Recent Zumba class reviews

So a little late is better than never right? Here is a run down of recent Zumba classes I attended....

1. I went to a class with my friend at O2 Fitness in Chapel Hill and an instructor named Aaron Edwards taught the class. I have to say. Whew! That girl can move. She reminds me a lot of Luci but blonde :) Anyways, it was a blast. I had to stand behind my friend so I happened to be right in the middle of class. Having been the first time I attended that class, I was nervous since I wouldn't know her dances. Luckily her moves made sense and I could follow. I would totally attend this class on a regular basis, however, this was her last class being taught in the Triangle. She is moving out of state. Sigh... A personal favorite was some song that had the words "take your shirt off" repeatedly in it. It was kinda neat because she did a move that kinda looked like taking your shirt off. It was rather liberating! haha.

2. The same week I attended a class with a friend at Lifestyle Fitness in Apex. Wow, I was impressed with the facility. The staff were super friendly, it was a large building with lots of machines with personal TVs on them and the group fitness room was the perfect size for a rock star performing Zumba instructor. I'm not sure who usually teaches the class there, but a sub named Julia taught this particular day. The good news is I did break a sweat and a lot of people seemed to be having fun. However, it was completely different from what I'm used to. You know how I've referenced those "cheesy" songs that sound like they may have come off of some Zumba CD, and you know how I love "booty shakin'" songs? Yeh... well you get the point.

If you were a beginner and wanted to learn the basic steps of salsa, merengue and other latin dance moves, you might be able to pick them up with this instructor. However, there was a lot of repetition and not a lot of moves that flowed well from one to another. I was also surprised with a song was repeated later that we had already done.  Anyways, some people seemed to love it and that's all that mattered.

3. I attended a class just the other night at the Brightleaf club house in Durham. While it was a tiny dance floor, it seemed to be just the perfect size for the number of people attending the class. I was excited to try out this class because I checked out this instructor's Web site before I visited her class. She looked spunky based on her profile and a video of a Zumba event she participated in.

Half of the small class had never attended Zumba before. She seemed to cater to that group with her routines. For my cautious Zumba beginner friends out there, I would recommend this class. She will begin teaching on Tuesdays next week. She taught on Monday of this week. Her class time is 7. She does a lot of basic routines that are easy to follow. If you are move advanced, I would recommend you stick with your favorites or the ones I attend led by my favorite Zumba gals! :)

Oh I almost forgot, the instructor over at Brightleaf is Alicia Betancourt.

4. Last but certainly not least, I went over to Infuzion last night to attend class usually taught by one of my favorite Zumba gals (Angela Howell: review to come later on her and my other favorite gals). I was pleasantly surprised to see a sub, the infamous Gaby Zinn. I knew the class would be fun as I attended one of Gaby's classes before over at Meadowmont. This class was a blast! Gaby, well let's just say, another ball of energy, does a lot of authentic latin dance steps in her class. That is what I love about her. I mean I did start out with Zumba because of my love of Salsa dancing! But, even better, she threw in a few hip hop moves/songs here and there. All in all, a great time was had by all in the class. Of course we miss Angela, as she is a favorite, but if we can't have Angela, well we were treated well! I am going to try to attend more of Gaby's classes at other times. :)

So there you have it... recent reviews of others' classes. Hope I didn't leave you too confused. One is great for beginners, the other is great for beginners or more advanced dancers.

BTW, hey ya'll.... do you have any of your own beginner classes to recommend? I have quite a few friends who want to try out Zumba but are looking for pretty basic beginner style classes. If you do, please comment on this post.

Thanks!!