Sunday, February 05, 2012

Zumba with Jorge

Jorge is a middle-aged latino man who wears glasses.  He wore bright orange exercise pants and used the key word "vamos" to move us from exercise to exercise.  He does lead a mean routine.  And I loved it!

One of his tricks, I think, is to avoid stopping between songs.  He's got the music lined up so that the transitions between songs are barely long enough to grab a sip of water.  Cardio is huge, but he intermixes it with a few strength moves and songs to slow down the heart rate after making it race.  Additionally, he's got rhythm. 

The best part was that Jorge incorporated truly traditional Latin steps--many of the same ones I saw in Guatemala during public dance displays.  In Guatemala, the dancers were often in costume.  Whether they dressed as a monster or a cartoon character, the costumes are top notch, and the group is practiced. They dance like the music is their pulse, their feet barely moving the ground as they maintain the rapid rhythm.  The result is that is looks incredibly smooth and intoxicating, full of energy that seems like it can hardly be maintained or contained.

Having a chance to try out some of these steps was an absolute blast.  Intertwined with the occasional jumping bursts of energy, zumba like this is well worth my time. 

And yes, I was a little sore the next day.

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