Thursday night, I came down with horrible clogged sinuses and a sore throat. Great. I could hardly sleep as it was due to my nervousness and excitement about my day of Zumba certification, but this just made it impossible. I finally gave up around 5am Friday morning and got up and got showered. I couldn't breathe well and my throat was tickly all day, but I was beyond grateful that I didn't have any chills, weakness or flu like symptoms to go with it, so I knew I'd be able to survive a good hard workout, even if it sucked.
As I pulled up to Lifetime Fitness in South Jordan, I immediately wanted to turn around and leave. This place is...HUGE.
Once we got signed in, we headed into the main gym where we could already see Lindsey Taylor (The Zumba Education Specialist) and a couple others handing out Zumba kits and getting the stage and music prepped for the Master class. Lindsey is a lot tinier than I imagined she would be! As she described herself to us later in the day, she is a straight up white girl born and raised in Salt Lake City...who never thought she could do latin dancing when she started out. But I will tell you right now, this girl has serious moves. If she hadn't told us she was born and raised here, I'd have been sure she was at least part latina.
She's the gorgeous brunette in the following Zumba Fitness music video (dancing with Beto, the creator of Zumba!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4jfNhXjEdg
It didn't take long to dive right in. We started the day with a 1 hour Master zumba class. I was a little nervous because I knew that Lindsey teaches without verbal cues. She uses only her arms, legs and facial expressions to tell you what is going to come next. I'm used to teachers who use mostly a microphone, so I was nervous. But she made it SO easy!! The moves and the music were fun and energetic and even when I was trying to roll my hips and be sexy, I didn't feel completely stupid like I normally do haha. I was blown away watching her teach. I absolutely love my Zumba teachers at my gym, but this was a whole new experience. I've never been in a class of 40-50 people like this and it truly felt like a giant dance party instead of a workout. The time flew by.
The rest of the day was spent broken up between educational topics such as HOW to teach effectively, how to pick your music, how to break down a song and choreograph it, etc....and learning the 4 most basic rhythms used in Zumba: Merengue, Salsa, Cumbia and Reggaeton. Lindsey took each rhythm and showed us the four basic moves in each one and how to change them up with different variations. She even slowed her hips down enough to show us HOW to move them for certain things. I found by the end of the day that even I, the girl who always said "I can't dance", have some pretty decent moves!
During one part, we had to partner up and practice cueing our partner into different steps. I was panicking until I got going and then it wasn't so bad. My biggest fear in going down this road is that my stage fright will become too big of an obstacle to overcome. My whole life, I've been in a musical family. I've sang in church and with my Dad's band and even on stage in high school. However, every time it's this big huge panic inducing thing for me. And singing is something I'm actually not too bad at. Dancing, however, is a whole other story. I took ballet when I was little, but that's it. I have rhythm, sure. It's in my DNA as I mentioned before...but dancing IN FRONT OF PEOPLE??? HAHAHA. I NEVER thought that is something I would do. Ever. I never did the dance club scene. During school dances, I sat out unless it was a slow song. I don't dance. Or moreso...I wouldn't dance. I let the fear of what other people think overwhelm me.
I still don't think I'm a very good dancer, but now I know I can improve. I've come a long way in the year since I started taking Zumba classes. I've learned which way to roll my hips when my weight is on a certain foot. And I've learned that a lot of it..is just letting go and losing yourself in the music. If you think too much, that's where the nerves come into play and you look like a dear in headlights. So that will be my biggest challenge...learning to move past my stage fright and just enjoy what I'm teaching. Because I LOVE zumba and how can I teach others to love it with me if I'm too scared to show them how.
So after an 8 hour day of dancing and learning, I finally became certified to teach Zumba. Now comes the hard part. Finding a job. A lot of the bigger gyms (like mine) require that you also have a Group Fitness Certification...which I am currently studying for. However, for some of them, the zumba license is enough.
I've been working on building up my routines and have several finished already. But now that I have been taught more clearly HOW to do it and how to teach it, I'm looking forward to getting back to work on several more. It's a lot more work than I realized. Finding a song, understanding it's rhythm, breaking down it's form (verse, chorus, etc) and then putting moves to each part. Not to mention memorizing it yourself and THEN practicing how to cue other people to follow you! I admire my teachers for all the work they put in. It's a lot.
On January 14th, I will be teaching my very first class. I was asked to teach for a Relief Society activity in our church. It's just for fun and to give me some practice, but I am so nervous. However, I know that it will be the perfect setting for my first try. I'll be in the company of friends who won't judge me if I stop dead and forget the moves or if I say left when I'm going right. It should be fun!
I'm so glad to have had the support of my husband, kids, parents and siblings. If not for the gentle encouragement and nudges given, I wouldn't have had the courage to get started down this road. I'm so excited to see where it leads me.
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