Zumba with Sheila

How to Balance Self-Care While Starting Your Side Hustle (submitted by Sheila Johnson)

2021-11-17T11:35:00.001-08:00

Today, starting a side gig can be done at the comfort of your home and is very simple and easy. As long as you have the time and resources to dedicate to it, a side hustle can generate a lot of extra income. However, it is hard finding a perfect balance between life and work as it is a complicated process. If you choose to have a side hustle, your current life balance will be affected significantly.

You need to be careful not to let your goals and ambitions become an excuse for neglecting self-care. Here are some simple ideas to help you implement a routine that prevents burnout.

Plan a solid start and stop time for your solid hustle

Boundaries are very important for more than just your relationships. You need to set boundaries on the time you put into your side business and what you put in for self-care. Planning a solid start and stop time where you can walk away from your laptop and take a mental break can help you refuel and start on a new fresh when it's time to get back.

Establish boundaries between work and personal relationships

When you are obsessed with your side hustle, it is very easy to turn every conversation into something business-related. Having personal relationships and conversations that are about more than just work is important for your mental health.

Therefore ensure that you have set some boundaries for yourself, and that is where your supportive network of fellow entrepreneurs comes in.

Optimize your schedule

Being proactive in managing your energy to optimize your results and success is key for daily balance. Commit to a daily routine of updating your schedule with priorities such as; self-care, work, education, family, entertainment, and any other key activities.

Also, ensure that you have scheduled time aside for;

Exercise
Healthy meals
Sleep
Social relationships for family and friends

Ensure that you are disciplined, selective, and protective of your priorities that maximize excellence and afford your balance.

Strive to improve your flexibility

Work on being flexible in all areas, mental, physical, and work flexibility will let you reach your goals much faster than expected. Ensure that you are able to switch situations whenever needed in case of an emergency.

For flexibility in your freelance businesses and side gigs, consider creating a DBA (doing business as) name for your company. Starting one allows you to be flexible by doing business in a different name other than your own. A formation service like Zenbusiness.com can help with the process. Consequently, you’ll be able to sell products and market them under a different name.

Ditch the structure of a typical work week

Give yourself as much flexibility as you come in, where, when, and home you get work done. You need to structure your entire week around your peak productivity windows. Negotiate this with your employer if needed. Save time where you can.

Set and mage your priorities

We can never manage time, but we can manage priorities. If you are juggling three different paths like work, family, and side hustle, you must focus on one at a time. When at work, work, and when you are at home, focus on family. For instance, when you have an exercise routine, maybe Zumba classes with Sheila, set the most appropriate time aside and focus in order to get the most out of every session.

Several kinds of research show that multitasking is the most unproductive way to live life and do business.

Include your family

It is very exciting to be taking action to achieve your dreams and goals, and it is important to still perform well at work plus keep the fire burning at home. To make work easier, include your family in making the side gig successful. That includes visioning, planning to product development- leverage their strengths and emotional support for you.

Run toward what you love

When balancing a side gig with a full-time role, you will need to run towards the activities that bring you energy, utilize your natural strengths and what you love to do. Every role can be accomplished, all you have to do is run towards what you love rather than away from what you do not.

Create work-life alignment

It is very important to explore why you are doing the side gig and how the hustle can support your overall goals and objectives for your life and career. Seek ways to leverage your time to achieve your efforts and support in areas you cannot manage alone.

Conclusion

A side gig can be very profitable and if it’s well managed, it can become a permanent source of income. With discipline and being able to separate your side gig from your day job and personal life, you will be able to run your life smoothly and take care of yourself.

Don’t forget to take care of yourself by eating right, sleeping enough, and exercising regularly. You don’t want to make a lot of money and spend it all on hospital bills.

What to buy at the grocery store to fuel your dance, stay healthy and lo...

2020-01-14T16:51:00.001-08:00

Nutrition and the Plant Paradox Diet

2020-01-10T00:00:00.002-08:00

I've been on the Plant Paradox diet for 18 months now, and I will be staying on it! For at least a year before I started this diet, I had been slowly gaining weight, and the weight gain started to accelerate in those last few months. This prompted me to look hard for a better diet. It didn't make sense that I was teaching Zumba 5x's a week and sweating like crazy but still gaining weight! Plus I was hiking with my husky for miles each day! Everything was leaving me bloated and leaving my clothes too tight on me. People said that I was getting older, so it was natural that my metabolism would slow down. I didn't want to accept this answer. Right when I was starting to get desperate, a friend started reading The Plant Paradox by Steven Gundry and kept talking about it and asking me to read it. I hesitated at first because I didn't want to read anything that said I shouldn't eat beans or brown rice. I was sure those were healthy. Even so, with her persistence, I started to read. What I learned resonated with me. Everything Dr. Gundry wrote about human evolution, how different societies ate and how long particular plants had been available to humans made sense to me. I liked that he does clinical research and has an office, full of patients with past diagnoses, who are thriving on his diet, without their old medicines. I even went to his office and spoke with some of his patients in the waiting room. He is really changing lives. I especially liked how there was a clear plan to follow, so I took the yes/no list to Whole Foods and scoured every aisle, reading labels. I jumped for joy when I discovered I could eat paleo pancakes and date syrup!
I started losing weight immediately and lost it at the rate of 4 pounds a month until it was all gone. I do notice that if I go out and splurge with my diet for a special occasion, the scale will reflect it the next day. and if I splurge 2 days in a row, the scale will doubly reflect it. Thankfully, each time I go back to the strict Plant Paradox diet, I lose it all quickly again. This gives me control over my diet. I know how to keep the weight off, and if the weight looks good, I can treat myself to something on the No list every now and then. When I do break from the list, which isn't often, I bring Lectin Shield with me (sold by Gundry MD.) In fact, I always have some in my purse, just in case. Lectin Shield is Dr. Gundry's natural concoction to shield you from dangers of items on the No list. Dr. Gundry is against a number of lectins, which cause leaky gut and a number of resulting diseases. Critics misunderstand Gundry and think that he believes all lectins are bad. If you read his book more carefully, he does not ban all lectins, but he makes a clear list of which foods have undesirable lectins. Even the No list is not a total ban. Many of the items can be peeled, deseeded and/or pressure-cooked and then removed from the No list. Plus, after several weeks of Phase 2 of the program, you can introduce one NO list item at a time and see how your body reacts. I've introduced cucumbers, pumpkin and sunflower seeds without any problem (no bloating whatsoever). I still don't eat a lot of those foods, but I know that if I do have some, I'll be fine!
I have plenty of energy for Zumba, and what's amazing is that I didn't get my usual bout of colds or flu the first winter I was on the diet! Even though I was around sick family members, I caught nothing! The second winter, when I became more relaxed with holiday sweets, I caught a short 3 day cold, probably because of all the extra sugar. Once I caught the cold, I quickly steered away from sugar, and the cold went away soon after. What I love about the diet is that I'm protecting myself from all sorts of diseases. I feel like I'm cultivating a rainforest in my gut that won't let disease grow!
At first it was tricky finding everything on the Yes list, but I quickly learned that I can find everything between Real Foods Bay Area (pastured meat and eggs (soy and corn free), any Asian grocery store (Korean sweet potato noodles), Sprouts (sugar free So Delicious coconut milk ice cream) Grocery Outlet (good deals on goat cheddar and coconut yogurt,) Trader Joes, Costco, Whole Foods and Amazon! I order supplements such as Vitamin D, Vital Reds, and Primal Plants from Gundry MD. I started out making most of the recipes from The Plant Paradox Cookbook , but now I can freestyle and adapt other recipes or invent my own.
Here are some of my eating habits: (also see this video for more shopping ideas)
1) on the way to morning Zumba: a green banana and Quest Bar, or if I have more prep time, a green apple smoothie made from (Gundry's Primal Plant, coconut milk, blanched almond butter, green apple slices, frozen green banana, inulin powder, date syrup or a couple dates)
2) after Zumba: a one egg omelet with goat or manchego sheep cheese and tons of mushrooms, onions, broccoli and kale cooked quickly in EVOO, algae oil or avocado oil on top of a tiny piece of high quality sourdough toast with whole fat cream cheese and sliced avocado and sprinkled with dried seaweed.. Sometimes I'll have a Birchbenders Paleo waffles, with So Delicious coconut yogurt (some varieties have 1g of sugar!) sprinkled with inulin powder, date syrup, freshly ground flax seeds, hemp seeds and and fresh berries.
3) snack: barukas or macadamia nuts with a piece of dark chocolate. Or try Siete grain-free tortilla chips with guacamole or home-made salsa (tomatoes skinned and peeled).
4) lunch: There are so many lunch possibilities, but a simple one is a Hilary's millet burger on top of arugula or spinach - in EVOO and balsamic vinegar. To the salad add whatever you have (radishes, sliced fennel bulb, green onions, cooked sweet potato from the previous night, canned artichokes or hearts of palm... Or try a salad or millet with sardines on top! Or add EVOO, balsamic vinegar and a variety of vegetables to rinsed out Eden brand beans, which are already pressure cooked.
5) snack: a handful of pistachios. Or spread some blanched almond butter and a teaspoon of manuka honey or more date syrup on a Siete cassava flour or almond flour tortilla.
5) Dinner: How about baked wild salmon? If you have a pasta fix, try goat cheddar cheese with either miracle noodles or pressure cooked quinoa pasta. Dr. Gundry says we can't pressure cook wheat, but you can pressure cook quinoa! Baked sunchokes are amazing! Or try baked brussel sprouts mixed with toasted blanched almonds and dates and tossed in balsamic, EVOO and lemon juice. Alternatively, you could stir fry wild shrimp with sesame oil, coconut aminos, fresh ginger and lots of vegetables, such as bok choy, cauliflower, celery and garlic. Then toss it with Korean Sweet Potato Noodles (cheaper at any Asian market) and MCT oil.
6) dessert: Sugar-free So Delicious Coconut ice cream with chopped walnuts, sea salt, coconut and cacao nibs! or Tigernut flour dark chocolate chip cookies!
7) For a satisfying warm drink, try Golden Milk. Mix warm coconut milk with turmeric, ginger, coconut oil and stevia or monk fruit sweetener.

If you can't or don't want to follow the diet completely, just do the best you can do. Everything helps! For ideas for getting your family involved in the diet, try The Plant Paradox Family Cookbook. Dr. Gundry also recommends a specific fasting schedule in The Longevity Paradox, which I've read, but admittedly, I haven't yet fully implemented it. Perhaps I'm doing so well with the Plant Paradox diet that I've haven't felt the need to do the fasting. Make as many changes as you can and see if you feel better and look better!

For Gundry MD Products , such as Lectin Shield and Primal Plants, here

Zumba Cruise 2019!!

2019-04-15T00:32:00.002-07:00

In one word, a Zumba cruise is everything! It's the ultimate cruise. Zumba partners with Royal Caribbean to give you non-stop music and Zumba if you want it, but also all the regular cruise activities everywhere on the ship or peace and quiet with ocean breeze on Deck 4! We even met non-Zumba people on the ship who only took the cruise because the dates worked out for them. Yet they even admitted that it was the funnest and most energetic cruise they had ever been on.

This was my 2nd Zumba cruise! On the 2017 cruise I met Rena, who has been on all 4 Zumba cruises! This time, I convinced my friend and former student, Angela, to come with us. We are a multi-generational clique; all of us were born in different decades. Rena is like our mom now. All in all, the trip turned out so great that we decided we are going to do the Zumba cruise every year. In fact, Rena said we will still do it when she is 85!

We took a redeye flight from California to Miami and started out with a bang! First Angela and I Uber'd to Miami Beach for a sunrise segway tour. We had our own private tour guide! Then we biked along the coast and up to the Museum of Erotic Art!

The Zumba Cruise starts at the Port of Miami. You can check in anytime up until 4PM, so we chose 2:30PM. That's because I remembered that in 2017, you couldn't access your room till around 2PM anyway! This way, we could take a segway tour of Miami beach in the morning and bike around Miami Beach after that, rather than sitting with our luggage. I found the segway/bike deal on Groupon.

A Welcome Aboard from Beto was all we needed to get in the mood!

We Uber'd from Miami Beach to the Port of Miami at 2PM. There was almost no line getting on at 2:30, so we were happy with our choice of check-in times! I was so excited when I saw the water slides. The 2017 cruise was on the same ship, the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas, but the slides were just built this year! They are the longest water slides at sea! I was also excited to try the surfing and boogie boarding machine and rock climbing wall. I didn't get to do those in 2017 because I had been recovering from a sprained wrist. This time I told myself I would do everything!

Here is the main pool where concerts and the biggest Zumba classes would happen. Our favorite time to be there was when there was no class going on. If the DJ played, anyone could go up there and lead, and anyone could follow or do their own thing. We loved standing in the shallow pool and dancing free style in our swim suits. That was the best was to get a tan!

When you first get on the ship, you realize there are so many things to do and see but then you remember you had a red eye flight and an 8AM Zumba class the next day, so you'd better schedule in a nap! The nap was almost impossible. Thirty minutes into our one hour scheduled map, the cruise director, whom I later learned to love for his humor,

Our room! The eight floor is great because there is no dancing above or below you, so it's always quiet, unless you
have crazy neighbors! There are beds that fall out of the ceiling if you want to squeeze four people in! Angela slept on the loft bed and used her lower bed as an outfit organizer!

announced on the loud speaker that everyone had to report to the dining room for emergency practice. Well at least we got 30 minutes of horizontal time in!

Don't worry! The buffet is free and full of dessert, but you won't have much time
to eat it on a Zumba cruise! Maybe you can grab a piece between classes! With
all the famous instructors in the world on the ship, you feel like you can't miss a class,
and there are classes all day long from 8AM to 8PM!

our favorite French guitarist. Rena and I would grab tea
and a snack from the Promenade cafe and bring it over
to listen to him.

