Lake Oconee Living: Zumba

By Kathryn Schiliro Photos by Angelina Bellebuono

Rhythm Session A vigorous dance session with Zumba instructor Page Burt spells out fitness.

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weaty, taxed bodies shake, sway, and gyrate to Latin music blaring from the speakers and bumping the walls of the room. Feet stomp, chests shimmy, and hips roll. And then...

“She likes to shake her booty! Let’s do the booty shaker!”

At this enthusiastic urging, several women wipe the sweat from their brows and adjust their ponytails before joining the others on the dance floor. Before they know it, they’ve lost themselves in the Spanish rhythm, unaware of any missteps or the expressions on their faces.

No, this isn’t the scene at an urban club on a Friday night; this is a Zumba fitness class, and it’s what’s to be expected from a program with the motto, ‘Ditch the workout, Join the party!’

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Zumba was established in Columbia in the mid-’90s, a result of celebrity fitness trainer Alberto “Beto” Perez forgetting the tapes for his aerobics class and using the salsa and merengue tapes he was listening to in his car. Perez’s class eventually became the most popular at his fitness facility, and by 1999 Zumba Fitness went international, according to local instructor Page Burt, who teaches Zumba Fitness at Pointe of Grace Dance Academy in Madison and at the Union Point Gym. Influenced by traditional Latin cumbia, salsa, samba, and merengue music, Zumba features elements of Spanishborn flamenco and Middle Eastern belly dancing. An intense, low-impact, cardiovascular workout, Zumba exercises all parts of the body, from arms and shoulders down to hips and legs. “It’s definitely cardio, but it works all aspects of the entire body,” Burt says. “It hits areas you don’t normally hit.”

Courtney Pilgrim, who teaches Zumba Fitness at Southern Laser’s Healing

Arts Center in Eatonton, says her class participants burn between 400 and 800 calories in an hour of medium- to high-intensity Zumba. In just under five months, Pilgrim’s student Julie Hardie lost 37 pounds “just by Zumba and dieting,” Hardie says.

Zumba instructors are trained to adapt each class to the skill level of its students, and dances are broken down into easily digestible steps. In the end, though, the major goal of Zumba is to keep the class moving and having a good time. “I really work hard to read my class,” Burt says.

“I break everything down to simple, bitesize steps.”

“After about three times, you get the idea of the steps,” Pilgrim’s student Diane Yearwood says. “Whatever you want to get out of it, you can get out of it.”

Many women are drawn to Zumba simply because it’s something new.

Participants are encouraged to try exotic dance moves in a comfortable environment where, despite their skill level, they are not judged or made to feel

1. “Calabria” by Enur 2. “Mujer Latina” by Thalia 3. “Dejale Caer To ‘el Peso” by Hector ‘El Father’ 4. “Impacto” by Daddy Yankee 5. “La Candela” by Yerba Buena

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Lake area Zumba instructors seem to constantly change the dates and times of their classes, based on the demands of Zumba participants. For updated class dates and times, contact a Zumba fitness instructor near you.

Eatonton Instructor: Courtney Pilgrim Southern Laser Healing Arts Center 921 Harmony Road 706.485.7200 Madison Instructor: Page Burt Pointe of Grace Dance Academy 1512Q Eatonton Highway Carol Anderson, 706.474.0639 or Page Burt, 706.817.8228.

Union Point Instructor: Page Burt Union Point Gym Witcher Street in Union Point 706.817.8228

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foolish. “It’s a place where you can really ‘Dance like no one’s watching,’” Pilgrim says. “It’s an opportunity to do that in a safe environment.”

American women often become inhibited about moving their bodies as they get older. “In the Latin culture, people move their bodies more,” says Burt. The fitness craze has been rumored to increase women’s sexual confidence, a theory attributed to the positive atmosphere of the class, improvement in self-image, and Latin-inspired full body movement.

A Zumba fitness class is like a study in our culture. The class brings strangers together for one simple reason– exercise.

They achieve their fitness goals by embracing the music and dance of other cultures. Class sizes vary from under ten participants to more than 30 across the lake area, and Zumba Fitness draws a wide variety of women (and, in one class, at least one man) from varying backgrounds and ages. “White, black, Hispanic– you name it, we’re all here, women of all sizes, shapes, colors, ages,” Yearwood says.

By all accounts, the camaraderie and companionship is what makes a Zumbafilled hour of exercise less like a workout and more like a party. “The reason I think people like it so much: They don’t feel like they’re working out,” Burt says.

“It’s a good mental workout using parts of your brain you don’t normally use, but the social aspect is really important; that keeps a lot of people coming.”

“It’s fun, and I don’t like organized exercise,” says Susan Hallman. “You don’t feel like you’re exercising, but you are.”

Cardio, culture, and camaraderieZumba has it all, which explains why the newest fitness phenomenon is quickly growing in popularity across the Lake area.

Kathryn Schiliro is the managing editor of the Morgan County Citizen.

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