This morning I put the dancing skills I have never had to test at the fitness class Zumba, offered as a one of the drop-in fitness classes at McGill. A huge part of me did not want to go to this class. Not only am I a terrible dancer but I was forced to go to the class on my own since all my friends were snuggled up in their beds after a night out in the cold at Igloo-Fest. Despite the fact that I consider myself quite independent and adventurous, when it comes time to trying something new and out of my comfort zone I would much rather do so with a familiar face by my side. Nevertheless, I sucked it up, made my way up the hill to the gym, and put on my running shoes, anxiously anticipating and dreading the unexpected.
When I got down to the Aerobics room I was relieved to see no one I knew. I was a bit early so lucky for me, my awkwardness immediately kicked into high gear as I stood in the corner trying to come across as the girl who wasn’t there for her first time or alone. As more girls showed up the instructor signaled for everyone to choose a spot on the floor. I strategically went as close to the far wall as possible, nowhere near the front or back- drawing attention to myself was the last thing I wanted to do. The music started with an upbeat exotic-sounding song, and the instructor led our warm-up, which consisted of fairly simple steps. I tried not to get too excited over the simplicity of the steps because I knew as soon as the song was over the instructor would be switching into a high-intensity Zumba mode.
If I was not determined to master the steps of Zumba I was determined to give off the impression to others that I at least knew what I was doing. As we started into the first song after the warm-up, I soon realized how ambitious I was being. It’s not that the steps were extremely challenging, but as soon as I got the hang of some of steps after a few tries, our instructor would start into a new routine. I was relieved however, when I looked around and saw that almost every other girl there was equally if not more confused and uncoordinated as I was.
As far as steps go, the class included a lot of booty shaking, twirling of the hips, fist pumping and clapping. As soon as I started to get the hang of the steps a bit more I found that I was actually enjoying myself! And the more I was able to nail down the moves, the more of a workout the class became. Within twenty minutes I had worked up quite a sweat and needed some water. The instructor was extremely encouraging and made my first Zumba experience not only less intimidating than I had originally expected, but also a lot of fun! Not one girl in the room didn’t have a smile on her face and giggling could be heard from all directions as girls tripped over their own feet or bumped into one another. What started off as a very nerve-racking experience ended up being a very enjoyable time. I am determined to return to Zumba next week to master some of the steps, and this time I am definitely bringing along some friends.
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