Between dinner, a Welcome show, some guitar music and a Zumba Sail Away concert, the first night melted away quickly. At the bar on the main Promenade, we loved the French guitarist who played country music. We were the only 3 customers! Everyone was at the Zumba concert, to which we went an hour later. This is how the Zumba cruise throws the staff off a bit; I don't think he was used to having only 3 listeners, but we supported him with all our hearts. The break from Zumba music feels amazing, even to those us who love Zumba music! After dancing hard at the concert, we were able to wake up in time for our 8AM Zumba classes! You can reserve space in the classes of your favorite teachers before you get on the ship. Or you can choose based on times or locations. You might not want to choose a class at 1PM on the Sports Court; that could be deathly hot.
My first class was with Ricardo Marmitte. I have always loved his fun, easygoing personality and his authentic African moves! Next I went to Nick Logrea's class. He is from NYC, and he is amazing! I loved his varied playlist and creative choreo. Most of all, I loved his passionate presentation, which was realistic and not cheesy!

Ricardo Marmitte's class on the ice arena floor. Yes, the ship has
an ice arena! Feel the cold floor! Some people are dancing in the
stadium seating! You can see a little bitter there and don't need a reservation.

What I love about cruises is coming back to your room and
finding your steward has left you a towel animal: this time a bat!

Nick Logrea, my new favorite instructor, posing with me.

Day 2 of the cruise and you're already in Freeport, Bahamas! The three of us had reserved the VIP Yacht Cruise: sailing on a 50 ft yacht with free drinks, lunch and snorkeling.

Relaxing on the breezy VIP yacht cruise with Rena and Angela!

The attendant danced with the Zumba patrons on the yacht cruise! They also served us mimosas and a conch salad lunch with sandwiches.

After the yacht cruise, you can enjoy shopping at the cruise port or dancing on a beach. Zumba cruises always have lots of beach dancing at any stop! Any random teacher starts leading, and anyone can start following. There's nothing like Zumba on a beach! Some cruisers stay at the beach parties all day, in lieu of another excursion. That would be fun too!

Day 3 was at sea! That is when we did the water slides and took lots of classes. We even shopped at the Zumba store, where Angela had a shirt cut up. But after watching the surfers for a minute, I chickened out! When they fall, they fall fast! I also saw every show that Royal Caribbean presented: comedy, salsa, ballroom, musical theater, juggling, an ice show and more! I love all their shows! And we pressed our luck at the casino, wore lace to 80's night and danced with Pacman, danced salsa at the Boleros Club, and danced in the Cosmopolitan Club till past midnight. But our favorite attraction was Andy the piano man at the Schooner Bar! Passion emanated from his face, and he could play and sing anything anyone requested. However, he wouldn't play "Shallow" because he said he was "deeper than that."

free t-shirt cutting in the Zumba store!

Salsa at Boleros Club on Formal Night!

80's Night: Wear Leather or Lace!

Andy the piano man. I miss him!

Look at our beautiful ship docked at Labadee!

Then we came to Labadee, Haiti on Day 4! The sun was hot, so it was fortunate that we got on a breezy boat right away and saw the Haitian shoreline until we came to a private beach called Pirate's Cove. There we kayaked and had some tropical drinks before being taken on a guided tour through a Haitian teaching village. It wasn't a real village, but just set up so we could learn some Haitian culture. My favorite part was the cassava flour bread and holding a moray eel!

The Haitians weave lobster traps! We saw lobsters while on the snorkel safari excursion later that afternoon!

They make fresh peanut butter- spicy!

We went kayaking in the cove, held an eel and bought souvenirs from the locals, who convinced me to buy because they were "broken" and I would be "bless."

Pirate's Cove in Labadee, Haiti This is the boat that brought us here.

Day 5 was at Sea. We were a little burnt out from classes, so we freestyled at the pool and while I was listening to my audio book on peaceful deck 4, Beto, the founder of Zumba, set his stereo right next to me and proceeded to teach two girls a new routine and shoot a new video for social media promoting the upcoming choreography. I also ran into him getting ice cream!

Beto can't go anywhere on the Zumba cruise without being mobbed! He just wanted an ice cream!

Beto shooting a new video on Deck 4, right in front of me.

Perhaps what I love most about the Zumba Cruise is connections is makes for you, whether between other people or just allowing you to reconnect to yourself. I love this door decoration. I don't know these people, but obviously they got engaged on the previous Zumba Cruise and celebrated their honeymoon on the 2019 Zumba Cruise! That's so amazing!

On the last day we did take the Miami bus tour excursion so that they could hold our luggage while we saw new parts of Miami. Our favorite place was Little Havana, but we saw other areas that we'll hit next time, such as Wynwood Walls.

We ate a tasty Mexican lunch at the Ball & Chain in Little Havana

Fresh Mojitos at the Ball & Chain Angela is sporting her new Zumba Strong jacket that
she bought on the ship.

The bus company also took us to the airport at the end of the day. Even though we are home now, we are still in vacay mode! Zumba is always a vacation! We are waiting for the Zumba Cruise 2020 announcement!

Exclusive Interview with Juank Ricardo, Colombian Vallenato accordeonist

2015-09-29T15:45:00.002-07:00

Juank Ricardo, in his home, with his accordeon

I had the pleasure to be hosted by Juank's mother in Valledupar, Colombia, the birthplace of Vallenato music. Vallenato means "born in the valley." Vallenato is perfect for Zumba, and I've always enjoyed using it in my class. It's fast and happy and the accordeon adds beauty and variety to our routines. I feel so lucky to have met this kind and talented musician who is helping to create the new wave of Vallenato around the planet. He has yet to try a Zumba class, but he's excited about the idea of it and thinks it is perfect to inspire people to move and dance!

Here are some samples of Juank's latest works:
Mi Razon de Ser
Vivo el el Limbo
Voy pa Lante

Here's what Juank has to say: (Interview translated by Letiana Bohlke)

How old are you? How many years do you want me to have?

How long have you been playing the accordeon? I started when I was 8 years old so I've been playing for 22-23 years now.

Are you working with a singer right now? not right now, but I've worked with 3 or 4 singers during my career. And I've filmed a soap opera, Nina Bonita, which has done well in Colombia.

Do you prefer playing music or acting? playing music absolutely

What do you feel when you are playing accordeon for an audience? I feel the love of the people. It's the most special thing that could happen to any artist. The love of the people is the best reward I could have.

Accordeon Statue in Valledupar

Sign at base of statue: My Piece of Accordeon

Do you make eye contact with certain people, or do you just look over their heads? It depends. If it's only one person, I play for her. If it's a concert, I play for everybody. Of course, if I see a beautiful girl, I look at her.

When you play in a concert, does the audience dance or sit still? People like to dance to Vallenato. It depends. The modern Vallenato is more dancing. With the old Vallenato, people used to only sit because it was so beautiful and they only wanted to sit and listen. The older Vallenato was more poetic and romantic, says people like my father.

Do you play the modern Vallenato? I’m one of the people who has started the new movement, or modern generation of Vallenato.

How old are your fans? 20-25 years old, or maybe 15-25

Have you traveled and performed in different countries? Yes, Europe, Germany, Spain, France, Italy . .

Do audiences in different countries behave differently? My audiences are Latinos, and Latino people are the same everywhere. Some people think I'm from Venezuela. They get confused and don't know I'm from Colombia.

Where do you get the inspiration to write a new song? from a story from my life. Sometimes my friend has an issue with love, and I make a song about his story. Sometimes I say it's my friend's story, not mine.

Do your friends appreciate when you write a song about them? a lot!

Do you envision Vallenato as moving outside of Latin audiences and people from other countries dancing to vallenato? I think it's a very successful type of music that's going to be around the planet. Every Latino knows this type of music.

Can you explain the different types of vallenato?

Paseo is written in 4/4 time and is the most popular type. Son is also written in 4/4 time but is mournful and slow. Merengue, not the Dominican genre, is written in 3/4 time and has a narrative style. Finally, Puya is witten in 3/4 time and is the oldest of the 4 types. All the vallenato songs use drums, accordeon and guacharacas. Sometimes guitar or other instruments, like bass, bells and piano, began to be used later on, too.

Which do you prefer? merengue.

Which ones provide the most energetic music for dancing? Puya, merengue and Paseo. You can dance very fast in 4/4 to Paseo. "Zuaka de one" would be an excellent high speed dance song from my CD. Routine from Zumba with Sheila coming soon!

How do you feel after you play an especially fast song? I feel amazing!

Guacharaca lesson wth Juank!

Faster Guacharaca lesson! I didn't feel so amazing after playing so fast! My head hurt!

Do you get to meet many other artists? Many artists are brought to the Vallenato festival in April in Valledupar. The festival is famous around the world. It's why I have a vision that Vallenato will be around the globe.

Vallenato Festival Statue in Valledupar

Sign at the base of statue

How do you participate in the Vallenato festival and what happens there? I'm going to participate next year. It's a contest where they elect the king of Vallenato. Contestants must play all 4 types and demonstrate that they are a master of Vallenato. Judges decide who is the best.

What kind of exercise do you do? I love to play soccer, and accordeon is good for my arms! I haven't tried Zumba yet! I'm a better musician than a dancer, but playing the accordeon is dancing with my fingers, so maybe I could still learn to dance!

Dangers of Perfumes & Scented Products While Exercising

2014-03-31T11:50:00.002-07:00

So you're just trying to make yourself healthier by going to Zumba class, but now you realize you've entered a chemical danger zone. In the beginning of class, the woman next to you, though three feet away, smelled nice and you didn't really mind. But about 20 minutes later, she's getting warmer and chemistry is making her perfumed body lotion even stronger. To top if off, your heart is beating faster and you're breathing harder so those sweet smelling chemicals are now circulating through your body quickly. If you're a student, you could move to another corner of the room or just leave and you're wise to do so. Inhaling perfume products or powders during exercise can lead to serious health problems.
I've had students complain to me after class that they got a migraine because the woman next to them had to much perfume. One student told me she had to leave class because a woman walked in late with enough perfume to trigger her asthma symptoms. At the gyms, I always see signs that read, "Please refrain from using any scented products." In the past, all I did was sent out general emails asking students not to wear perfumed products to class. Then something happened to change my tactics.
About three weeks ago, a student came to my class with such a strong scent of perfume that could be smelled from more than 10 feet away. If I were a student, I would have moved as far from her as possible or even left the class early. Being the teacher, however, I had to remain close to the center of the front row and I surely couldn't just leave. I became so distracted and light headed that I started to forget routines that were otherwise easy for me. I went home and felt light headed, heavy chested and "poisoned" for the rest of the day. For the first time, I felt like my job made me less healthy, not healthier. Through email, I confronted her, told her I loved her but politely asked if she could wear less perfume next time. She said she hadn't been wearing any perfume but she had put a new body lotion on, and yes, that lotion did seem pretty strong. She apologized and said she wouldn't use it again. That's when I started educating myself about perfume. The first thing I read is that inhaling perfumes can affect your short-term memory. That would explain why I couldn't remember my routines that day.
I was fine for a couple weeks. Then, last week, I noticed obvious perfumed scents coming from two different students. When I started to experience the same symptoms again, light headedness and inability to remember my routines, I decided that I didn't want to poison myself. So I canceled my 1 hour class after only 40 minutes and asked everyone not to wear scented products to my class. It was an act of tough love, but I had to make students realize that I won't teach if I notice perfume. One lady thought it was her fabric softener or scented deodorant; she promised to change them. Another claimed she didn't use perfume because she was allergic to it but she was using a corn starch baby powder on her armpits. I went home and read about corn starch and baby powder and found out that the powder gets in the air and we inhale the irritating particles As a result, I made a new waiver that reads, "I will not wear scented products or powders to class." All my students initial this statement and sign the new waivers. Plus, I've posted a sign about perfumes at the studio and on my website.
The next couple days were hard for me. I seemed to have developed a heightened sense of smell. I was noticing everything, and everything was distracting me from teaching. I even worried I wouldn't be able to teach Zumba anymore. I even noticed all the detergents and cleanser smells at the grocery store. Luckily, I could walk away from those. I might have developed hyperosmia. I read that this increased olfactory acuity can be triggered by environmental factors but can also go away if the environmental factors are removed. So I went to Whole Foods and purchased fragrance free shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, body lotion, deodorant and hair mousse. I was desperate! I even borrowed a small air purifier from a dear friend and brought it to the dance studio along with another fan to blow the air around the room. If all these efforts don't work, I guess I can shell out for a larger air purifier for my studio. (update: I just bought this: Winix PlasmaWave 5300 Air Cleaner Model) I read that if you apply deodorant in front of one or even fart in front of it, the fan will kick in and start purifying the air. Having it helps me psychologically.
At one class, a concerned and long-time student told me she hadn't put on any perfume that morning, just for me, and she asked me to smell her to make sure there was nothing. I didn't notice anything. Twenty minutes into the class, however, I suddenly noticed perfume coming from her corner of the room. That's when I learned that increased body temperature strengthens any perfume you are wearing. Perfume Originals, a perfume manufacturer, admits, "Increased body temperature causes perfumes to expand and the scent becomes stronger." When I asked the sweet lady after class if she could wear less perfume next time, she was annoyed that before the class started, I had told her that she didn't smell of perfume. That was before I knew about this perfume chemistry
At another class, one student admitted she had applied perfume at 8AM, went to work and came straight to Zumba after work. "Am I supposed to take a shower before I come to Zumba?" Where are you putting it on your body? If it's just a small area, can you wash it off? If you're getting warmer, and the fragrance is becoming stronger, the people next to you will be suffering, no matter what time you put the perfume on.
My husband suggested I was having a reaction to cleaning products used in the studio, but the truth was I only had problems at particular classes that particular students attended. And if I taught another class right after it, with different students, the air seemed clear, and I felt fine. One friend gave me advice to spray Febreze in my my studio before class to kill any other odors in the air. Well, Febreze itself is just a another chemical that traps the odor molecules. Let's go green and have clean air quality Zumba!
It's hard to imagine how much your scented shampoos, hairsprays, lotions, laundry detergents, fabric softeners, etc can disturb others until you have had an experience such as I have had in the past few weeks. Even if it doesn't bother you, note that many of these products are made with synthetic chemicals that can lead to all sort of problems for you and your neighbor, including lung cancer, pneumonia and yes, hyperosmia.

