Zumba!

The last time I was back in Canada I fell in love...no I became obsessed with Zumba (**I'll explain what this is at the end if you don't know but escentially it's areobic dancing and super fun and awesome). While I was there I was only able to attend 5 classes but that was enough to get me hooked. Hooked!

When I got back I immediately started looking for where I could do Zumba in Muscat and through looking on the internet (useless as of September anyway) and talking to people who might have talked to other people who might maybe know where there was some Zumba classes I found some.

I went to the gym and checked it out. It was clean and offered some other classes as well. The cost per class is 3 OR. While 3 OR doesn't sound like very much to put things into perspective my classes in Canada cost $4 which is 1.5 OR.

I went to my first class in Muscat the very same week and was super excited.

I wondered if the songs would be the same, if we would do the same moves, if it would be totally awesome like it was in Canada.

My hopes and expectations were high.

I got there 10 minutes early so that I could pay for my class and maybe talk to some of the other women and whatnot, but it wasn't as social as I thought it might be.

As the starting time for the class approached and there were about 5 women all standing around the instructor came and said that we would be waiting another 10 minutes for women who might be late. What about the 5 of us who are on time? That's not particularly fair, I don't think.

So more standing around waiting and some more women did trickle in and the class got quite full.

We started dancing and it was fun, but it wasn't as fast paced and the moves were very hippy instead of full body movement which is what Zumba is technically supposed to be about. It's supposed to be full body toning through dance.

And while it's fun to try something new, I think that Western people have some issues with hip movement because all our dances are mostly leg and arm based, examples: ballroom, disco, line, ballet, the hokey pokey, etc.

Which is why, for me anyway it was so frustrating to be corrected by the instructor about a thousand times. Ok it wasn't that many but like come on, I'm not Latina, Philipina, Indian or anyone else who would be used to bellydancing and hip rolling. It's so unnatural for ...I don't want to generize and say white people...but yeah, I guess white people...unless their profession is dancing but then that takes years of learning and practice.

Back to the class, it ended at about 45 minutes and I was expecting a full hour so I was bit disappointed about that.

I thought maybe it would only go 45 minutes that first class because we started late and I think there was another class starting shortly after Zumba ended, but I've been a few times and it was the same.

Speaking of samey-ness Waka Waka by Shakira...my lord. There are so many great Zumba songs out there, why is this the one we have to practice (yeah practice like we'll be preforming it on November 18th for the Sultan) 10 times in one session? In Canada my class did Waka Waka by Shakira every class but only once and then we would move on to different songs.

Alright. So it was fun but not as much fun as it was in Canada and so I'm not sure that I'll go again. I've heard there's other gyms that do Zumba, like Horizon in Azaiba, Fit Body in Shatti and there's rumours of classes at PDO but I'm guessing you have to be a PDO member to go to them.

I'd still recommend that you go just to check it out if you're a woman (it's usually ladies only here) because it is fun and maybe if I hadn't had such a wicked Zumba experience in Canada I wouldn't be so spoiled and ruined for all other Zumba classes for the rest of my life.

I'm being dramatic! and yet I'm serious at the same time.

** What is Zumba other then areobic dancing, it's dance that incorporates Latin, African, Hip Hop, Salsa, Belly dancing, and all kinds of cool stuff. It's supposed to tone the body all over while having a really fun time dancing.

Here's a video-



It's easier then it looks :)