Happy New Year!!

2011 has been a very exciting year for me. It's been a year ful of zumba and great adventures! Just this morning, I attended a New Year's Zumba event at the gym.

No doubt, that the picture of the year is this one:


Me & Beto - October 1st. 2011

In 2011 I decided that I would be my own motivation!!! But after meeting Beto, I must say... This picture will be my motivation. No, I'm not an instructor and I have no desire to become one at the moment.... But this past year, a lot of people have encouraged me to become one. And I won't forget that! I think I could become a great instructor, but for now, I just enjoy being a regular zumbanista ;)

2011 was also the year that I discovered Salsa freestyle. Salsa without a partner. Something that I had been longing for, as I have no desire in dancing with a stranger. To my luck, the gym I contacted, was giving a free salsa freestyle class, at it was something new they would ve offering, and they were testing the instructor that day! I've now been dancing salsa freestyle fir 6 months!

2011 was sadly also the year that my favorite zumba instructor moved to Brazil. Luckily he has connections here in Denmark, so he will come back from time to time and promised to give us zumba classes whenever he's back. He has already been back this December and gave us 12x2 classes. It was intense, cause he knows we like it that way. I lost 3kg!

2011 was also the year that my parents celebrated their 25th. Anniversary.

I hope that 2012 will be just a s good year as 2011 or better. Monday, January 2nd. I already made sure something exciting will happen. My salsa instructor wrote to me, that his brother was in town. He's a zumba instructor from Guatemala, who normaly lives in Norway. My salsa instructor knows how much I'm into Zumba, so he asked me if I could invite some other zumbanistas for some zumba classes with his brother, while he's in town. So Monday we'll be having zumba at the party room of my work.. I can't wait to see what kind of coreographs a latin dancer from Guatemala will come up with! We need more male, latin instructors in Scandinavia.

Happy New Year 2012!!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Zumba is keeping me busy this Christmas!

I know it may seem as if I'm neglecting this blog... But the reason is. I'm super, super busy with zumba. Today is the first day in 11 days that I'm having a break from zumba.

My favorite zumba instructor is back and giving two hours of high impact zumba almost every day. We all know that it's the season for fattening food, candy and cookies, so 2 hours of zumba every day is the best cure for a slow metabolism! Zumba is the way to get through Christmas without gaining weight! I love it!

I have so many things to blog about, but no time. My instructor will leave for Brazil again next week, so I only have 3 more days of zumba with him. I realy hope he will be back soon, cause he is the best of all! Today he's giving master class and workshop for the dance and zumba instructors of the gym I go to now, so I hope he will teach them well!

Since today is the first day in a long time with nothing scheduled for me, I think it's time for me to get on my bike and go to the mall. I see other people shopping every day, so I guess I better start, too.

6 hours of Zumba in 1 day and excitng news!!

I thought I made a blog post about this earlier, but I guess my blogger app did not save it.

Well, today I'm off to another zumba event. This time it's staring one of the male dancers from the danish "Dancing with the stars," Thomas Evers Poulsen along with the busy zumba/ Masala Bhangra etc. Instructor, Dennis Thomsen. They will have 3-4 local instructors do the warm up. Including my new instructor.

I'm about to start off the busy day with 2 normal zumba classes at the gym, then straight to the other event, having just 30 minutes to change and get there. Today I'm not gonna be fanatic about the time as I have 6 hours and should be able to take it slow.

Las night I joined up with 4 of the women from my old zumba team for a dinner/ zumba party. Well we ate too much to do zumba, but we had a realy great time and will do zumba next time. We used the party to catch up on some of the music and moves taught to us by our favorite instructor who's currently teaching samba in Brazil. He'll be back toteach us some new moves, some awesome music and just tell us all about his new life in Brazil. We all miss him so much and can't wait to have him back. I, of course, signed up for every single one of his classes!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Halloween and Zumba in the dark

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

I've been busy as always.. I already knew that October was going to be a very busy month because I had 3 big Zumba events that I signed up for. Today is the last day in October. October 31st. - Halloween and yesterday I was at a "Zumba in the Dark" event. I did not expect it to be in the Halloween spirit, but was pleasently surprised when we arived in the arena and saw the stairs being covered in spiders and spider's web. It was a charity event to raise money for kids at the local hospital, diagnosed with cancer. I never saw so many cool decorations at a zumba event before. I forgot to bring my camera, so these are the pictures I was able to take with my iphone.

My new instructor was one of the instructors at the event. Among other instructors was also a woman named Vicki Jo, who has been in our "Dancing with the Stars." Sadly the stage was too short, which always seem to be the case when it comes to zumba events in big arenas. If there are a lot of people there, chances are, you will only get to see the instructors from the waist and up. Anyway, while taking a short break, my instructor came and asked me if I wanted to join her on stage along with some of the other women from her classes. When I heard which song we would be kicking it to, I said ok. It was a boxing version she did to Destiny's Child's "Survivor." I think we were 10 people on stage just shadow boxing... But giving it all our energy. Which is why my arms and back is quite sore today.  It was my first time on a zumba stage, so I'm sure I tried my best to beat the heck out of my invisible enemy. I did go to to hours zumba the next morning, but felt the need to stay at home from latin mix and dance fit tonight. My back simply needs more streching.