References:
Is Perfume the New Second Hand Smoke?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danny-seo/is-perfume-the-new-second_b_503114.html
Scent of Danger: Are There Toxic Ingredients in Perfumes and Colognes?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/toxic-perfumes-and-colognes/
Why Go Fragrance Free?
http://invisibledisabilities.org/educate/chemicalsensitivities/whygofragrancefree/
Perfume in the Workplace
https://canadasafetycouncil.org/workplace-safety/perfume-workplace
Scent-Free Policy for the Workplace
http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/hsprograms/scent_free.html
Perfume Originals
http://www.eimi.com/perfumeoriginals/perfumefaq.htm

How to Nightclub two step for dance exercise cooldowns

2013-10-04T12:27:00.001-07:00

I just made a video http://youtu.be/jOyJXwcm6qg1for how to do the steps I usually do for Nightclub two step routines. Nightclub two step can be done to a number of slow popular music songs. In my class, we have used this rhythm for Beyonce's Halo, Demi Lovato's Heart Attack (See my routine at http://youtu.be/0WuqcFtNMj8) and even Cosmic Dancer from Billy Elliot! It's a partner dance, but I have adjusted it so we can dance it by ourselves in a dance exercise class.

The timing is quick quick slow (QQS). Each quick is 1 count. Each slow is 2 counts. So, this dance style can be used for many slow 8 count songs. Lady in Red comes to mind!

On the basic step, make a big side step on the slow. Push off with your launching foot. The step should feel smooth, not bouncy up and down. You head should stay on one level! You can use your hips a little or not at all, but not as much as you would for a Latin dance. The two quicks of the basic step are 1) small step diagonally back and 2) replace weight on other foot. Then the slow is a big side step wth the same foot you used in #1.

You can do 3 basic steps and turn. The turn will consist of 3 steps done to the QQS rhythm. Students often make the 3rd step too fast and get off time with the music. You can keep repeating 3 basic steps (RLR, LRL, RLR) and turn (LRL). Or you can do 2 basic steps and a turn. Each time you will start your basic step on a different side and turn in the opposite direction.

You can do a side travel step. QQS. 1= side step to right. 2= left foot crosses in front of right. 3= right foot steps to right. Repeat on the other side or alternate with basic steps.

You can add a grapevine, or four quick steps, in between sets of basics.

You can pivot turn. You can pivot turn 90 degrees between each side travel step. If you are side traveling to the right, pivot counterclockwise on step 3 of the side travel. You can also pivot 180 and feel like you're flying! I like to do 3 basics (RLR, LRL, RLR) and pivot counterclockwise on my right foot 180 degrees and then side travel to the left. Keep repeating! Fun!

Please watch the video!

Zumba and Yoga

2013-08-12T00:31:00.000-07:00

I love to do a little Yoga right after Zumba. Your muscles are warm and it's the best time to stretch and relax. Once a week I go to a wonderful 60 minute Iyengar Yoga class that happens to be right after a Zumba class that I teach and in the same building! Score! I'm in love with the teacher. She relaxes me and constantly makes me aware of my body alignment. Even if I already know the concept, she describes it with such articulate description that I begin to think about it differently. From her, I learn new ways to describe stretches to my students.

I always walk into Iyengar Yoga about 5 minutes early so that I can roll out my legs on the foam roller.
When I first started rolling, the sides of legs pressing down on the roller literally made me scream in pain. My teacher, however, said that the more it hurts, the more you need to roll. So I kept rolling, and now it's not so painful anymore. The t band is something most people don't stretch very well, so it can become quite tense. Rolling is doing wonders for my t band. Rolling is also great for you back. In fact, you can massage your whole body with the roller.

As for Yoga on a regular basis, 20 minutes of Yoga would be ideal for me. But since I teach a 60 minute Zumba class, I make the last 5 minutes all about stretches, including many yoga stretches, such as downward dog, happy baby, cow face pose, bound angle pose, half lord of the fishes pose, lotus pose, child's pose, extended puppy pose, and various forward bends.

Today I went to a 30 minute meditation followed by a 90 minute Vinyasa yoga class. During the 30 minute meditation, the teacher asked us to open our hearts and clear our minds. She told us that if anyone asked us a question at that moment, we would respond with our hearts rather than our minds. We were to be present to the moment.

While I was supposed to be having such honest, tailored thoughts, here is what went through my mind. "I'll open my eyes and see if anyone else is opening theirs. Yes, the girl in the back has her eyes open the whole time. Oh look at this crud between my toe nails. Let's see - clear my mind of any unpleasant thoughts- immediately my worst experiences and nightmares come to mind and I replay them in my head. Why is my brand new yoga mat so sticky? If I move, everyone will hear me unstick. what- is that a new frown mark above my nose? I wonder what I should make for lunch- do I need to buy anything on the way home? Listen to this teacher's Russian accent. Her butt is so perfect.

Yes, I'm a fast moving person, with little patience for meditation. That's why there's Zumba! Still, as a teacher it's important to challenge myself and visit other classes where more serious yoga practitioners are thriving. Their dedication, flexibility, passion and concentration are my motivation. Hopefully, with each yoga class, I can pick up a move or a way to describe a move that I can incorporate into my Zumba stretch. Attending these classes also turns me into a student. I'm no longer the best in the room; I learn to feel silly and humiliated and understand how my students must feel. I go to better myself and challenge myself and step out of my comfort zone.

Find what it is that can enhance your performance and embrace it. Step outside of your comfort zone and learn something new.

How to Dance Merengue for dance exercise

2013-05-23T11:53:00.001-07:00

See the demo video Here are some of the common steps I do during merengue routines:

Basic March Step: March in place, but instead of thinking about lifting up your knee, as you would during a regular non-dancing march, concentrate on what your opposite foot is doing- the one that is down. Really press that foot into the floor- so much that the hip on that sides pops up. Your opposite knee still comes up, but it's not your primary focus. As your opposite knee comes up, the heel of the same foot always comes off the floor. The ball of the foot keeps contact with the floor. Just the heel rises. The more you can make it rise, the better. It gives you the look of high arches, which is the goal. Imagine you're dancing with high heels.

Adding a Twist to the Basic Step: Combine a hip twist with the basic march in place. In a hip twist, your hips rotate around your spine. As you put weight on your left foot, your right hip comes forward and twists to the left. Squeeze your inner thighs together here. As you put weight on our right foot, your left hip comes forward and twists to the right. Squeeze. Repeat.

Basic Side Step: Move your right foot to the right on 1. Move your left next to your right foot on 2. Repeat.
Use your hips to do these steps: The reason your right foot moves to the right is because your left hip bumps up, causing your rib cage and body weight to shift to the right and push the right foot out of the way. Then when your left foot meets your right foot on 2, your body position returns to neutral.

Basic Side Step with figure 8: A figure 8 movement can also be used on the basic side step. The left side of the figure 8 happens when you step to the right. The right side happens when you bring your feet together. Repeat the same on the other side.

Basic Side Step with hip circle: Make counterclockwise hip circles as your travel to the right. When your right foot move right, your hips travel left. As your left foot closes in next to your right foot, do the backwards part of the hip circle. Do the front part of the hip circle (hips moving left) as you step right again.
Do the opposite when you travel to the left.

Turning Basic Side Step with hip circle: As you are stepping to the right you can turn around in circles to your left or counterclockwise. Step, turn and do hip circles simultaneously. When side stepping to the left, turn right or clockwise.

Turning Basic Side Step with hip circle and shimmy: Now add a hip shimmy. It is easier if you only shimmy on 2, as you're bringing your feet together. It's easier to shimmy the hip of the foot that is up in the air.

3 Step or "side together side together": Think: Right, replace, together, Left, replace, together. 123,456 1 is a basic side step to the right, 2 is a basic side step to the left, on 3 the right foot moves left until it meets the left foot. 4 is a basic side step to the left. 5 is a basic side step to the right. On 6, the left foot moves right till it meets the right foot. Repeat.

Crossing 3 Step: Do the same as the 3 Step, but cross your feet on 3 and 6. Right, replace, cross in front. Left, replace, cross in front. Instead of bringing your feet together, one crosses in front of the other. You can also do a crossing 3 step by crossing behind. Right, replace, cross in back. Left, replace, cross in back. This step can be done to a few different rhythms: 1) Quick Quick Slow, Quick Quick slow: The cross happens on slow. 2) 6 Quicks: This will be very fast. For either rhythm, you can use a basic side step or a basic step with a twist. If you twist:
on 1) hip twist to left as your right foot steps to right
on 2) hip twist to left as your step back on your left foot
on 3) hip twist to left as your right foot crosses in front
Repeat the opposite on the other side.

Bouncy Side together Side together with figure 8: 1) Basic side step to the right with figure 8 pushoff. 2) Basic side step to the left with figure 8 pushoff. 3) Right foot closes in to left foot. body becomes neutral. Same on other side. This will be fast. To make it bouncy, push off you right foot at the end of 1 and push off your left foot and the end of 4.

Pony: Start with the basic marching step. Add a vertical hip circle. You reach the bottom of the circle on 1 and the top of the circle on 2. Bend your knees to get lower on 1 and raise your heels to get higher on 2. Absorb the rise and fall into your abs so that your upper body is not out of control and remains fairly steady.

Mambo Chasse: I rarely see students have trouble with this one! You can step on the mambo or do pelvis thrusts or hip bumps or many other creative moves. Think of the chasse as a cha cha step. The count goes
1, 2 = mambo (right foot forward, left foot in place)
3+4= chasse (side step, together, side step)(to the right)
1,2 = mambo on other side (left foot forward, right foot in place)
3+4= chasses (to the left)
On the chasse, you can either skip and not use your hips, and travel a lot OR you can quickly bump your hips on each of the 3 steps and travel less. Try both for variation.

Which Zumba teacher do you like better?

2013-04-08T00:43:00.000-07:00

Everyone is always talking about which Zumba teachers are good. Which ones are good depends on what you are looking for. Just because your best friend likes one, doesn't mean you will like the same one. What I've noticed is that students don't realize why they like one teacher more than another. They'll say they get a better workout from one, or one is more fun, but they can't exactly pinpoint what the difference is.

Some positive teacher attributes are obvious. This teacher cues really clearly. She always points which way she's going to go next or shows with her fingers how many steps we have left. She even uses her eyes and her facial expressions to cue.

She smiles and yells out crazy motivational pep talk the whole class. She gets us going in a conga line or divides the room into a battle; she's just fun!

Some teachers are the mother hen. They make it around to everyone in class and memorize all the names and know something about each student and call out their names and encourage them.

Many teachers have lost their reputation because of where their eyes are pointing. "That teacher always faces us. She's too hard to follow; I wish she'd just face the mirror." I can't tell you how many times I've heard that. For us teachers it's hard to absorb because at Zumba certification we learned we're supposed to face our participants.

I've also heard, "She's so stuck up. She's always staring at herself in the mirror. She doesn't look at her students; she doesn't even notice that we can't follow her."

Before I started teaching, I went to a class with a very friendly, energetic, enthusiastic teacher. She did very easy, repetitive choreography, so it was super easy to follow her class, too easy for me. But she could move her body well and was fun to imitate. But I went to her class three times, and each time she picked me out and asked me to come to the front and dance. As a student, I had mixed feelings. Of course, it was a compliment. She liked my dancing and wanted me to serve as an example. But I wasn't a teacher yet, so I didn't have that "let me teach the class myself" attitude yet. I just wanted to be the student and observe and learn; I didn't want to be a role model.

Some students don't want to be in a battle or in the middle of a circle and feeling the pressure of having to come up with a cool move. Some students don't want to be put in the front of the class for everyone to watch. They just want to melt into the class without too much attention on them.

Here's the main reason that I think students like or don't like a teacher, even if I've never heard a student say this herself: You'll like the teacher who feels the music the same way you feel or want to feel the music.

I'm a teacher, so when I take another teacher's class, I always think "What would I do to this part of the music if I were teaching?" Sometimes I think, "Well I definitely wouldn't do this." Then I'm wishing I were up front and taking over the class at the moment. Other times I think, "wow I do this same song in my class but I use different moves, but this teacher's moves are fun and go with the music too." Maybe I picked a move that went with the lyrics, but she is picking a move that goes with the rhythm or a particular instrument in the background. Other times I think, "wow, I've never used this song, but I'm really getting into this and the moves the teacher has selected for this song just make the song feel so right. I feel like I'm part of the music!"

As a Zumba teacher who sometimes plays the role of a Zumba student, that's what I love the most about being a student. It's that moment in the middle of class when you say to yourself, "Wow! I'm feeling the music and I'm so into this. This move is so fun and goes with the music so well! I am the music!" When I'm teaching, that's my goal all the time. I have control over the choreography. I'm trying to make my students feel the music too!

