Spice Up Your Spring with Zumba Dancing

Love Dancing with the Stars? Wish someone would teach you those moves? Well if you’re partial to Latin dances, you’re in luck.

Twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays, Bolingbrook resident and certified personal trainer and Zumba instructor Annette Damron leads a high-spirited class through an hour of heart-pounding, hip-shaking, foot-stomping, feel-it-to-the-core, calorie-burning fitness experience.

Zumba is a brand name derived from the Colombian slang word meaning to buzz like a bee or move fast. It was launched in 2003 after co-founder Alberto Perlman teamed up with Colombian dancer and choreographer Alberto "Beto" Perez.

The story goes that one day, Beto forgot his aerobics tapes so he played his salsa and meringue songs during class in their original form.

Long story short, his students lost their minds. They didn’t feel like they were in a class with a drill sergeant, they felt free to move to the rhythm of the music.

And so it began...

"My sister encouraged me to try the class," said Zumba enthusiast Jenny Smith. "I’m not a dancer and I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to do the moves. But most songs incorporate three moves that repeat with the chorus and the verse. When I’m in class, you couldn’t tell me I’m not a professional dancer."

Zumba fuses Latin and international music into dances like the Salsa, Meringue, Cumbia, Cha-Cha and Rumba. It's popular because of the ease in modifying the speed and movements of each dance to suit your body.

Kimberly Stevens said she started attending Zumba classes in November and keeps coming back because she appreciates the simple composition of dance moves.

"I didn't have any idea what to expect and I was hooked after the first five minutes," she said. "When that music started playing and our hips started moving, I knew this was my kind of class. I smiled for the whole hour."

Damron said Zumba’s high energy makes the class all about having fun and letting your body interpret the music.

"The important thing is to have the right shoe," she said. "Wearing proper footwear is one of the best ways to guard against injury. We do a lot of pivoting, so a shoe with more of a flat base won’t put as much stress on your knees."

Class members are also offered access to fitness information, treated to a fitness assessment and all receive a monthly newsletter filled with health-enhancing tips.

Damron’s classes, which are held on the floor of USA Skate Center in Romeoville, could easily be mistaken for a dance club.

The minute the door opens, visitors can feel the music as it pulsates through the speakers. Adding to the dance club atmosphere is the sight of exercisers who jump, shimmy and sway to the beat.

Part dance, part aerobics, an hour-long Zumba routine can work almost every muscle in the body and can burn up to 500 calories in an hour—it's an easy way to reach the daily recommended goal of 10,000 steps.

"We turned exercise into a party," Damron said. "Zumba broke some of the rules of fitness. We use music in the original form instead of using step counts and people just go with it.

"I leave my class with the words, Zumba, Peace and Love. I feel like this is a kind of a therapy. I see how it changes people, I see faces light up. I love what I do and I can feel the love coming back to me," she said.

Damron is inviting newbies to attend a class for free next Wednesday.

The class will begin promptly at 6 p.m. and lasts an hour. You need only register with Damron at the door and tell them the Bolingbrook Patch sent cha!