Here are some pictures of all of us on stage, that someone posted on facebook http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150381633388530.370299.523803529&type=3

We got some realy nice goodie bags. They were black gym backs with "Zumba in the dark 2011" printed on them. Inside was a bottle of water, an apple, a pen and some realy nice running socks. I always use running socks for zumba. The kind that has mesh on top, so that my feet can breathe.

This morning I saw that Nathan Blake posted his video from the "Pink Saturday" event here in Denmark. you can't realy see me in there, but I am in it for a split second.

I've decided not to go to the zumba class I normaly go to Thursday afternoon. I'm starting to get bored with the same routines over and over again. Seriously, that one instructor has been doing the same routines for months now. It sucks. So I decided to do zumba at home. But then the instructor I have Friday and Sunday said that she will start having classes Thursday at 4 PM! It's perfect! I'll exchange bad zumba with good zumba. Cause like we say... "Life is too short for bad Zumba!" Remember my old zumba class with the Brazilian instructor? Well, a lot of the women were walking around not knowing where they should sign up for new zumba classes. I told them my experiences with good and bad instructors and it has resulted in 11 of us now being in the same gym taking zumba classes together. I like it that we still manage to stay in touch even after our favorite instructor moved to Brazil. I created a facebook group that we use to talk about zumba and that's how we stayed in touch. Our Brazilian instructor is going to visit the country again 14 days in December and he said he would love to do some hard core zumba with us again!! Now we're all waiting for that. He is so talented and we miss him dearly, so it's good to know that he hasn't forgotten about us.

Because there are so many from our old zumba team at the new gym, the instructor is using more and more Brazilian music ;) This is a cute samba that she started using... and she promised me that more Brazilian songs will come.

This past week, I've also had something else on my mind that zumba. My all time fave band NKOTB is going on a European tour next year with BSB under the name NKOTBSB. I've been a fan for more than 20 years, so I'm super excited. However, I never cared much about BSB, but since they come with the package, I have to get used to that. I got tickets for 4 shows in 4 different countries. Crazy, I know.. But at the same time, I look at it as a way of traveling. I'm going to a show in Belfast, Dublin, Rotterdam and Herning. Tickets have been purchased so soon comes the time of ordering flights and hotel rooms. I can't wait.

The Master Class with Nathan Blake

Saturday October 8th. I was at my friend's birthday party. I  could only stay for 2 hours as I was going to the master class with Nathan Blak to collect money for the Danish Susan G. Komen organisation. Every year in October, we have a day called "Pink Saturday" - where various people and organisations collect money for the cure of breast cancer. I wore my "Party in Pink" zumba top.

3 local instructors started off the zumba marathon/ master class... After them came a Swedish mom & daughter instructor couple. They were great. Lena and Amina was their names. They did a master class and after them, Nathan Blake did a master class. It was my 3rd. master class with Nathan. He's always a lot of fun and very different from others. He asked Amina to join him and here's a clip Lena put out on youtube

I took a couple of pictures, but didn't take a picture with me and him.. Oh well, I guess I could get another chance since he's already been here 3 times in one year... He must like the city ;) The next morning, as I was on my way to zumba, I actualy saw him dragging his trolley to the train. I was still kinda sleepy, so didn't even say good morning to him, which I regret. Sent him an apoligy on facebook to make up for it.
Here are my pictures from the master class:

we collected 30.000dkr. or 5.530$ for the cure of breast cancer that day! Last year we collected more, but more people came that time.. So all in all, I think it was a great achievement.

October 29th. I might be putting on my "Party in Pink" top again. This time we will raise money for the local children's cancer ward at the local hospital.. One of the instructors is known from the Danish version of "Dancing with the Stars." My new instructor is also among the instructors that evening. I think it will be a lot of fun. My salsa instructor also invited me to a Latin Halloween Party that evening. It would be a lot of fun, but I don't know if I have the energy for it.

Lately I've been having a zumba song stuck on my mind... I didn't know the title of it, so I asked my previous instructor in Brazil. This is the song that I've had on my mind lately. It's a very cute samba song, that Beto used when he was here in Denmark.

As you can see, Beto invited Brasilian people up on stage to dance with him. He was surprised with the many Brasilians in Denmark. I know the sound is horrible in the clip... So here is a better version of the song, but I thought you should get the chance of watching Beto.

We actualy use the song at the local sport arena, that is close to where I live. Maybe that's why it's stuck on my mind now? Well, zumba is cancelled for 2 weeks at that place, as the arena will be used for other sport turnaments. Good thing I have 2 other places to get my zumba fix.

Beto, Nathan Blake and me

Ok, I better write this now, before another week or two passes by. I already knew October would be busy, so I gotta do this while I have the time and energy for it. Well, it's 10 PM so my energy is hardly gone, but I wish to have this done once and for all.