Some teachers mix their music to make each section longer so s/he can repeat the same move longer. That makes the choreography easier to follow because there aren't as many cues and changes to pay attention to. But it can also make the workout more boring for the same reason. Some students want the routine that's easy to follow. Others want a challenging routine with more changes and shorter sections. You may not know what you want till you've tried several different classes!

Some teachers do more aerobic moves and less dancey moves. There can be multiple explanations for this. First, aerobic moves are easier to learn than dance moves. They're designed to be easy. Second, aerobic moves can get your heart beating faster because you're more likely to do them correctly. But doing dance moves with oomph can be so much more rewarding.

I've heard students say that they won't take a Zumba class from a teacher who doesn't look good. If the teacher's body doesn't look fit, then why should that class be able to make the student fit? These students need visual motivation. "The teacher's body looks good; so maybe this will make me look good."

I've heard other students say that they like a teacher because she has a real body and she's not all skinny perfect. Those students are thinking, "Hey, her body looks a lot like mine and she looks good doing all these moves, so I can learn to do that too."

I've had other teachers give me advice, "You need to build an image- do something to make students like you- wear lip gloss or makeup or style your hair a certain way." Maybe that works for some teachers, and maybe some students are attracted to an instructor for non-dance or leadership reasons. just lip gloss or hair style! But I believe students come to me because they like my dance style, my choice of dance moves and my choice of songs, the fact that I change songs frequently, and the time, location and cost of my class.

Personally, when I was learning ballroom dance, my favorite teacher was the one whose body type was the closest to mine. When I watched the teacher do the moves, I could more easily imagine what it was supposed to look like on me. I'm a petite woman and 5'1". It's a lot harder for me to imagine what a move should look like on me if I'm learning from a man or a tall, voluptuous woman.

One tall female student who came to my class once, asked me after class, if I knew any tall instructors. I asked her why. She said she thought that it would be easier for her to take a class from a tall instructor because "it's hard to move fast when you're tall." She believed a tall instructor would do slower moves. I explained to her that tall instructors would also use fast music and move fast. Of course, she didn't believe me and still sought a tall instructor. But I understood, what she really wanted, like me, was a body type she could identify with and imitate.

At the same time, sometimes it's fun to take a lesson from an attractive person of the opposite sex. Male Zumba teachers are extremely popular, and most of the participants are women! My favorite hip hop teacher was a man. My body couldn't imitate his exactly, but he was fun and entertaining to watch! I can see how a woman whose husband doesn't dance would love to take Zumba with a male instructor. A live man in front of you dancing and making eye contact with you!

Another student told me that she used to take class from a Zumba teacher who knew how to do all the moves but looked the same doing them all. This student told me the teacher was so nice and friendly that everyone liked her anyway. Now, it's hard for me to imagine a teacher who does all the moves but looks the same doing them all. Perhaps she just did the same steps in cumbia and salsa and even in flamenco and merengue. But I always listen to this type of input from my students because I'm trying to learn everyone's opinion about what makes a good Zumba teacher, so that I can become the best I can be. If you have other ideas about why students favor one teacher over another, please share them in the comments!

How can I protect my knees while dancing?

2013-04-06T00:55:00.000-07:00

Here are 10 tips for protecting your knees during dance: See video at: http://youtu.be/1E96XUHlSCw

1) Reduce your body weight, so less weight will sit on top of your knees. (easier to do if you can work out without hurting yourself!)
2) Don't wear really old workout shoes. Shoes lose cushioning after a while. Replace them!
3) During your warm up, be sure to bounce gently in your knees. Don't totally straighten your legs and lock your knees.
4) Knee circles can strengthen knees and legs. Start with your feet together. Bend your knees till you're in a mild squat, keep your feet on the ground, and draw circles with your knees on a horizontal plane. Try the same with your feet apart. Do both directions. Imagine you're circling a hula hoop around your knees. Include knee circles in your warmup, perhaps along with hip circles.
5) Many students tell me they can't do the hip rotator move that is common to hip hop or samba. It looks like the knees are moving side to side rapidly. But notice I called it a hip rotator movement. Your knees are not moving at all; it's like an optical illusion. It's all in the hip rotator. The key is to align your knees with your toes. Let your whole leg move as one unit, from hip rotator to toe, and the hip rotator does all the work. Maintain muscle tone in your inner thigh to keep control over your leg so the knee stays aligned with the toes. Also, if you press down into the floor with the ball of your foot, like you want to squish a cockroach, you will maintain pressure in your inner thigh and not let your knee flop around. It's when you get lazy, do it sloppy, not put foot pressure into the floor and not engage your inner thighs, that you can lose control of your knee and let it wander and twist itself. Always include a slow hip rotator movement in your warmup and gradually pick up the speed.
6) If you want to do the chicken move, where your knees come apart and together again, make sure your feet are rocking side to side so that your knees stay in line with your feet. If you attempt the chicken knees with feet flat on the floor, you will torque your knees and feel discomfort.
7) When doing lunges, don't let your knees go in front of your toes. Even when you're taking giant steps forward, for example in ballroom waltz, don't let your knees pass your toes.
8) Absorb shock during landing steps. After a jump or a hop or a big step, take up the landing in your knees by descending more after your foot touches the floor. In other words, cushion your landing. Don't let your foot noisily hit the floor: that would be crashing, not cushioning. Crash landings are too much impact on your knees. When you do knee raises and the knee is quickly coming up and the foot is quickly coming down and touching the floor again (common in Bollywood), don't think of it as stomping your foot. Your thigh and abdominal muscles should be so engaged and tense that they stop your foot from crashing just as it's about to touch the floor. If your muscles are stopping your foot, you shouldn't even hear your steps. Now the impact on your knees is ever so subtle.
9) Don't jump till you feel really warmed up. You may need to avoid jumping and stay low impact. Or maybe you can half jump (let you heels leave the floor). You can still have a lot of fun and get a great workout by staying low impact (keeping one foot on the floor at all times.)
10) If you have knee cartilage issues, try taking knox gelatin. Mix it in your juice. It's cheap and can strengthen your cartilage.
11) Use shoe gliders such as DanceSocks on your shoes if your are dancing on sticky floors. Sticky floors will not let your twist freely and could injure your knees.

Maintaining Good Posture

2013-03-12T14:12:00.001-07:00

Maintaining good posture will keep you from getting injured, ward off back pain and add many more years to your Zumba life. Here is my back posture exercise:
Check out my video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsSnRS1nCYg&list=UU2XDpjDVVmZyrrg3s9UADjg&index=1
Let's start with the head and work our way down.

Head: Don't slip into the habit of allowing a forward head position. Most people need to slide their chin backward so their head is sitting on top of their spine. You ears should be over your shoulder. The back of your head should be lined up with the back of your heels. Try standing agaist a wall and make the back of your head and your heels touch the wall at the same time. And don't look down. Look straight ahead!

Neck: You want your neck to look long. If you shoulders are hunched up, it will make your neck look short.

Shoulders: So press your shoulders down. Imagine someone is standing on your shoulders. Or imagine you are holding heavy weights in your hands and it makes your shoulders fall down from gravity. Many people store their stress and tension in their shoulders by hunching them up. Avoid this. Also, you need to roll your shoulders back so your chest is not hidden.

Chest: Imagine a balloon is on your chest and lifting it up. Now you can breathe better and fill your lungs with more oxygen.

Pelvis: Tuck your pelvis in, so you are not standing with a swayback.

Back: The small of your back, right above your butt, should be close to vertical. This will make your butt look a little smaller and protect your lower back. You also want to focus on the small of your back. This section of your body is your power house. If you place the palm of your hand on the small of your back, you should press your back against your hand, to fill up your hand. Feel the energy coming out of the small of your back and filling up your hand. This will keep anyone from pushing your forward. It will help your balance. It will help you be aware of where your body is in relation to the room and where your back is in relation to the body. It is essential to partner dancing by creating a connection with your partner so you can lead and follow. It will help you in other sports as well. And it will ward off low back injury.

Abs: Pull your belly button in toward your spine. Then imagine how your abdominal muscles are divided into a right side and a left side. Focus on curling the right and left sides toward the center.

Feet: For general every day life, you want to be standing over your arches. You want your weight even distributed through your foot. Don't have all your weight on the balls of your feet. If you do, your body will pitch forward. You want your ears over shoulder, shoulder over hips, hips over knees, knees over arches of feet. If you are Latin dancing however, you want to be pitched forward, with more weight on the balls of your feet; this dancing was designed with high heels in mind.

How to Tango for Zumba

2013-01-08T16:04:00.001-08:00

     First off, my background and serious training is in ballroom tango. I used to compete in international style ballroom dance. I have also taken many social dance lessons in Argentine Tango. I believe we can take the best that each tango has to offer and combine them for dance fitness. The ballroom tango lends us the fitness aspect (large steps and pushing off with your legs) while the Argentine tango lends us some character and playfulness.

     Tango is written in 2/4 time, meaning there are 2 beats per measure and each quarter note equals one beat. However, I count and cue in my classes in 8 count phrases because dance fitness students are used to counting in 8 count phrases. That just means that I count the tango twice as fast. When I count, one slow walk (S) gets 2 counts and a quick walk (Q) gets 1 count. I put the slows and quicks in any combination that adds up to 8 beats. It's easy to hear the 8 beat phrase in a tango song.

     The character of Tango is about a man chasing a woman, but the woman isn't sure she needs to be caught. So, there are stealthy, slow moments and quick, staccatto moments. Imagine a cat stalking its pray; first, it quietly and stealthily moves in and then it suddenly attacks. Video describing moves below: http://youtu.be/fGjGp2RC5OU

     Basic Ballroom Tango Walk

     Move your right foot stealthily forward on 1, but leave your left foot in place until 2, when you suddenly bring it to meet the right foot side by side. Don't actually stop moving as the feet come together, but let them hover (barely stop) until your left foot stealthily goes forward on 3. Then quickly bring in the right foot to meet the left on 4, and so on. This can be done forward or backward. These are the slows in tango. The quicks don't have time for hovering and speeding up; they are just altogether quicker, more similar to how you would normally walk quickly.

     Now, to get more power and exercise out of these walks, try pushing off. As your right foot is about to move forward on 1, you are actually rolling through your left foot and pushing off the ball of the left foot. Then you can take a very large step forward on 1. You will be engaging your thighs, calves and buttocks!

     A typical combination of slows and quicks in tango is S S Q Q S. In a dance exercise class, you can do this forward for 8 and backward for 8; it will progress across the floor and take up room, but it will get everyone back to their original spots quickly.

   A sequence that would require less floor space is S Q Q hold (for 4) forward and S Q Q hold (for 4) backward. For fun and variety, try hovering on the 4 count hold (by leaning slightly forward and then slight backward over the entire 4 counts).

     Add Ons to the Basic Ballroom Tango Walk

     After you do SQQ, instead of holding, you could do some optional add-ons that take up 4 counts. If SQQ is right, left, right, then counts 5-8 could be two brushes to the left. (left foot slides left on 5, in on 6, left on 7 and together on 8). Then the left foot goes backward for SQQ, and the right foot slides to the right on 5 and 7. You can do the same on the other side.

     Alternatively, you could flick on counts 5-8. SQQ, left flick, hold. or SQQ, left flick twice. (One flick could be behind and one in front. Be creative.) When you flick your left foot, you are quickly lifting up your inner thigh and the inseam of your right foot, with staccato.

     You could even try some Argentine flavor by drawing a circle or figure 8 with your left toe instead of flicking.

     Basic Ballroom Tango Walk to the Side

     If moving to the right, face forward and push off the ball of your left foot on beat 1, until your left toe is pointed and you can push no farther, causing your body and right foot to simulataneously move to the right. Keep your body weight over the weight of your right leg. Then, on 2, bring your left foot in next to your right foot without moving your body. Repeat.

     Crossing Feet While Moving Sideways

     Forward: Instead of bringing your feet together on 2, you could position your hips at an angle and let your 2nd foot cross and pass the 1st foot. If you are traveling to the right and moving forward, let your left foot take a big step and cross far in front of your right foot. Your inner thighs will brush together as your left foot passes your right. Make sure the body above your waist continues to face forward, not angled to the right or completely turned right. Only turn your hips diagonally to the right.

     Backward: If you are traveling to the right and moving backward, angle your hips to the left. Instead of bringing your left foot next to your right foot on 2, let it pass behind your right foot, brushing your inner thighs together.

     Staccato Turn

     After a basic walk to the right on 1, with your feet still apart, you can change directions and go back to the left by making a staccato turn. Keeping all your weight on the right foot, you will simultaneously turn your feet, knee, hip, chest and head diagonally to the left. The turn will be rapid, sudden and staccato: all of a sudden. You will usually turn on 1 and pause on 2. The pause lends some drama after your sudden turn.

     Rock Step

     After you've taken a basic walk to the right, leave your feet far apart, but shift your body weight back over your left foot and then again over your right foot. Repeat if desired.

     Combinations of the basic side walk

     1) An easy and common combination: Q Q Q Q
         Q: basic walk to the right
         Q: Bring feet together
         Q: basic walk to the right
         Q: Staccato turn to the left
         (Repeat on the other side.)

     2) The most classic combination is S S Q Q S:
          S: basic walk to the right
          S: cross forward
          Q: basic walk to the right
          Q: Bring feet together
          S: basic walk to the right
          (Sometimes you can take your basic walk to the right and do a staccato turn at the same time- on the same beat. Then you could do this combo on the other side and repeat it.)

