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.

Life is good... busy, but good.

When I said that I would be busy with busy on top, I wasn't lieing. I chose to be busy, because I know, that if I'm not busy, I will be lazy. Now I can allow myself to be lazy when I get home from work and zumba, saying to myself, that a time to relax is in order. If I didn't have my active life to use as a good excuse, people could easily call me lazy. But no. I'm not lazy. I just priorotize my time differently. Zumba and dance is my main priority. However, if an invite shows up to from my friends and family, I will have to see if I can make it work. I have usualy been able to go straight from zumba to family and friends' events. My friend asked me if I wanted to go with her to a party. It's a party that I wish I could attend, but since Saturday is the big Beto Perez Zumba masterclass in Copenhagen, I won't be able to go. Hopefuly another party will show up. It's the first time that I'm attending a zumba event far from where I live.

Tuesday is still my day off, so I make sure to spend time with my friends that day. So in the past 14 days, I've been to the movies both Tuesdays and even Thursday after zumba, I made it to the movies with a friend.

The new zumba classes are great. I realy think that I chose the best of the 4 (soon 5) gyms in town, when it comes to the new zumba classes and instructors. There is one instructor that I'm curious about, though. But I don't know if I can make it work, as she only has classes Sunday afternoon and Sunday morning I already have 2 zumba classes. I will try to make it some day. The reason being, It's an African instructor and I would like to see if she uses African music or special steps.. But in the meantime, I'm happy with my classes as the are now.

The new instructor that I go to... at the new gym. She's really cool. Reminds me a lot of the Brazilian instructor I used to go to. I've seen my share of good and bad instructors whenever I've been to zumba events. Well, she's the one that comes closest to him. Her way of interacting with everybody is great. She's very friendly, makes her own choreographys, has an education in ergotherapy which makes her capable to help people with any injury related pain while dancing. She also said, that if we would like her to use certain songs, we should write them down and she will try to work out a choreography that we can use in zumba class. I told her that I like Brazilian funk and I reminded her of the two Brazilian songs that I already heard she had.. Except, she didn't know they were Brazilian... But I told her, so now she will try to use those songs when she sees me ;)
It's the first time I heard this song, but it has "Brazilian Funk" all over it ;)

She also uses this one

After the first zumba class today, someone came over to say hello.. I recognized her. It was my dentist assistent. I have a dentist apointment in October... But I have to reschedule as it was a time they suggested... and with my busy scheduly, it will have to be a Tuesday.

During this upcoming week, I have to decide on what clothes to wear for the zumba master class with Beto on Saturday and what to wear at the after party. I'm getting more and more excited, although I'm also a bit worried, as I'm going alone... I'm going with a bus full of other zumbanistas, so it won't be that bad. I know. Some of them I know. I just know, that if I don't go now, I might regret it later. Everyone suggests that I should become a ZIN myself since I have so much passion for it. However, I don't think I would have the time for it...  As for now, I think I have enough to do with just having fun :)

It's lacking towards an end. These are the updates.

I feel that I have been neglecting this blog a bit. I'm not sure if anyone actualy reads it, but I do see that a couple of people are stopping by every now and then. Well, this blog is like a journal for myself, so I will continue to write whenever I feel I have something to write about.

The bad news I mentioned is that the "Havana Night" salsa club closed down the day after I attended the zumba class. I was not expecting it to close down so soon. The club was brand new, but I guess they must've put more money in to it, than what they earned. It's sad that we have lost this club. I'm sure I could've spent many great evenings there, when everything else is for the young crowd. Oh well, atleast I'm happy that I was there for zumba the day before they closed.

Saturday, August 13th. I attended a master class with Mo Diakite and some Danish instructors. Not many people had signed up, so the event had moved from a big sports arena, to a normal zumba place. It's crazy, but so may people seem to have forgotten about Zumba during summer. Hopefuly more will start to remember the fun they had before the summer break. Mo was trying hard to keep the party going. He brought a guy called Sylvester the drummer. He played an African drum. It's my first experience to have an African drum give beats to dance to.. At times I thought it was not neccersarry, but then I started to listen more to the drum, than the music on the stereo and discovered a new rhytm to follow. I love African music, but when it comes to zumba, I wish I knew the songs better, so that I would know the rhytm before hand. Anyway, I had fun. I managed to get 5 people from my usual zumba class to sign up for the event, that would be their first event/ master class. I was wondering if they would see the joy in master classes, like I did or if they would say it had been a waste of money. Luckily they all liked it. One of the Danish instructors, Dennis Thomsen, brought his camera and took these pictures http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.10150279478857808.354609.827492807&type=1.

