The latest craze to hit out shores!

Zumba is the latest phenomenon to hit Oz. Zumba is a fusion of latin inspired dance workout that creates a dynamic, exciting and effective fitness system!

My first experience of Zumba started about a month ago, my sister, mother and I headed off to the sport centre to try out this new craze. We did not know what to expect other than what we had seen on recent TV commericals. I expected to see gym fanatics, or even teenie poppers! But instead found myself in a room full of over eager 60-70years old women!

I'm not even sure how to begin describing my zumba experience over the next hour. The closest description I can come up with is that it was a zumba exorcism. Now imagine your grandmother or great grandmother screaming, shaking, sweating, gyrating, panting and flailing all over the place. Boy was it an experience, one that would haunt me for the next month. My sister and I kept sneaking panicked/ amused glances to one another the entire class. These grannies were exerting more energy screaming then they were moving their bodies. I could not concentrate on anything other than this over eager, 60 year old Asian female trying to shake her hips like Shakira and I mean TRYING to! It was more like she was experiencing an electric shock all while bouncing up and down, while hyperventilating! I suppose she was trying to find her own path to her inner Shakira!

I'm somewhat curvy and definitely have hips and thighs, so as i became more comfortable with the insane choreography our instructor was teaching us, I braved a look into the mirrors to see what i looked like. BIG MISTAKE. Being on the front row allows you to see every move you make- it wasn't a pretty sight people. I was dong my best to keep up with the instructor, but every time she yelled to me "SHAKE IT" I could not managed to "GIGGLE IT" At one point I swear i am not exaggerating here- My sister can back me up, she forced us to spread our legs apart as if we were doing a pile style squat. We then had to plant our hands on the ground in front of us. In case you are having a hard time picturing this- my feet were on the ground, my hands were on the ground and my butt was STRAIGHT IN THE AIR! we then proceeded to "shake it" up and down for 16 counts - which felt like about an hour! Now remember i was in the front row! to say i was mortified would be an understatement. I had to resist the urge to turn to the granny behind me and apologies. I have some serious junk in my trunk and i cant imagine what it was like for the cute little granny behind me. I also did a quick little glance to my crotch and to my horror I had a tiny hole that was expanding ever so fast as we giggle our cha cha! glancing back at granny to cute, who i had hoped did not notice was smiling at me with her two front teeth missing! As 9 o'clock approach I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel! I figured the warm down session would be next. But boy was i wrong! Somehow, this crazy women (the instructor) managed to cram 3 songs into the remaining 6 minutes of class- and she actually increased her enthusiasm! She was literally in my face screaming for everyone to "shake it", "move it", and "let me hear you." The class finally came to end and I am almost positive that every granny left feeling as if they barely escaped with only a shred of dignity left. I would definately recommend you try out Zumba with your girlfriends if not for the experience but for a laugh!

- By Severine Duval