      3) My commonly used side to side combo is S Q Q Q Q Q Q:
          S: Cross backward- to the right
          Q: basic walk to the right
          Q: Cross forward
          Q: basic walk to the right
          Q: rock back
          Q: rock forward
          Q: rock back
           (Repeat on other side)

        4) An easy combo with fast timing variety is SSQ&QS
            S: big side step to right
            S: left foot closes together
            Q: side step to right
            &: left foot closes together
            Q: side step to right
            S: turn and transfer weight to right foot (both feet turn at same time to face diagonal left)
            (repeat on other side)

          5) Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q ( with crossing)
              1) Q: right foot crosses back
              2) Q: left foot steps to left side
              3) Q: right foot crosses front
              4) Q: left foot brushes to side (weight stays on right foot)
              5) Q: left foot crosses front.
              6) Q: right foot steps to right side
              7) Q: left foot crosses back
              8) Q: right foot brushes to side (weight stays on left foot)

                ( could scoop kick up and begin cross over on 4. could raise right knee on 8. same on opposite side.)

Why you should Zumba!

2012-07-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

     There are so many reasons to start Zumba, to get back to it or to just keep on doing it!  Five years ago, I had never even heard of Zumba! After I went to my first class, for the first 20 minutes, I thought it was weird! Why are people doing these simple salsa moves with tennis shoes on and without a partner at 9AM??? I used to go salsa dancing with my heels and spin all over the place with 30 different guys at midnight.
       But during the 60 minutes of following what I didn't know at the time was a rather monotonous Zumba class, I had some time to think. Wow! I could do this! And I could make it so much more fun. And it's relaxing to dance without those 3 inch heels! And I don't have to dance at midnight! I don't have to risk getting my toes stepped on an elbow in my head! I don't even have to dance with the slimy guys who breathe in your ear and grab your you know whats. And I don't have to look like a fool when a guy leads something I can't follow or have my wrist dislocated because he pulls too hard. Besides, I'd been trained in all the Latin dances and competing in them, and I'd been studying and performing belly dance and hip hop, and I was already an aerobics instructor! So I got certified and my new life began!
     Practicality
     Many students have told me they would love to go out to the clubs and dance, but maybe their spouse isn't interested and doesn't want them dancing with strangers of the opposite sex, or maybe the alcohol or sleezy environs turn them off. Or they just don't know what to do when they get on the dance floor! Or they know, but they're sick of doing the same steps they've been doing for years! With Zumba, you can dance in a safe, healthy place, without getting picked up, at a time of day when you still have energy and you can pick up some new dance steps to pull out when you go to your next party.
     Body Exploration
     Plus, you'll learn to move your body parts in ways you never did before. I love freeing up student's hips and chest. Once you attain that new movement, it's a whole new world that you never felt before. And there's lots to learn but no rush to learn it all at once. Learn as you go and enjoy yourself.
     Brain Exercise
     Zumba is good for your brain. As we age and tend to relax in front of the tv or computer more and more, and become memory loss candidates, we're not using part of our brain, the part that makes us follow cues and music and dance at the same time. And Zumba is not so stressful like a hip hop class. After I go to one of those, my brain hurts because there's a different move every beat, and they don't even do the same thing on both sides! In Zumba we do the same move for a whole section of music, so it's not constant brain thinking trauma. But just enough to keep you engaged and free of boredom.
     Musicality & Passion
     With Zumba I'm so much more involved in the music than I was when I taught or took aerobics! The same aerobics routine can be done to any song that has about the same tempo. It becomes robotic and certainly not passionate. But with Zumba, each song has it's own choreography! I love figuring out what each part of the song makes me "feel" like doing. Students can feel the music with me- really feel it and identify the pattern so they can follow along.
     Creativity
     And Zumba is not a show, or sport or competition where everyone has to look the same and wear an uncomfortable costume. Students can bring their own creativity to each routine. You can strike your own pose, move your arms with your own flare, and just give the teacher some ideas! I often see one of my students following me but giving it their own style, and I often absorb that and copy a part of my students. I love it!
     Music Exposure
     Plus, how else can you request your favorite song and have a professional teacher make a custom routine for your song and be able to dance to that song just a few days after you make the request! That's incredible! Music is so powerful. It drives us to work harder! At Zumba class, you'll discover so many poweful, intense, heavy beat, rhythmic songs, you'll be writing down the titles and looking for them to listen to at home.
     No Plateau
     Zumba is always changing! So they say you shouldn't do the treadmill or the stairmaster every day and nothing else. Because your body gets used to the same exercise and it becomes less effective, too easy for you. But I keep changing my songs from week to week. And new songs sound- well- different- and that difference inspires me to come up with new moves- moves that your body hasn't got used to yet. Zumba is packed with an infinite variety of moves. It's not like running- where you keep just running forward, or swimming or biking- those sports don't have such a variety of possible movement, but Zumba- where every song is from a different part of the world - inspires your body to take a tour through all possible movements.
     Safe Workout
     Zumba is safer than a lot of sports or exercises. We're not trying to make you follow a professional jazz routine with leaps and splits where you could twist an ankle. Zumba is full of safe moves that ordinary people can do (or learn to do easily). When I go jogging, I have to worry that jogging on pavement will be too much trauma for my joints but jogging on grass might wind me up in a hole with a broken ankle. But the dance floor at my studio is spring loaded- great for your joints- and certainly contains no potholes. When I go play tennis, the ball moves so fast that I don't have time to react and suddenly I've twisted my knee getting to the ball and it hurts for a couple weeks. But in Zumba, everything is done to the music- everything is predictable- no sudden twists! When I go skiing, I have to worry that some crazy snowboarder is going to lose control right behind and plough me down. We're not doing Zumba on ice! And there are no rocks or trees to run into either! On the bike trail, I even have to worry about pedestrians suddenly walking out in front of me. But in Zumba, everyone is going in the same direction because they're all fascinated by the same music, taking them on the same journey.
     Total Body Workout Efficiency
     Zumba is cardiovascular exercise, muscle toning, and flexibility stretching all in one. I can get a total workout in just 60 minutes- and it never feels like 60 minutes- just 20 because it goes by so quickly when we're having so much fun. While we are dancing we are squatting- but it's not boring squatting; it's squatting incorporated into the dance move, so you don't even know you're squatting. We're doing ab work at the same time we're popping to the house beat. We're kicking and getting our leg up high not just because we're standing and doing 50 kicks in place but because the jive rhythm is calling us to it's jackhammer beat! Every step I take in the slow, sensual bachata, is stretching out my hip. I could go on and on. Your total body workout has been planned for you in a bundle of incredible music.
     Increased Energy
     After Zumba, I have so much energy, always more energy than when I came. That's why you hear me scream at the end of some songs- the song got me so pumped that I have to scream at the end to release that excess energy that just got created. And students have told me they know it's ok to come to my class tired and not in the mood because they know they can count on me to wake them up within 1 minute. So if you work hard 9-5 and think you don't have energy to Zumba, just come anyway. Think you can't wake up early- come try it anyway- we'll wake you up.
     Social Health

Zumba can be a good excuse to get out of the house, away from your kids and meet other people who like to have a good time and take care of themselves just like you do. Or it can be a way to do more with your family. I have some students who bring their kids to class! Kids love to dance too. And when we've seen each other dance, a barrier goes down. You can feel more comfortable around someone who has already seen your booty shake and your thighs wiggle- you've got over that hurdle! Zumba also makes a great date with a friend. "I'm busy this week, but let's meet at Zumba at 9AM tomorrow." It could be cheaper than going out to lunch and certainly better for you!
     Reproductive Health
     One student told me she couldn't get pregnant. Then she started Zumba, and started moving her pelvis around a whole lot more than a lady sitting at home and going to work would normally do, and she got pregnant! The doctor said Zumba may have changed the position of her uterus to help her achieve conception. Wow!
     Romantic Health
     I don't want to make this blog inappropriate for young readers, but you can imagine what happens if you take Zumba hip and pelvis movements and apply them in a more private setting. You and your partner's life will change! just from a shimmy or a grind.
     Weight Loss
     That's a lot of reasons to start and keep up your Zumba, but did I mention it burns calories and burns fat?? Zumba advertises that individuals burn 500-1,000 calories/hour. I had a student with a heartrate monitor who told me she burned 650 calories during my class. And that's a 50 something year old woman, short in height, not in the best of shape and not the most energetic dancer.  She follows all my moves but may only move half as much as me. Imagine how many calories you might be burning. Because we are keeping the heart rate up for 60 minutes, that's a whole lot of fat burning. And you can keep this up because Zumba is fun and always changing and convenient and happening everywhere everyday, so you won't get sick of it- just build it into your lifetime daily habits!

Did I miss any reasons? Most importantly, it's just fun, and everyone deserves a fun 1 hr break! I have had students tell me it's the highlight of their week, it's the best part of their weekend, it's what they look forward to all week, they're sad when they miss a day . . .And remember, don't be shy- no one is looking at you; they're either looking at themselves in the mirror or at the teacher to follow those cues. Post other reasons in the comments section please! I'd love to know why you do Zumba!

How can I get a better arm workout during Zumba?

2012-03-22T22:53:00.000-07:00

You can get an arm workout from Zumba, but most students tend to have mushy arms or not keep their arms high enough.  When my upper arms are parallel to the floor, I see many students with their upper arms angled 45 degrees downward. Here, I'll just go over a handful of arm movements to get you thinking about how your can use your arms during Zumba. Choreography will often involve switching off between mushy and sharp movements, so don't go just sharp or just mushy all the time. The mushiness or sharpness can be felt in the music and your instructor should lead whatever is appropriate for each portion of music. See the video for examples. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52DVo2kqpZM

Try this:

1)Freeze your arms. Freezing them for a moment requires a sudden, sharp stop. A sudden stop takes a lot of muscle control. So get an arm workout by having less mushy arms and more sudden freezes. You'll look more dramatic too.
     Try the tricep freeze to the side. First draw your right arm across your chest. Keeping your forearm parallel to the floor, quickly draw it to the right till it comes to a sudden stop with your upper arm almost perperdicular to the floor. Hold there for a moment, or as music allows. You will be holding it in a tense position.
     Try this bicep freeze. Use a sudden upward movement as you bend your elbow. It works well with a pelvic rock.
     Try an overhead arm sway. sharp arms to one direction. This goes well with walking forward or backward or doing a hip bump or twist in a circle.
     How about forearms fan out to side?  Keep your elbows next to your waist and fan your hands out to the side. End with a sudden stop. This works well wth a jump to either side.
     Or try the sprinkler. Hold your arm straight forward and move it sharply to one side on each beat.
     Try the arm push forward. This goes well with a booty hop back or heel jacks. Snap those arms forward and hold them in the tense position for a moment as the music allows.
     Don't forget arm circles.  Small arm circles are usually done during very fast music and accompanied by fast movements elsewhere in the body. Hit each beat sharply during an arm circle, so people can see the music in your arms. no mushy, boring circles. Even on a slow hip circle or corkscrew, you may do a slow arm circle overhead, like a lasso. Again, try to accent the beat.


2)Retraction: After you freeze your arms on some moves, like a punch, there is a small and sudden bounce back, where you arm muscles are still tense and working. When you punch, if you move slow and mushy, your opponent will see your arm coming. Imagine your arm movement is like a punch- you don't want anyone to know it's coming. Rather, it's like a sudden surprise. You also don't leave your fist, in your opponent's face; you quickly draw it back. Retraction could be done on many of the above moves, depending on the music.

3) Bend and Straight: Even when you're not freezing your arms on a sharp move, your arms may still be working back and forth. For example, look at the basic merengue march. Rather than just keeping your elbows bent as you swing your arms back and forth (not much arm work there), try straightening the elbow as the arm goes back and bending it as it comes forward. On the straightening movement, you'll be using your tricep. On the bending movement, you'll be using your bicep. Try the same on a charleston step, but add a little more swing to the arms. Try the same while holding your arms up, parallel to the floor and bending them from right to left, during the merengue 3 step, for example.

4) Mushy, Snake arms: At a softer point in the music, we often do this softer movement, which still keeps the arms engaged because you have to hold them up, parallel to the floor.
a) Ribcage slides right
b) Elbow leads to the right
c) Elbow straightens and wrist leads to the right.
d) Fingers stretch right
e) reverse process, but elbow draws in front of body, engaging bicep

5) Mushy, Thick swamp: This has to be a part of your imagination. If you imagine that you are moving through molasses or a thick swamp, you will engage your arm muscles to get through.
     Move out of my way: Start with your right arm extended straight out and to the left. Then draw your hand to the right, clearing a path in front of your body. This works well with jazz walks to the left at the same time. It also matches a side step, together. And it's very common during the Flamenco Ole.

How to Jive or Swing dance for Zumba

2012-01-28T23:18:00.000-08:00

Jive is a fast, heart-pumping rhythm. I'm not going over every possible step here, just the ones I commonly use that have a lot of technique built into them. See videos, Footloose, Tu Vuo Foi L'Americano http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwO0KRAHnbU&feature=plcp&context=C3c80d7fUDOEgsToPDskKEH68t58oxW-n_26So8WmK, Hey Mickey, Hafanana for examples. For a descriptive video of this post, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXxCxKhzCkw&feature=plcp&context=C3295737UDOEgsToPDskJUcscfXuQUxWoWWZagQIwt

Basic step
Timing: 1 a 2, 3 a 4, 5 6 (This is a 6 count step done to 8 count music. It's normal.)
footwork: R L R (to the right), L R L(to the left), R(backward) L(forward)
knees: They pop up high right before each whole number.
body weight: forward, on the balls of the feet, just like any Latin dance, and on 5, step back on your whole foot, to sink your hip into your heel. Keep your upper body weight forward on 5, so you can quickly come forward for count 6. The music is fast!
hips: The dance is called swing because your hips swing. Do a hip bump at the same time the opposite knee pops up, on the "a" before each whole count. Then on 5, step back on your right foot as you do a right hip bump toward the rear. On 6, put your weight on your left foot and do a left hip bump.
Just Say: triple step, triple step, rock step

Jackhammer
timing: (straightforward), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
bounce: Stand on your left foot and bounce gently to the beat. Your left knee will bend and slightly straighten (not lock).
footwork: At the same time, point your right foot, bend back your right knee and kick toward the floor (don't touch the floor), right next to your standing foot. All your upper leg muscles should be engaged to make a sharp, stacatto kick. After the kick, quickly retract your foot to repeat.
body weight: Your upper body weight should be pitched forward, chest up, abs in.

