Zumba with Carolina

The original song is Cameroonian

Larz TEC HipHop @ Solid Sound 28 Feb 2010 from carolune on Vimeo.

The guys only, and they’re doing a great job of it after learning the routine in only about 38 minutes!
Check it out

I have just signed up for the Zumbatomic instructor training. I’m going to be allowed to work with kids! This is going to be so much fun!

I can’t wait. I’ve already done Basics 1 and 2 and now Toning and I love every one of the courses. Toning is very different from the normal Zumba and I love feeling those arms and shoulders work out. Zumbatomic is going to be something completely different again, and I can’t wait for an opportunity to play with kids.

In my every day job, I’m working for children. I’m developing a whole education programme for kids. It’s all about science and if there’s anything I’ve learnt is that kids learn using every sense; so read, listen, see, touch, and all that counts but moving sure counts too! So I’m thrilled to learn Zumbatomic. It will benefit my every day job too. Isn’t that cool?

Join the challenge!

The team at Vrouwfit has come together to organise an awesome event! 3 hours of Zumba masterclass for up to 750 women! The idea? Raise funds for the ‘Spieren voor spieren’ charity who works with children with motor and muscle diseases. Isn’t that just brilliant?

To join: Sign up at www.vrouwfitchallenge.nl
The beneficiaries: www.spierenvoorspieren.nl

I’m so looking forward to it!!!

Zumba is asking their members to contribute adverts for the 2010 campaign and that makes for some brilliant videos out there! Check out these two for example! Well done guys

Not every song has a story but some certainly do. And when I use music that has a history or a specific meaning, I like to share it with the class. It’s just a little tidbit if interesting and fun information. Here is an example:

One of the songs I love using in my class is ‘Gimme hope, Johanna’ by Eddie Grant. It is a cheerful and easy song and lots of fun in a zumba class.

I like to tell my participants a little more about this very famous song. It comes from South Africa and “Johanna” refers to Johannesburg (some argue it refers to the former prime minister Johan Vorster, it doesn’t really matter who is more right). If you listen to the lyrics it talks about how the country is run, etc. In fact this song was a symbol of the fight against apartheid and it was even forbidden/censored by the South African government for a while! Things have changed since then but it’s nice to hear a little story about one of the most famous songs we know.

Once I’ve told them the story we get back to moving and shaking, but this time, we know what we are dancing to!

References:

Lyrics of the song
Background of the song explained

This video is fascinating. This woman is a great classical dancer from Northern India and she is a virtuoso in her art.

The Language of Dance
by explore

It is beautiful to hear about this form of dance. The most amazing thing is, it would seem that this dictionary of emotions works. Research has been done where people who know the dance style (and might therefore be better at interpreting it), and people who had never seen it before were asked to associate emotions to what they were seeing. Although those who were familiar with the dance scored slightly higher, everyone instinctively chose the right emotions most of the time.

Amazing, isn’t it?

Source: Can Westerners understand emotions form a remote culture?

Today after the class a girl came up to me to compliment me on the class. She said she’s been doing Zumba for 3 years now and this was one of the most enjoyable classes – she had FUN!

This is so cool! She’s done it for 3 years! I’ve done it for …7, 8 months? wow!

And the best bit is: there was no microphone so I had to improvise the whole class’ 100% visual cues.

This sort of experience puts me on cloud nine!

Have you ever noticed how the print in the Zumba tops says “Hecho en Colombia”? This means “Made in Colombia”

What I love about this is that Beto and his associates, all three Colombian, have brought home the fruit of their success. Colombia is a country that can do with business and foreign investment (I’ve been there and I love the place!)

By having the Zumbawear made in Colombia, Beto and them are bringing home the benefit of their success and this is what globalization should bring. Great stuff Beto and keep the Zumbawear ‘hecho en Colombia’!