And these are my own

My zumba instructor is moving back to Brazil after spending 8 years here in Denmark. I've enjoyed his classes so much. He has been my motivation for a year now. It's been a year with loads of positive things happening to me. All because of zumba and his passion for dancing. Oh, and my own passion for both as well. I asked him if he would be having any more classes before he takes off to Brazil. And to my luck, he voulenteered in having special "Good bye classes" made for us. That means, 2 classes every day!! Every day! So far I've been to 14 hours of zumba in 7 days. It's very sad that we have to say good bye to him. I've felt so honored to have him as my instructor. He was the best of the best. Which is also why he'll be going back to Brazil. For the fun of it, I took my calendar an counted the many hours I spent following his home made and very professional special touched up choreographies. Yesterday was my class number 100!! I only skipped 2 of his classes ever. Made up for it by joining events and marathons that he would be at. I still have 12 hours left - 6 days. What's gonna happen after that? It makes me a bit sad to think about. He is the guy who made me shrink 5 pant sizes. Will I be able to maintain after he leaves? Will he forget about us? I have so many unsolved questions, that only time can tell. Luckily I now have him on my facebook and hope to be able to keep in touch that way.

I'm my own motivation and I expect to continue my zumbalicious life style. I already go to a gym that offers great zumba almost every day. But it won't be the same without his Brazilian funk and Axe touches. Hopefuly I'll be able to remember what he tought us, but I know, in time, his coreographies will be gone. So sad. Atleast I know that I'll still be able to dance my butt off. People always gave me compliments on my dancing before I started going to zumba classes. He gave me inspiration for more.. New moves and new music I never knew excisted.. Like this one

In this past week he also introduced us to the Brazilian butt lift  and capoeira.. Ohh how I will miss him. I will never forget my first class with him, which was July 7th. 2010. He was teaching us samba and I had no clue how to do it. He then took my hands and followed me through the basic samba steps. Today I'm a pro at those . Who would have thought?

Reggaeton and Salsa as substitute for Zumba!

Saturday, June 11th., me and 3 other women from Zumba, decided to meet up at one of the women's place, before going to the "Ladies Night" at a Salsa Club in town. They had a woman teaching Reggaeton from 9-10 PM. It was my first time there, as I always saw the club as a club that only had couples dancing. Well, because of the Ladies Night, there were no couples in sight to begin with. In fact, we were the only women there, except for 2 of my latin mix instructors, who came over and said hi. When we were about 10 women there, the reggaeton instructor called us over to begin the class. It was great fun. I love reggaeton music and some of the steps she taught us, I'm always using when going clubbing.. Only when I go clubbing and do things freestyle, I have no idea if the steps and moves I use, have an actual name. It was great fun. While we were dancing, more and more women joined in and it was fun to see how our small line got longer and longer, as we were moving from one end of the dance floor, to the other. Well, there were free cocktains for the women from 10-11 PM and I did manage to get two cocktails withing that time. The bartenders were way too slow to maintain the bar, if you ask me. Normaly, when you go to have a drink in the clubs in town, you usualy get a shot of Barcardi mixed with sprite.. Those drinks only take 1 minute to mix for the bartenders. At the salsa club, the bar was so crowded, that it took you 15 minutes just to get close to the bar, then it took the bartender 15 minutes to create a Mojito or a Strawberry Daquiri. I think it will do the club better justice, if they start mixing the same drinks all other clubs are serving. After the 2 cocktails, the club was getting crowded and people were starting to dance on the dance floor, like they would do at any other club. This night was special, as they played all of my favorite music. Reggaeton mixed with r&b and hip hop. If they play this kind of music every weekend, I asure you, that I will be coming back and bringing my girlfriends some time.However, I see them broadcasting the place as a Salsatek normaly, and that will not make me come. The club has 2 dance floors, that is used for teaching dance during the afternoons, that turns into Salsatek/ Night club in the evenings. That evening, they would play Salsa at one of the dance floors and my favorite music at the other. It was amazing. Although the two dance floors were almost conected, you could not hear the music that was played at the other dance floor, which created two different atmospheres in the same bar. Amazing, if you ask me. The women that I was there with, were all 10 years older than me, but they didn't mind letting loose and dancing to the music with me. So I'm now at an age, where I can go out clubbing with people that are 10 years younger or older than myself. I love it! Only bummer was, that the women wanted to go home very early. So we left the club at 12.30 AM.