Sailor's Shuffle (pas de bourree) - See in "Hey Mickey"
timing: 1 a 2, 3 a 4
footwork: R L R, L R L
foot direction: Right foot diagonally back, left foot to left, right foot diagonally forward. Repeat other side.
body weight: (This step has the appearance of a drunk sailor, hence the name)As soon as your right foot goes back, begin tipping your whole body to the right. Second, your left foot should push off, causing your body to tip even more to the right. Finally, your right foot coming diagonally forward, catches you and keeps your from toppling all the way over. All of your body weight will be on that right foot.
hips: When your left foot pushes off, your left hip bumps up. Then your whole hip slides to the right till stopped by your right foot ending diagonally forward, at which point your right hip is up.
ribcage: Between the 2nd and 3rd, your ribcage slides right and up, so that on 2, your body weight is on your right foot, and the upward rib cage movement is causing you to start tilting toward the left.
arms: Lift your right arm up on 2, as an extension of you rib cage sliding right. same on other side. Let your arm float as hold the 2 and 4 as long as possible.

Tap, back, side, cross - see in "Footloose"
timing: (straightforward) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
bounce: Stand on your left foot and bounce gently to the beat. Your left knee will bend and slightly straighten (not lock).
footwork: 1=tap right foot next to left foot, 2=right foot diagonally back toward left side***, 3= left foot to left, 4= right diagonally forward to left side / repeat other side ***Try pushing off with your left standing foot on count 2, to add pep and momentum.
direction: Start count 1 by standing on a diagonal facing the front right corner of the room. End on count 4 facing the left front corner.
body weight: Your upper body weight should be pitched forward, chest up, abs in.
arms: On right tap, left forearm comes down sharply, (contract bicep). Then on 2, 3 4 left arm more gently goes down up down, while right arm goes up down up. Note that as your forearm goes down or backward, you should be focusing on your tricep. As your forearm comes up, you should be focusing on your bicep.

Kick Ball Change
timing: 1 a 2, 3 a 4
footwork: R RL, R RL
description: Snappy kick on 1 with right foot, quickly step on ball of right foot , keeping body weight in the middle,. Keep right knee bent. Then place ball of left foot right next to right foot. Keep left knee bent. Left leg straightens during right kick.
hips: On kick, left hip bumps up. On 2, right hip bumps up.\
arms: Here's a good chance to pump those arms. On the kick on count 1, punch them sharply out to the side - don't straighten them, but them let bounce back in. The sharpness and sudden stop will cause you to contract your muscles. On the even counts, cross your arms in front of you, with the same sudden stop and bounce return.

Favorite Zumba songs- organized by rhythm or style

2011-12-29T23:54:00.002-08:00

Here I'm compiling my favorite songs for Zumba or dance exercise classes (that are not ZIN or may have become ZIN after I started using them). So many of the ZIN songs are great- maybe I'll add my favorites later. If you have other great ones to add, please comment.

Warmup: Dragostea Din Tei (Original Romanian Version) (DJ Dragostea), I Love Rock and roll (Joan Jett), Shake It (Metro Station), Kiss (Prince), many popular hip hops like Dangerous (Kardinal Offishall), Umbrella (Rihanna), Good Feeling (Flo Rida), Bad Romance, Just Dance (Lady GaGa), Temperature (Sean Paul), Like a G6, Blackeyed Peas songs, I can only imagine (David Guetta)

Cool down: Human Behavior (Bjork), Come Together (Joe Cocker), Say it Right (Nelly Furtado), Don't Cha (Pussycat Dolls), Clumsy (Fergie), bachata rhythms, foxtrot rhythms, waltz rhythms, night club 2 step rhythms (like Halo- Beyonce)

Cool down Stretch: Someone like You (Adele), Pocket full of Sunshine, Diary (Alicia Keys), Sensual Seduction, Diamonds (Rihanna), Music from Finjan (Dancing on Water)

Salsa: La Bomba (Ricky Martin), Conga (Gloria Estefan), La Vida Es Un Carnaval (Celia Cruz), Cachondea Fruko Y Sus Tesos

Reggaeton: Gimme Gimme Gimme (Beenie Man), Booty Shake
(Matt Houston), many Daddy Yankee songs like Gasolina and Limbo

Cha Cha: Let's Get Loud (Jennifer Lopez), She Bangs (Ricky Martin), Sway
(Pussycat Dolls), Rabiosa (Shakira), Smooth(Santana)

Samba: Two Princes (Spin Doctors), Cup of Life (Ricky Martin)

Merengue: Arrasando (Original Version) (Thalia), Walk it Out (merengue remix)

Belly Dance: El Toba, Drummer Boy (Debi Nova), Many Shakira songs like Hips Don't Lie, Objection, Eyes Like Yours, Suerte, La Tortura, Loca, Addicted to You, She Wolf, etc

Bollywood: Shikdum Remix, Maahi Ve, Dhoom Again, Senorita (remix), Sheila Ki Jawani, Muqabala Muqabala, Jai Ho, Discowale Khisko, Ringa Ringa

Country: Cotton Eye Joe (Original Version)
, Devil Went Down to Georgia, Country Girl

Rumba Flamenca: Buleria
(David Bisbal), Volare (Gypsy Kings), Pegate (Ricky Martin)

Disco / hustle: I will Survive, Lady Marmalade

Funk: Word Up, Brick House (Commodores)

Hip hop / popular: There are so many but here have been my favorites that I'll revive every couple years: Kiss me thru the Phone (SouljaBoy), Whatever You Like (TI), Hollaback Girl (Stefani), Buttons (Pussy Cat Dolls), Don't Stop the Music (Rihanna), 4 Minutes (Madonna), Low (Flo Rida), Krazy (Pitbull), Fuego (Pitbull), Evacuate the Dancefloor (Cascada), Tik Tok (Kesha), OMG (Usher), I like it (Enrique Iglesias), Bottoms Up (Treu Songz), Mr. Saxobeat (Extended Version)(Alexandra Stan), Boom Boom Pow (Black Eyed Peas), Down On Me (Jeremih), Hello (Martin Solveig), Party Rock Anthem (LMFAO), On the Floor (Jennifer Lopez), Sweat (Lil Jon), Blow (Kesha), Right Round (Flo Rida), Moves Like Jagger (Marroon 5), Super Bass (Nicki Minaj), Smooth Criminal (Michael Jackson)

Tango: Whatever Lola Wants (Gotan Project), Dance with Me (Debelah), Santa Maria (Del Buen Ayre) (Gotan Project), Gypsy Rhapsody

Viennese Waltz: Fallin', Caribbean Blue (Enya), I Feel Pretty (Westside Story)

Foxtrot: King of the Road (Roger Miller), Witchcraft (Frank Sinatra), Santa Baby (Pussycat Dolls)

Quickstep: I want to be like You (Junglebook), Happy Feet ( Musica per I Vostri Piedi Madame )(Paulo Conte), Luck be a Lady

Charleston: Cha Cha (Azteca Version)(Chelo), any of the quickstep songs above

Bachata: A Miles de Millas (El Gringo de la Bachata), Oh Navidad (same), No es una Novela, Stand by Me (Prince Royce), Corazón Sin Cara (Prince Royce)

Swing/Jive: Footloose, Hey Mickey, Tu Vuo Fa L'Americano (Red Stripe Band), Candyman (Christina Aguilera), Pon De Replay (Hit Crew), Satellite
(Lena), Zaz je veux

Christmas: Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree <swing> (Miley Cyrus), Santa Baby <foxtrot> (Pussycat Dolls), Oh Navidad <bachata> (El Gringo de la Bachata), Cuando llega Navidad <salsa>, Ay, Ay, Ay It's Christmas (Tonic Sol-Fa) or (Ricky Martin), Must be Santa (polka)

Halloween: Chocolate (Soul Control), Black Magic Woman<Cha Cha> (Santana), Disturbia (Rihanna), Cumbia de los Monsters, Witch Doctor (Alvin & the Chipmunks), Someone's Watching Over Me, Witchy Woman, She's the Devil (Locos por Juana), Addam's Groove (MC Hammer), Beautiful Monster (Ne-Yo), She Wolf (Shakira), Haunted House <country salsa>, Monster Mash, Wooly Bully, Purple People Eater, I Put a Spell on You, Witchcraft, Bloody Mary and Teeth (Lady Gaga)

Musical Theater: Hair (Hair), Pinball Wizard (The Who's Tommy), Luck be a Lady <quickstep> (Guys and Dolls), You Can't Stop The Beat (Hairspray), All That Jazz (Chicago), I Feel Pretty <V. Waltz>

Cardio Kickbox (songs that make you want to punch or kick): Miss Independent, Fighter (Natasha Noack) Tubthumping (Chumbawamba), Just A Dream (Nelly), Survivor, I knew you were Trouble (Taylor Swift)

Other (or maybe I just don't know how to classify them): Danza Kuduro
(Don Omar & Lucenzo), More Bounce in California (Soul Kid), Maniac (Flashdance), Samba Reggae (Jimmy Cliff), Bongo Bong

How to Samba for Zumba

2011-12-10T11:08:00.000-08:00

When doing samba during Zumba, I like to mix the Brazilian samba with ballroom samba. more variety = more fun! The Brazilian element is not so structured or technical and is open to creative interpretation, but the ballroom samba has a "correct way" to do it. See the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__hJ7IFGSvg for a visual description. And see "2 Princes" http://www.youtube.com/user/SheilaLebedenko#p/u/37/RF6wNEWCY3E for a demo of some samba moves in action.

basic Brazilian samba:
timing = 1 a 2, 3 a 4 . . . (3/4, 1/4, 1)
1) hips: Start with 2 hip bounces on each side. (settle right hip =1, neutral = a, settle right hip = 2 ; settle left hip = 3, neutral = a, settle left hip = 4)
2)Leave the opposite foot in front (with the heel up), but put your weight on the back foot.
3)Start to turn that opposite foot in, out, in out, with each hip bounce. The whole leg will turn at the hip rotator; the knee and foot will always point in the same direction because the whole leg is turning as one unit.
4)In between each set of hip bounces, you will make a quick jump to switch your feet (the one in front moves to the back and vice versa.)
5) optional: You could step with each count so that 1 a 2 = RLR; 3a4 = LRL

alternative basic Brazilian samba:
timing = 1 & a 2 & a . . . (1/2, 1/4, 1/4)
1) footwork: Right, left, right; Left, right, left
2) footwork with timing: right = 1, left = &, right = a . . .
3) foot direction: forward, replace, together, forward, replace together
4) heel, hip rotator and hip bump movement: The forward step on whole counts "1" and "2" can be done on the heel. Because you have a half count, you have time to twist your heel and whole leg from inside to outside. As you are twisting it (move the whole leg as one unit- keep knee and toe in the same direction), put all your body weight onto your heel and bump that hip at the same time. This is not a fast, sharp bump, but an oozey, milky one. this is the part of the step where you take your time. The more time you take, the more hip movement you will get. Rob time from &a if you like. Your hip will make about a 1/4 of a circle (right hip- clockwise) (left hip- counterclockwise) during each whole count.
5) adding arms: only do so after you've mastered the first 4 parts. As you twist your left foot/leg/hip toward your left side, you left arm comes down- as if to come closer to the hip/leg and squeeze the left side of the ribcage. At the same time, the right arm is coming up, to open up the right side of the ribcage. Remember from a previous lesson, the hip works against the opposite ribcage.

Brazilian Axe step (the side to side step)
timing: 1 & a 2 & a
1) footwork: right, left right; left, right, left
2) footwork w/ timing: right = 1, left = &, right = a; left =2, right = &, left = a
3) foot direction:
a)start with feet shoulder width apart.
b)right foot out to side (a couple of inches), replace left foot, right returns to starting position (a couple inches to the left); Left foot out to side, replace right foot, left foot returns to starting position (a couple inches to the right)
4) foot angle:
   a) start with feet straight forward
   b) On whole numbers, foot and knee and whole leg 45 degree angle in toward the center
5) hip movement: RLR, LRL. On whole number counts (in bold),  put all your body weight onto onto that foot and hip bump up. The whole number counts have more time, will be accented and have more hip movement than the &a counts.
6) Arm movements: many choices: you can swing them from side to side, do waterfall/hair comb arms or paint in front of you.

(Brazilian and Ballroom) Batucada step: (moves backward)
timing: 1 & a 2 & a
1) footwork: RLR, LRL
2) foot direction: Right foot front, replace left foot, right foot back; Left foot front, replace right foot, left foot back
3) foot angle, body weight and hip movement: right foot front with 45 degree angle toward center. ALL of body weight on right foot. Push off of right foot until right foot can spring backward. As you push off, the right hip bumps up. If you have time, you can twist your foot and leg toward neutral to make a part of a hip circle.
4) The accent is on the front foot pushing off. The other steps have smaller hip bump movements.