Yesterday I attended a Master Class with Nathan Blake and a mother & daughter duo from Stockholm Zumba (Lena & Amina). More about that in another blog post. First let me think back about last Saturday. The Master Class with Beto Perez.

I joined up with a lot of other girls going by bus. We stopped in various citys along the high way, to pick up zumbanistas as we went by. It was a 6-7 hours bus ride. Some of the girls brought along a sign that we used as a bumper sticker. It reads "Zumba chicks on the road."

As we got to Ballerup Super Arena, we had to stand in line to get inside the building. The weather was extremely warm for an October day. I can't remember when we had a warm day like this in October before.

The line inside was not that long as they arranged a lot of check in points. You just had to use the check point that had your first letter. So I was in the "K" line. I got my two bracelets. One for the master class and one for the after party later on.

As you can see, they matched my sweat band pretty good.

At first we checked in our luggage. Then we went upstairs where the zumba shop was selling zumba wear. The line to get in was so long. Once you were in, there was also a long line to pay. Luckily I was able to skip the line as I was paying in cash.

I bought one top... But they alos had an outlet store and I ended up buying 3 more things. One of them being the the wind track jacket, that I have been eyeing for a long time.

I know some people find it silly to spend money on zumba clothes.. But zumba becomes a lifestyle and some of the clothes I realy like... Especialy those that have a funny print. I do find some of the zumba pants funky... However, I don't even fit an XXL in the zumba pants, yet I'm only a S in UFO pants. I think they should think about that. Some women, like myself, happen to have big thigs - which I now refer to as zumba thigs ;) Although a lot of fat has gone from my thigs, the muscles are still there! Anyway, I'll continue to use my UFOs.
While people were shopping, Beto and his film crew was testing all the settings, as they were doing recordings for a ZIN video, that is a dvd being sent to all Zumba instructors every month, I believe. Unfortunalyely I'm not an instructor, so I might never get to see it.

After shopping, I had to get in line again, to put my purchased items in my bags in my stored luggae.. Because I was shopping, I ended up being among the last 10 people to get in to the arena. The warm up crew was already going on. I snapped a picture before putting my camera in my luggage. Someone told me that cameras, wallets, towels and water bottles were not allowed.. So I left everything in my bags.

I changed my spot every now and then cause... Let's face it. It was too crowded. People would step on your toes, there were huge cables, not to mention the flying camera, to look out for. But all in all, it was an awesome experience. I did see people putting up a few clips on facebook from the master class, but I will leave it to you guys, to find those clips yourself :) There was one choreography that I can't wait to see again. Beto did a mix of river dance and Bollywood... I thought it was fun to do :)

As the acual master class was over, there was a surprise zumba act for Beto. In the end of the arena, I noticed a place with a short line and realised it was an area for having your picture taken with Beto. I asked someone if you had to bring your own camera, and they said yes... So I rushed out of the arena, picked up my bag with my camera, and rushed back to the arena to get in line. I took these pictures from the very end of the arena

I think it was easy to see, that Beto was very exhausted at this moment... He was so tired, which you can definitely tell in the next pictures.

However, he seemed to come a bit alive on my picture :)

I am so happy with the outcome of this picture. I feel like it was me and Beto shaking hands to a healthy agreement that zumba is the best thing that happened to me, and I will continue to zumba far out in the future!

After I changed into some more decent clothes, I met with the other girls that I travelled with. The Danish Zumba shop had arranged shuttle busses going from the arena to the after party. We got on one of those busses, but wanted to go eat some dinner first. On our way to the arena, we had made reservations at a vegetarian restaurent that offered a yummy buffet. It was so nice. I think I will definitely go back there some day. We sent all our luggage in a cab to the bus that would take us home later... After dinner we went to the after party. But to tell you the truth. It sucked. It seemed like part of a shop had been turned into a club for the evening. More than 400 people bought tickets for the after party. Yet there were only seat for 10. There were no toilets. Outside there were 2 festival toilets. Come on. It totaly sucked!

A bunch of us left to find a better place. Afterall, this was the capital of the city and they wanted to give us that crap?!! On our way out in the city, some people stopped me to ask for directions to the after party.. They saw me wearing my new zumba wind jacket. I told them it sucked, and they told me there was a latin club called "Club Mambo" so me and one of the other girls went there. It was much better. There was a live band playing samba. I thought it was a funny way to end the night as it was the birthday of my regular zumba instructor, who moved to Brazil. We received a message saying that Beto had entered the after party. Beto left just 5 minutes later. They poor guy must've been so tired. It turns out that there was a better bar and party next to where the after party was held. That's where the VIPs had been hiding when the party was boring. Dj Francis was there and the party ended quite strangely! The last song he played was Guns n Roses "Sweet child of mine" - everyone thought it was a stupid song. But with my twisted mind, I turned it into a bachata :) Try for yourself

Just after 3 AM we went to find the bus where some of the other girls were already sleeping. We all had a great day and slept for 3-4 hours. I was dropped off around 7:30 AM and slept most of the day. I made sure to cancel next day's zumba!