havana nights

tonight i went to a new zumba class. for starters, i've been taking zumba for probably about four years now, off and on, and with a few different instructors. it's so much fun and has definitely loosened up this ex-ballerina. latin dance + hip hop is basically always a win in my book. surprisingly, i'm actually rather good at zumba. one of my prouder moments was during a class a few years ago when a man next to me wearing tighter workout pants than i will ever own and a legit sweatband stopped what he was doing and said to me "girl, you're tall, but you sure can shake it." um, thank you? i'll take that as a compliment.

that said, i fearlessly walked in to tonight's class with all the confidence in the world. as a disclaimer, i'm not terribly confident at the gym in general. i don't like weight rooms or classes with words like "blast" or "turbo" in them. i don't ever want to incorporate a tire into my workout and i think there's a reason that "burpee" sounds like a noise you make right before you vomit. i don't pretend to be hardcore. but when it comes to zumba, i'm good to go. i don't usually have trouble keeping up.

but then there was this class.

with the latin instructor wearing flames printed up the sides of her pants. who kept shouting commands in spanish and was impossible to see. where 60% of the other women in the class were latin. with literal non-stop salsa music and faster moves than i've ever seen. with no breaks or tutorials or overviews. where i faced the front when everyone else faced back and vice-versa. where i had to resort to trying to emulate the lovely latino girl in front of me with the backless shirt and the remarkably impressive beyonce booty shake.

at the end of the class, i thought it would be a good idea to talk to the instructor. for the record, her makeup still looked perfect and she was barely sweaty. she was painfully pretty and spoke with a heavy spanish accent. here's how it went basically:

me: "hi, this is my first class and i really enjoyed it! i've taken zumba before, but this is a little faster-paced than i'm used to. how long does it usually take newcomers to catch up?"

señorita: "you never dance before? that's okay. you can't keep up, you just march."(demonstrates marching in place for my benefit)

me: "well, no, i've actually danced my whole life. and i never usually have trouble keeping up in zumba. this is just a lot faster and different than i'm used to. how many combinations do you have in rotation on a regular basis?"

señorita: "that's okay you just practice." (gives me a sad, sympathetic once-over) "wow... look at you. you sweaty."


muchas gracias.

image via @glamourouscitylights on tumblr