Botafogo step (from ballroom samba)(not in video):
timing = 1 a 2, 3 a 4 . . .
1) footwork: R L R; L R L
2) Direction and body weight:
   a) Right foot diagonally across front (big step- ends on left side)
   b) Left foot goes to side of right foot (12-18 inches away)- Stay on ball of left foot- heel stays up. Put all body weight on Left foot.
   c) Replace right foot straight under you. Put body weight back on right foot.
   d) Repeat on other side.
3) hip/pelvic movement:
   a) As right foot crosses diagonally in front, pelvis sweeps up with an abdominal crunch. When right foot lands, right knee bends to absorb shock and right hip softly bumps up.
   b) As left foot goes out to side, left hip comes up.    Then there will be drama as the left hip comes back down to go into the pelvic sweep up for the next step to the other side.

Volta (from ballroom samba)
timing - a 1 a 2 a 1 a 2 . . .
footwork: L R L R L R
direction and body weight: Start standing on the left foot. Cross the right front in front and end a few inches to the left of the left foot. Place all your weight on the right foot. Then keep your weight on the right foot as you move the left foot 6-12 inches to the left and finally, place on your weight on the left. Repeat. Then try the other side.
hips: Make counterclockwise hip circles as you move to the left across the floor. Use you right foot and hip to push off as you move your left foot left. When your left foot hits the floor, squeeze your left inner thigh to pull you right foot across again.

Whisk (from ballroom samba)
timing - 1 a 2, 3 a 4 . . .
1)footwork - R L R, L R L
2)Direction and weight:
   a)move right to the right and put all your weight on it.
   b)move left foot in back of right foot; put all weight on left foot.
   c)Replace right foot a couple inches to the left. Put all weight on right foot.
3) Hips/pelvis movement
   a) Big Hip slide to the right on a) At the same time, raise left heel and push off with left ball of foot.
   b) Little hip slide to the left on b)
   c) Little hip slide to the right on c), but then deepen hip slide as you use you right foot and right hip push off to the left to start over on other side.

How can I protect my feet during Zumba? Shoes good for Zumba?

2011-12-07T16:26:00.001-08:00

To protect your feet during Zumba, first you need good shoes that support your foot, provide cushion, allow sliding and allow you to bend the sole of your foot. Avoid heavy shoes, like those used for basketball, for instance. Non-marking court safe shoes are important for many dance studio floors.
1) I do not recommend split sole jazz sneakers. Bloch Women's Boost Mesh Sneaker Dance Sneaker,Black,10.5 X(Medium) US I started out with them but quickly realized they had no side support. So when you trot sideways across the floor, you risk twisting your ankle.
2) I used to use Nike court shoes that are commonly used for hip hop. They have a wide flat sole and a pivot point on the bottom. I liked them for a long time, but they are a little bit stiff and don't allow maximum bending of the sole of your foot. They also caused a lot of friction and callouses on my toes.
3) I do recommend Nike Musique. Nike Women's Musique IV Dance Shoes (7.5) But they are for narrower feet and will fit narrow feet snugly. If you have wide feet, don't even bother. They have arch support, a smooth sole for less friction on twisting and a pivot point. They are quite flexible. They are marketed as a dance fitness shoe. If you are thinking of ordering online, I take the same size in Nike Musique that I take in any other Nike shoe. So you can try any Nike athletic shoe on in the store and order that size. Beware- there are different styles of Nike Musiques. Some have a little bit of mesh on the side. Others seem to be all leather. The all leather ones are smelly sweat chambers. Go for mesh ventilation if possible. I find these at DSW, Nordstram Rack clearance or on Ebay.
4) I also highly recommend Ryka Transitions. Ryka Women's Transition,Tyre Grey/Metallic Platinum/Metallic Baja Purple/White,10 M US
They are for average or wider feet. I have narrower feet and still wear them; they give me lots of toe room and keep the callouses away. It's good to be able to lift your toes up and wiggle them while you dance. You don't want scrunched up toes. The Ryka Transitions have the most flexible soles, which is great for stretch at the end of class. They also have fairly smooth bottoms and a pivot point. Again, some have more mesh ventilation than other styles. Look for the mesh. I found mine at DSW. Sizes do not run the same as Nikes. I wear a half size bigger in Ryka.
5) I just tried on Ryka Influence and liked them a lot. I bought a pair! They have good support, cool colors, a smooth, flexible sole, a pivot point and good ventilation. They have more cushioning than Ryka Transitions. However, after my studio refinished its floors the surface of the Ryka sticks to the wood. So I either need to use them with DanceSocks or save them for the tennis court now!
6) I also have two pairs of Zumba sneakers. Zumba Women's Z1 Dance Shoe,White,9 W US They do the job but really don't have as much support as Nike or Ryka Influence. They do have a lot of toe room and feel light. However, they do not protect your feet well from heavy impact such as when you jump a lot. If your zumba class is not real jumpy, these should be fine. The surface of the Zumba brand shoes work great with the refinished wood floors.
7) Due to the refinishing of our floors, I have been trying different shoes. And I found Asics Noosafast that I think look great, are ultra-light and flexible and react well with my floors.
8) Should you run into sticky floors or carpeted surfaces, keep some shoe gliders such as DanceSocks in your bag. They're cheap and will save you a lot of knee pain!

Here are some tips for your feet while you are dancing or even just walking:

1) Roll thru whole foot from heel to toe when you walk forward. Even when you do a merengue march, roll through the whole foot. When you take the backward step in the salsa basic, land on the ball of your foot and then settle into the heel. This is why flip flops are bad for your feet. People tend to walk flat in them instead of rolling through the foot.

2) Don't crash your foot into the floor. stop your foot before it reaches the floor or as it reaches the floor so the impact won't be hard and straining to your joints. The stop engages your muscles also.

3) Dance Latin style with high arches (heels up)- this not only looks good and mimics the high heel look of Latin dancing but stretches your foot at the same time.

4) When you push into the floor with the ball of your foot to get grounded and more hip movement, relax and toes and raise them up. Don't curl your toes inside your shoe. That would stress a lot of muscles in your foot. This is why it's good to have shoes with some toe room.

5) Incorporate foot stretching at the end of class. For example, during a hip flexor stretch, your back foot can have a very high arch, where you heel is all the way up and your toes can bend.

6)Get regular foot massages. Or stand and roll your foot over a tennis ball to give yourself a massage.

7) When you're tired in class and you stop paying attention, that's when you can get hurt. Always pay attention to what your feet are doing and know where you are putting them.

8) Don't try Zumba moves in high heels at a party. Dancer use special dance high heels, not just street shoe high heels.

How to do a Body Roll and a Corkscrew

2011-11-10T17:17:00.000-08:00

The most common technique question I get is, "How do you do the body roll?" It looks cool and everyone wants to be able to do it. You can if you break it down into just a few steps. But before you can body roll, you need to be able to move your pelvis back and forth and your chest back and forth. And before you can side roll you need to be able to move your ribcage from side to side. So view my blog entries on chest http://zumba-sheila-blog-learn.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-can-i-get-more-chest-movement.html and pelvis http://zumba-sheila-blog-learn.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-can-i-get-more-hip-and-pelvic.html before attempting body rolls! Of course everyone wants to run before they can walk, but it just won't work! When you're ready to learn the body roll, do each part slowly, one step at a time. Try it against a wall, peeling yourself away from the wall and back onto the wall. Then, away from the wall, gradually speed it up and remove the seams in between each step so that your roll is fluid. See video for help. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqjGyZcUG94

Backward body roll (more common than forward)
1) optional forehead first (full camel)
2) chest forward - can put weight on front foot (sometimes this part is eliminated)
3) shoulders back
4) bra strap back (leave pelvis forward)
5) return pelvis to neutral

Forward body roll
1) start neutral
2) pelvis forward
3) push abs forward (pelvis starts to transition to neutral)
4) push chest forwward (further pelvis transition)
5) return shoulders to neutral, all is neutral

teach back and forth between back and forward roll

Side roll
1) optional head tilts and drives right
2) left side becomes tense
3) rib cage slides right
4)pick body up
5) return to neutral
6) same on other side
(Reversing the side roll is the same as a side chest figure 8, shown in http://zumba-sheila-blog-learn.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-can-i-get-more-chest-movement.html

Corkscrew
A corkscrew is a combination of a chest circle and hip circle. They don't happen at exactly the same time; they are offset by 180 degrees.
1) Simultaneously chest slide to the right and hip slide to the left.
2) Simultaneously pop your chest forward (chest pop) and your booty backward (pelvic thrust)
3) Simultaneously chest slide to the left and hip slide to the right.
4) Simultaneously reverse chest pop (so your back humps) and pelvic thrust to bring your booty in.
5) Repeat or change direction.

How to Shake and Shimmy

2011-11-08T00:21:00.000-08:00

     Shimmies are rapid back and forth movements that create a vibration. Shimmies are often done during the climax of a song and can be the highlight of a dance fitness class. They can also remain a mystery for many students. There are many types of shimmies. Some are easy, but others can get a bit complicated.  They are, however, worth practicing because they are SUPER FUN! Below I've described how to do a variety of shimmies. Definitely see the video for clarification. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_Ya5O7WR2g

Hip Bump Shimmy- hip bump- gradually increase speed and reduce size of bump
     Walking Hip Bump Shimmy - Step forward or backward every 1 or 2 counts. (When one hip is up, the other leg is free to move. Try is slowly first. Gradually work up to the speed of a shimmy.) This has a real belly dance feel. It can be zigzagged or done in a choo choo train with your friends.
     Stationary Side to Side Hip Bump Shimmy - common in Zumba.   transfer weight between right foot and left foot every 1, 2, or 4 beats while maintaining hip shimmy
     Double Hip Bump Shimmies (hard soft, hard soft) . Do two hip bumps on one side, but the first will be hard and sharp, and the second will be soft and gentle, like an echo or reverb of the first bump. Do the same on the other side. A bachata step with a double shimmy is one of my favorite moves!
     One-Sided double hip bump shimmy - Put most of your weight on one leg. Hip bump with the opposite hip. Do 2 bumps to the right and 2 bumps to the left. Switch from right to left by turning your hip rotator. Pick up speed to a shimmy by pressing down with the ball of your foot (same side as working hip) into the floor with each bump.

Knee Shimmy - bend knees- Alternate moving knees back and forth. While one knee is bent, the other is almost straight, but not completely locked.  Your knees will feel like they are running back and forth.   Gradually increase your speed. (common in belly dance)

Hip Drop Shimmy - timing = 1 2+a, 3 4+a Start by practicing hip drops. Raise your hip up and lower it on the accent. They are the opposite of hip bumps. Now stand on one foot while you do hip drops with your opposite hip. After practicing that, try the hip drop shimmy pattern: On 1: Drop hip and it springs back up. On 2: Gently swing hip to the other side- could be slide or gentle bump. On +: Gently swing hip to the other side again. On a: Gently swing hip to the other side again and higher up until you're ready for 1 or 3, to start over again. So "a" blends into "1" or "3." On 1 and 3, make sure your weight is on the foot that is opposite to the hip that is up. During "2+a," you will slowly shift your weight to the opposite foot.
     Overturned Hip Drop Shimmy - Turn 90 degrees on 1 and 3, so that the hip that is up will be in front. I do this move in my Pitbull Krazy routine, seen on YouTube.

Bounce Shimmy= Bend and almost straighten (but do not lock) your knees at the same time so that your body goes up and down. The movement is very small so you can do it as fast as you can.  Everything will shake, even your cheeks.

Hip Twist Shimmy - described in hip twist section of "How can I get more hip/pelvic movement?" (Hips are rotating around spine. Notice how your legs and knees are turning with your hips.)
     Double Hip Twist Shimmy Do two hip twists on each side, but make the second a gentle reverb of the first. Start backward and accent as the twist comes forward. Tap the foot on the first twist (same foot as hip). Keep the foot pointed in the same direction as the knee, which moves along with your hip. Expose your inner thigh toward your imaginary audience in front of you.

Football Run - I've seen football players do this for warmup. Start running in place. Take away in hop of jump so that your head is not going up and down (it stays flat). Gradually move your feet faster and faster. It will make your booty feel like jiggly jello. You could keep your booty tucked in or stick it out during this move, depending on the look you want. If you stick it out, make sure you keep your abs pulled in tight and your chest up. Otherwise, you could hurt your back.

Hip & Chest Slide Shimmy - Timing - 1+2, 3+4 (accent on 1, 3) Slide your chest right left right, left right left, so the accent is on the bold print word. "+2" will be a reverb of the accent, much gentler. At the same time, do a hip slide in the opposite direction of your chest slide: left right left, right left right

Shoulder Shimmy - explained in "How can I get more chest movement?"

Wow! That's a lot of different types of shimmies. You could probably make up one of your own now! All you need are the basic elements taught in my hip and chest blogs.

Advanced Chest Movements

2011-11-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

If you've already mastered the 3 basic chest movements I described in "How to get more chest movement," then you're in the right place. Now let's discuss
chest circles, chest V's, U's and chest figure 8's. The visual and audio are in the video "Advanced Chest Movements." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duqCGqtYh9I

Chest Circles
     Chest circles are a combination of chest slides and chest pops. You can do a vertical or a horizontal circle.
     vertical chest circle
          Start by sliding your chest to the right.  Second, do a chest pop from this position, rather than from neutral. Third, while your chest is still popped up, slide your chest to the left. Fourth, while your chest is still left, lower it, but don't slouch or round your back.  Finally, slide to the right until you come to neutral, or repeat. Repeat to the other side. Start slow and choppy. Gradually, pick up speed and smooth all your transitions until your chest circle is fluid.
     horizontal chest circle
          Again start by sliding your chest to the right. Second, overtend your chest pop forward so that you can feel your shoulder blades squeezing behind you. Third, slide left, Fourth, slouch or round out your back. Finally, slide right and repeat.

