Students shape up to Zumba

Zumba, the fast paced, calorie-burning, aerobic dance class, makes exercising seem fun and exhilarating.

Invented by celebrity fitness trainer “Beto” Perez in the early 1990′s, the workout is set to Latin music and other popular songs like Lady GaGa’s Just Dance and Britney Spears’ Womanizer. In 1999, Perez brought the Zumba craze to the US and the Zumba fitness program continued to spread. Today it is taught in about 40 countries worldwide.

Allison Everett, the GCSU aerobics coordinator, first saw Zumba two years ago at an aerobics workshop and decided that it was a must have on the aerobics schedule.

“Zumba is different from our other classes because there is choreography for every beat of the music, it is fun and has a lot of dance movements and has been very popular since we started it here,” Everett said.

Many students have New Years resolutions to get fit and aerobics classes like Zumba make that a lot more fun. Freshman Meghan Heyburn went to her first Zumba class after New Years.
“I’m really excited about starting Zumba. Spring Break’s coming up soon; all my friends love it, and I like dancing a lot so I think I’ll enjoy it,” Heyburn said.

Zumba became popular very quickly with students at GCSU and not only has it been called fun, but it has also created a great workout. All the routines are created especially to incorporate a mixture of fast and slow rhythms, resistance training, and fat-burning exercises.

Senior nursing major, Meagan Bessette, has been attending aerobics classes and especially fell in love with Zumba.

“I’m getting married in May and Zumba is helping me keep in shape. It’s just a really fun way to burn calories that’s not so mundane,” Bessette said. “Each song the steps are different so it’s never dull.”

Amber Bennett, a graduate school accounting major, is one of the certified Zumba instructors at GCSU.

“I’ve always done dance and fitness and when I found Zumba it seemed like the perfect blend of the two,” Bennett said.

As of 2008, there are over 20,000 registered Zumba instructors worldwide and the company has sold millions of the DVD sets. In 2003, Zumba signed a contract with Kellogg’s and is now shown on many Special K cereal boxes around the world.

GCSU alumna Megan Young, got so hooked on Zumba that she too became an instructor and now teaches classes at the Centennial Center.

“Zumba is a really great way to involve your whole body and it’s something you can do with a lot of people, and it’s just a fun workout,” Young said.

The classes are held Tuesday and Thursday night at 6 pm and on Thursday morning at 9 am.

Caro Ashe, a junior nursing major, went every Tuesday and Thursday last semester.

“It’s a really good stress reliever, it’s a holistic exercise you can have fun with,” Ashe said. “Nothing matters when I’m out there, it’s just fun.”

Zumba has swept the globe due to its upbeat music and steps, but its goal is to get people hooked, which gives them motivation to stick to the program.

“You don’t even have to have dance experience to enjoy Zumba. The steps are easy basic steps. I encourage everyone just to try one class, anyone can do it,” Bennett said.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 23 2009. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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