Monday our instructor was back, to inform us, that he would not be back till August. We already knew that he would be doing another job from June 24th. untill August. He did the same last year. I'm not sure what that job is, but he might be performing with a band or doing dance workshops abroad. Yes, he's a famous man, so we have to share him with the world. It's fine. I'm still very honoured to have had him for zumba for a year. Not many people can brag with having a so talented instructor like he is. Everyone knows who he is. If you tell them you have a Brazlian zumba instructor, they will all know who you're talking about, and most of them are jealous. Anyway, the reason why he would be away for the rest of the week, was not the job abroad, but a job at the Royal ballet. They have a performance today and needed him to be there to help them adjust some details all week. Well, we had 2 hours outdoor zumba Monday. Just as we were in the middle of our stretch out, it started raining, and we all ran under a roof to finish off. We were so lucky that the rain didn't kick in while we were doing zumba. It had been dust raining for a bit, though, but we were fine. However, the ground became more and more slippery towards the end, but we had no injurys at all. After the stretch out, we were talking for 5-10 minutes. The instructor wanted us to think about what he has taught us, for when we have to go out and find a new place to do zumba in the future. There are good instructors that will inform you about what shoes to wear, what to do to avoid injurys etc., and there are bad instructors, who end up with injurys themselves, cause they have no knowledge at all on how to maintain a healthy and fit body. I feel that because of my instructor I'm now capeable of taking care of my own body. I know what to do, if an instructor is trying to put my weak ankles in a bad position and so on. I know how to use a little more strenght and power, when doing my salsa step, to create a smalle twist on my tummy, to tone the muscles. Yes, I can do it! Now I just need to find the right place and instructor.

I've always been doing research on various zumba instructors whenever I've been out for special zumba events. But now I want to look at other gyms than the ones I know. I cannot go without zumba all summer. So in my search, I found a gym that has a lot of zumba on their schedule. They have a special 3 months summer sale, so Friday I called them up. By faith, they told me, that at 5 PM that day, they were having a free Salsa class that I was more than welcome to join as they were having an audition of an instructor. I was so happy. And when I got there, I saw the name on a poster. It turned out to be the instructor that teaches couples salsa at the salsa night club. Well, at the gym, he will be teaching salsa the zumba way. Meaning, without a partner. I always hated the fact, that all the salsa and zouk classes being taught at the club, was for couples only. Cause I always dance alone. The instructor was from Guatemala and held the class in English, which didn't seem to effect the class. He was very serious to begin with, but as he had us doing some pretty tricky steps and turns, he started to have us all laugh a lot. In the end, he brought he dance partner in, to show us 10 minutes of couple dancing. Well, I need to learn a lot more, before I can do a couple dance with anyone. When class was over, I talked with the leader of the gym, who told me that I was more than welcome to bring my other zumba friends for a free zumba class one time, now that our instructor will be leaving us soon. The salsa instructor was hired, and will be teaching salsa every Wednesday at 7:30 PM. Not the best choise for me. I already have latin mix at one gym from 4:30-5:30 PM. Then the sports arena near my home also used to teach Zumba from 5-6 PM... So unless some changes are made with the various gym schedules, I have something to think about. SIGH.

Wednesday this week, I had to cancel Latin Mix as I was going shopping with my grandma. She suffers from alzheimers in the early stages, and asked me to take her shopping for a dress to wear at my parens' 25th. anniversarry next month. Next week, I'll make sure to go to latin mix Wednesday. I know that 2 people from my zumba class will join me, along with my friend.

Zumba canseled.. What to do... Zumba of course!