Chest V's or U's
     Chest V's are caused by a chest slide and chest pop happening simultaneously. However, rather than going straight up or straight to the side, take your chest diagonally up, then diagonally down back to neutral. Repeat on the other side.
     Chest U's rounder at the bottom, caused by a small amount of chest slide at the bottom of your U.

Chest Figure 8's
     Side figure 8's look like monkey arms or snake arms. Your chest slides to the right, then side slumps gently downward, then slides diagonally up to the left, then side slumps slightly downward. Repeat. Your ribcage leads the movement, and your arms follow. The order of movement is ribcage, elbow, wrist, fingers
     Backward figure 8's with shoulder rolls are common in Zumba. They combine chest slide with chest twist. Trying sliding and twisting simultaneosly. It's much easier if you roll your shoulders backward at the same time.
     There are also horizontal and vertical chest figure 8's, but these are seldom used in Zumba. They are related to the horizontal and vertical chest circles. Draw a figure 8 with your chest, rather than a circle.

Body rolls
   Body rolls are a combination of chest and hip/pelvic movement and explained in http://zumba-sheila-blog-learn.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-to-do-body-roll-and-corkscrew.html

How can I get more chest movement?

2011-10-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

Moving the chest is new to many dance exercise or Zumba students. It's not uncommon to see students moving their arms or hips instead, when they're trying to move their chest. Some women think they can't see their chest movement because they have small chests. The truth is, you don't need a large chest to move it, chest size has nothing to do with the skeleton and muscles that are moving the chest, so even a flat chested person can achieve dramatic chest movement. Three basic chest movements are described below and shown on the video. http://www.youtube.com/user/SheilaLebedenko#p/u/6/phHF__qdvU0
I will also show stretches for these 3 basic movements. The more flexible you become with these 3 stretches, the more dramatic your chest movement will be. These 3 basic movements can also be combined to make chest circles, figure 8's, and V's. Actually, you can use your chest to draw any letter in the alphabet!

Chest pop (forward and back)
     Try using the imagery of sitting in a chair to learn how to pop your chest. Most people love to slump while sitting. So grab a chair. Then slump, and sit up straight. Slump, sit straight, slump, sit straight. Keep repeating. Focus on what is happening to your chest as you do this natural movement. Your pelvis will also move, but just focus on your chest for now. This practice focuses on the backward part of the chest pop (from neutral to backward,) which is the easiest for new students to understand. The next part, lying on the floor, will focus on the front part of the chest pop.
     Now try lying on your back on the floor. In a neutral position, you should not be able to fit your hand under your midback (where the lady's bra strap is). Now lift your mid back just enough to place your hand underneath. Switch back and forth between these two positions several times. Notice your chest and back moving. This practice takes you from neutral to chest pop forward. Imagine how you will do the same movement standing up.
     Now try the chest pop standing up. Imagine a string is tied to your sternum. Now pull it forward. To reverse the movement, imagine using your finger to poke your sternum backward.
When your sternum is moving forward, think about squeezing your shoulder blades together. When your sternum is moving backward, think about stretching your shoulder blades apart. You can pass through neutral each time, especially in a more energetic dance, or you can stop at neutral and only do the front part of the chest pop (belly dance style)
     After you've come this far, you can add arms. For a dramatic look, You could pull your arms backward as your chest moves forward, and vice versa. You could also do chest fly arms where your arms come apart as your chest moves forward and back together as your chest moves backward.
    A great stretch to improve your chest pop can be done at the bar or holding on to the back of a sturdy chair. First, stand with your back to the bar. Place your arms behind you, holding on to the bar. Imagine you are at the tip of the Titanic, flying in the breeze. Let your sternum fall forward. Let your shoulder blades squeeze behind you. Hold for 30-60 seconds. Now turn around and face the bar. Holding on to the bar, keep your pelvis forward, but let your midback fall straight backward. You can also do these two stretches on your hands and knees as a reverse cat stretch and a cat stretch.

Chest slide (or ribcage slide) (side to side)
     First, assume a side lying position on the floor. Prop yourself up with your forearm. Your shoulder will pop up, and gravity will let the downward side of your ribcage stretch to the floor. Consciously lower your shoulder so your neck is lengthened. This is the position you are seeking when you are vertical, without the assistance of gravity. For an exercise, lift your ribcage to neutral and return to downward position, repeating several times. Then repeat on the other side. Feel the difference between your ribcage stretched to the side and the neutral position that you're always in. When you are lying down, the stretched position is easier, due to gravity. Many people who think they can't chest slide standing up do it fine lying down. But if you can do it lying down, you can do it standing up! Transfer the feeling from a horizontal to vertical position.
     Now try it standing up. Imagine a string is tied to your ribs, one on each side, right where a woman's bra would be. Remember your floor work and imagine someone is pulling the string to the right, then the left. The hips should not move.
     One student couldn't chest slide side to side until I asked her to keep her arms straight and reach to the right, then the left. Then she did it. If that helps you, try it! Once you can do it, you can try different arm movements along with it, such as bending your arms at the elbow and extending your opposite arm away from the direction of chest movement.

Chest twist (or shoulder shimmy)
Many students think we're shaking and showing off our goodies during this move, but it's actually a spinal movement. Of course, your breasts will go along for the ride. Imagine a coffee cup holder on your spinal vertebra, midback, where a lady's bra strap would be. Imagine someone is turning the holder, making your chest and shoulders twist from side to side. Your chest and shoulders will rotate around your spine. You probably do this all the time while driving and backing up out of your driveway (twisting to the right), unless you have a rearview camera and never look backward! Technology can make us lazy! Start with slow, small movements. Gradually make the movements bigger. Then gradually make them faster. As you get faster, the movements will get smaller for want of time. The fast movement is called a shoulder shimmy.
     You can stretch to prepare for chest twists by sitting in your chair, holding on to the back, and twisting to look over each shoulder.

Advanced chest movements (next blog entry)
     Chest circles
     Chest V's, U's
     Sideways Figure 8's
     Backward/Forward Figure 8's

How can I get more hip and pelvic movement?

2011-10-28T00:25:00.000-07:00

Every student wants to move their hips and pelvis like the instructor. Here are the directions you need, but remember, besides know-how, you need flexibility. So always stretch your hips after your workout, when your muscles are warm, for increased flexibility at your next dance session.  At the end of each hip movement section below, I have included a stretch that goes with it. I will also show the movement on a skeletal hip joint model in the video http://www.youtube.com/user/SheilaLebedenko?feature=mhee#p/u/6/UpmOsE8yE8A

Hip bump
     The hip bump is the first of many hip articulations extremely common in Zumba, in almost every type of rhythm. Bring the femur or thigh bone up into the hip socket. Imagine you're bored, waiting at the bus stop.
     While we could do this with straight legs for a particular look, we usually bend our knees to do this movement.
     Most students do well up to here, but I seldom see a student who couldn't learn from the next suggestion.
Focus on the foot of the hip you want to bump up and press down with the ball of that foot into floor. While everyone sees your hip going up, up, up, you should actually be thinking "My foot is going down, down, down." This alone will increase your hip movement and caloric output significantly.
     After you've put your miles into practicing the hip bump and feel confident with your hip bump, an advanced ad-on is to focus on your the side of your chest opposite to your working hip. You'll look more dramatic by working your chest in opposition to your hip. For example, a right hip bump happens at the same time as a rib cage slide to the left.
     A great stretch to work on your hip bump is an s-shaped cleopatra pose. Make sure your nose is alligned over your navel; that's how you know you're standing up straight.

Hip slide
     This hip movement reminds me of a motorized Santa Claus display figure that moves its hips from side to side to beckon you into the Christmas ornament shop.
     The most common mistake I have seen with the hip slide is that students will do a chest slide instead, or a hip slide when they're supposed to be doing the chest slide.
     To learn the hip slide, try doing a simple side plank on the floor. Hold up only your side with your forearm. Leave your hip and legs on the floor. Now lift up only your hip to make the side plank a little more difficult. Release and lift. This is a hip slide. Try it on both sides and memorize the feeling so you can repeat it standing up.
     When standing up, imagine someone someone is pulling a string attached to side of your hip, one side at a time. And remember that when you slide to the right, your body weight transfers slightly more to your right foot, and vice versa.
     A great stretch to work on your hip slide is to stand with your left side to the bar, left arm extended, feet under your arm pits - or close to it. Raise your right arm over your head and point your right hand toward the wall with the bar. Let your entire right side stretch to the right, like it's falling away from the bar. Even your hip will slide to the right, just like in a hip slide. Your right arm stretching to the left will counterbalance your right hip moving right, so you won't fall over. Repeat on both sides.

Hip twist
     This is common in belly dance. Try practicing on the floor first. Lie on your left side with your knees together, right left on top of left leg. Then bring your right knee forward onto the floor. Now bring your right knee back to neutral (on top of the left knee) and then backward till it is several inches above and to the right of your left knee. Repeat on the other side and memorize the feeling so you can do it standing up.

     To me a hip twist feels like rolling a snake out of play-doh. My hips are the play doh. Imagine there is a coffee cup holder on one of your lower spinal vertebrae. Then someone uses the holder to turn you from side to side. Try to isolate your lower body; keep your upper body still while learning the movement. Your waist will be turning and working. Even your thighs and knees will turn gently. Your feet will gently roll from side to side and give you a wonderful foot massage if you focus on pressing them (not the toes- don't curl your toes) into the floor  But try not to move your hands (unless you're imagining rolling the play-doh snake.)
     A great stretch for your hip twist is to sit on the floor, lets straight in front of you. Raise one knee and cross over the other leg so that you knee touches the floor. Feel the twist. Repeat on the other side.

Hip rotator
     Rotation joint movement is common in samba and hip hop and any Latin move where you want to make an extreme figure 8 movement. Overall, students seem to be successful at the basic movement, turning the leg from side to side at the hip joint. But I have both a safety tip and a power tip:
     safety - Always keep your knee and toes pointing in the same direction! Some people think they can't do this move because it will hurt their knees, but this movement has nothing to do with the knees- it just looks like it does. Only your hip rotator is moving, not your knees. If you don't keep your knees aligned with your toes, you could torque your knee. This safety tip is much easier to follow if you have proper shoes, with smooth, low tread soles and a pivot point, such as Nike Musique or Ryka Transitions.
     power - Since you're usually only in class for an hour, let's not waste any time with floppy, lower calorie burning movements. Press the ball of your foot (keep your toes up, not curled) into the floor as it twists from side to side, as if you want to squish a cockroach. You'll use your muscles more, make more dramatic movements and have better control over your movement to protect your knees if you follow the "cockroach" advice. There is a Latin dance movement called the "cucaracha," which is based on this piece of technique.

Pelvic rock
     Pelvis movement is very common in Zumba! You'll need this to do a body roll, which I'll explain in another blog post. Some consider the pelvic rock "dirty" or inappropriate. This is unfortunate because it's an extremely healthy movement and great for you back and abs. Don't be ashamed. Those who don't practice moving their pelvis will only grow older faster.
     Practice on a chair. Sit up straight. Then slouch. Go back and forth between these two movements. Everyone knows how to do both of those, though they may slouch more than sit straight! After a minute, try to focus on the pelvis and less on the chest. Slouching involves lowering your chest too, but try to isolate just pelvic movement. Memorize the feeling of your pelvic movement by repeating several times.
     Practice on the floor. Relax and notice how you can place you hand under the small of your back. Now the bottom of your pelvis is tilted back and the top is tilted forward. Now press the small of your back into the floor so that your hand can't fit underneath anymore. (This is the correct position for abdominal work by the way.) Go back and forth between these 2 positions. Memorize the feeling in your muscle memory so that you can do the same movement standing up.
     Variation: If I swing my upper body back and forth and the same time as the pelvic movement (upper body forward when the bottom of the pelvis goes back and vice versa), I'll get a different look that really engages the ab muscles. I use it a lot for calypso or even hip hop.

Knee raise/swing back
     Your hip joint lets you move your knee up and down as well. I won't focus on that because students are generally great at it! Just lift your knees higher to get more workout!  Hug your knee up to your chest for a good stretch. The opposite, swinging your knee backward will stretch your hip flexor. Grab your foot behind you and feel a great stretch through your thigh and hip flexor.

Conclusion
     Yes, there's a lot of information here. The video, coming soon, will help you by letting you watch segments over and over to practice. This blog entry will be the script for my video. In another blog entry, I will show advanced hip movements that involve combinations of the above elements, such as circles, figure 8's and shimmies. Let me know if you have any questions.

Why do I get abdominal cramps during Zumba?

2011-10-19T00:43:00.000-07:00

Several students have asked me what to do about cramps that start in the middle of Zumba. That's the last thing you want. You're here to have fun and get a workout, not get sick! If I eat too much too close to Zumba, I will cramp. If I have a class at 6:30PM, I eat half of my dinner (the non-fatty, digestible part) at 5PM, the other half after Zumba. But students who follow this rule still get cramps. Gyration will speed up your digestive process and bowel movements. It's not uncommon to have to run to the bathroom in the middle of class. If it's not your bowels calling, Some will say cramps arise because you're not breathing rhythmically, or you're dehydrated or you didn't stretch enough, or get enough potassium.
http://www.ehow.com/about_5476768_abdominal-cramps-exercise.html
Perhaps lactic acid built up. Any of these could be your culprit. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_happening_in_your_body_when_muscles_burn_or_develop_cramps_during_strenuous_exercise
However, I can tell you, if it's none of the above, it's lack of control at the core. Hold those abs in. Otherwise, you'll be shaking up your internal organs as well as your external goodies. If I let my stomach hang out and still did all those shimmies, I'd get cramps too. Yes, you can still breathe while you're holding your abs in. Hold your abs in all day too, not just for dancing. Develop the habit! Controlling your abs will save your back too!