in love with Zumba because “it’s so much fun I don’t know I’m exercising.”

Marino agreed, adding: “If you don’t get the routines, you can just make it up.”

The point, said Cawley, is to keep moving. “You can move quickly or slowly. I like to change up the rhythm, the tempo. You got to keep going the whole time.”

Zumba was created by accident in the mid-1990s by Beto Perez. The aerobics instructor was leading classes in his home country of Colombia. One day, he forgot his music. He grabbed whatever cassette tapes were in his car — Latin salsa and merengue — then he improvised. The students had so much fun that he scrapped aerobics, dubbed his creation Zumba and started to teach it regularly.

It soon became the most popular class at the gym. Perez codified Zumba and has since certified an estimated 20,000 fitness gurus in 35 countries.

Cawley, a modern dancer and aerobics instructors, settled on Zumba because “there is a lot of laughter and I like a challenge.” She also liked the freedom to inject the moves with her own style. “You add your personality and make it your own.”

Brown agreed. “The Zumba slogan is to feel the music. You move how you feel.”

And magically, people who think they can’t or don’t dance end up doing the cha cha, merengue, rumba and salsa.

Marino admits, however, that she was a little apprehensive attending Zumba. She googled the fitness fad first and was intimidated by what she saw.

“I thought, ‘I can’t do this. This is for young people.’ Some of the moves . . . you can’t be shy.”

She went to the class anyway and was hooked. And on a recent Wednesday night at the museum, Marino was devouring space, right in step with Cawley. It helps as Cawley builds routines that the participants repeat each hour-long session. As the series of classes advances, so too does the difficulty. After several weeks, she reworks all the routines so the dances stay fresh. But Cawley said each student can go at their own pace and do what they are able.

Burning calories

“You won’t believe how much you will sweat,” said Cawley. “You don’t realize how hard you are working. It is estimated that you can burn up to 700 calories in a hour.”

Because of that, students usually bring water and a towel. Cawley also suggests wearing split-sole jazz sneakers, so they can feel the floor and keep the foot flexible. Sneakers are adequate too. And a few of the dancers step about in bare feet. It is not what you wear, however. It is how you move and, for Cawley, how you feel.

“My hope is that they have a wonderful time,” said Cawley. “The fitness aspect is secondary. I want them to be uplifted and alive.”

That’s a given, said Brown, who concluded that once you try Zumba, you never go back to other workouts.

“It’s a blast and it works.”

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