There I was, resting before going to Zumba, when I received a message from the gym. Zumba had been canseled due to death in the instructor's family. At first I was sad about not going.. But then I remembered that the other gym also has zumba on Tuesdays.. So I signed up for their zumba and after that class, they had another dance class after Zumba.. They call it "Dance fit," which basicaly is club dancing to the new music being played at clubs. I love clubbing, so those classes are always fun, too.. But very different from zumba.
Here's an example of the music we use in "Dance Fit" (main meaning of the song is... I could use a good cup of coffee)



I arived at the gym about 40 minutes in advance, so I had time to work some weights. I made it through all my routines except two. I will make sure to do those two tomorrow when I have Zumba at the new gym in town. When I was working on my thigs, an instructor came to me and politely said "today is Tuesday and we're having a work out nicely day, which means I'm here to help you improve your work out" - ha I got so scared that he was gonna tell me I was doing everything wrong. Instead he said I was doing it right, but to get more out of my work out, I should slow down when ever I had to lift the weight back up.. Oh well, that advise I could live with.

When I got out from the gym, it was pitch dark and cold. Yes, Fall is just around the corner, I guess I have to remember that from now on. Bringing a warmer jacket might help. I also need to buy a new water bottle. The bottle fell to the ground in the changing room today, which broke the lid. I do have a back up, so tomorrow I'll be using my yellow "Curious George" water bottle.. haha I hope I find a better one. Maybe I can get one after zumba tomorrow, since it's an early class.

4 hours of zumba this week!

Monday I went to 2 hours of pure zumba. Normaly there's only 1 zumba lesson a day, but the male instructor at my gym is a pro so he has 2 classes.. And of course I signed up to both of them cause I love to dance!! I'm far from a pro and he did have to come down holding my hands as he showed me the steps 1 - 2 - 3... Reminded me so much of river dance.. Oh well, he finaly let go of my hands and I was free again.. I don't really like it that he comes so close.. Why? Cause he's really cute and it's so embaressing that he finds you doing a mistake. I wonder if he shook hands with Madonna like that when he was helping her with her dance steps? In the 5 minute break between the two classes, he saw me waiting and asked if I was joining the second class, to which I replied "yes!" - He was really happy to hear that. He's such a happy spirit and for a few seconds I thought I had made him even happier ;) 2 other people from the first class had decided to join the second class, so he told the others to look at what we did.. As if I already knew the steps to the dance he just taught us.. I can move my hips alright, but the dance required an almost worm shape with the spine and I don't know how to move my spine like that yet.. But I think there's hope for improvement. I can definitely see that he's also been helping out Usher..
The next day we had the female instructor.. I heard some women say that she's the best instructor out of those two.. But I don't think there's a difference.. They tend to do things different, but I like both ways. The guy is spending some quality time explaining about the muscles, anatomy etc.. and the woman skips everything and at times it gets too fast I think.. And both ways have showed out to be very effectful. My stomach has never been as flat and toned as it is today, If it wasn't for the lump of lose skin on my stomach, my stomach would show a 4 pack.. working on the 6 pac, haha.. Now that my stomach has become nicely toned, I hope I will start to lose some of the fat on my thigs.
Today I have a zumba class at my regular gym.. I decided to go there so I could use the weights for 45 minutes before zumba. I will make sure to stop by that gym every now and then to work on the weights.. I see how sloppy my arms are starting to look cause I lost a lot of the fat, so although we tone the arms at zumba, the weights will be a better way to shape up I think.
I went on the scale this morning and had lost 14 kg. (30,86 lbs).. I told myself that when I hit 15 kg. (33,07 lbs), I would buy myself a gift.. The gift might very well be the real dancer's shoe for zumba.. I like the new ones I bought, but I think the other ones might be more ideal.. So I will go buy them soon.. I know I probably won't hit that weight tomorrow.. But I still plan on having a look at the shoes tomorrow after work.
When I hit the 20 kg. (44,09 lbs), I might go have my hair done at the salon.. I rarely go to the hair salon since my hair is long.. But I think it would be nice to have it shaped a bit before Fall.
Next week I signed up for zumba classes:
Monday: 2 hours

Tuesday: 1 hour

Wednesday: 2 hours

Thursday: 1 hour

I love dancing and zumba is showing me so many good results, both on the scale and on my body shape.. I get more and more compliments on my weightloss.. And people say I look so happy.. And I tell them it's because of Zumba. Read in a magaszine that someone said "Zumba is Happiness" and it's true.. because of the many endorphins you release while dancing, you feel a constant rush that makes you happy. Gotta love that!

(12/08/2010)