Flaunt It Fancy Top

Flaunt It Fancy Top Off The Shoulder Style

Zumba Scarf. This was a gift from my sister, and I LOVE it!!! It's so soft and comfy!!

Wednesday's Woe

I know, I know....it's Thursday, but Wednesday sounds so much better. Anyway, I know there is no rhyme or reason to it, but sometimes it's hard to take things personal when you have a night with low attendance. I know it's because this class in particular is at a funky time, and it's hard for people to make it, but I start to think of all the things that could possibly be going wrong. Do I have to change my play list? Do they not like my choreography? Are people just sleepy? I guess people don't realize how much blood sweat and tears go into teaching Zumba classes. I have hardly any free time anymore. BUT, a special surprise arrived in the mail yesterday, and there is nothing like new Zumba wear to make you feel like a million bucks! I posted a few of my favorite pics of my new swag.

Pointing at my favorite part of the pants....the sparkles!!!

Sparkly Velour track pants, and my new ZumbAtomic Instructor jacket

Zu...zu..zu...zumbatomic track jacket!

This is how new Zumba wear makes me feel!

November's Class Schedule

Nice, easy month this month!

My First ZumbAtomic Class

Well, my first ZumbAtomic class didn't go so well, but I accomplished my goal of Demo-ing the class to the owners of the Dojo I work for. So all was not lost. When I first walked in to the Halloween party, I was so excited! The room was full of 4-8 year olds. The PERFECT age for the song I was going to use, and for the game I was going to play with them (Center Star, for all my ZumbAtomic peeps). At the very last minute a slew of 14/15 year old boys walked in, and I knew I was done for. The time came for my ZumbAtomic class....which we renamed Zombietomic for the occasion, and it started off well, but the boys were being so loud that they scared most of the little kids away. Strangely enough the older boys were into the dance. Probably because I told them they would get electrocuted half way through the song. Anyway all was not lost, and even though I cut the class short the owners still want to start doing a ZumbAtomic session in December (probably). They also had a meeting with the Orange County parks and rec, and they said that the parks and rec department was sooooo excited that we were open because they get calls about Zumba every single day! They also are going to do all the advertising for free, and that INCLUDES sending kids home from school with information about the Dojo AND my ZumbAtomic, and Zumba classes. Woot! I hope to be very busy soon!! Here are some pics of my ZumbAtomic participants (and you can see the little kids backed up against the wall in fright LOL)

Zumba Wear Pics

Zumba Let Loose Racerback

Salsa

Awesome Headband for keeping my hair out of my face while rockin' out!

Zumba Love

Overwhelming to say the least!

I'm watching my boyfriends daughter this weekend, and enlisted her for sticker cutting duty for my first ZumbAtomic session. She asked me when it was, and I told her Next month. She threw up her arms and exclaimed "then why are we doing this NOW?!?" This was my answer.... Well, aside from working my 9-5 job this week, I have to go straight from work to teaching Zumba on Monday, straight from work to teaching Zumba on Tuesday, straight from work to teaching Zumba on Wednesday, then I have an hour break and have to teach Zumba again, then I'm going straight from work to getting re-certified in CPR until 10pm on Thursday, then straight from work to a Halloween party on Friday. Saturday morning I'm teaching Zumba, I have to attend a Zumba launch party, then I'm teaching my first ZumbAtomic class after that (NOT the sessions classes, just a demo class), Sunday I have to learn choreography for four new songs that I'm ONLY going to use on Halloween, Monday I have to work and then teach Zumba, Tuesday I work and teach Zumba, Wednesday is Halloween, and I have to work and teach Zumba twice, and then it's November. Once her eyes went back into her head she resumed cutting stickers.

Update

So now it seems as if I have a devoted group of students in my Tuesday night class. One of them started out as an "I'll try it," and now has a pair of her own Zumba shoes. So I have a feeling she is in it for the long haul!! She also has progressed SO MUCH since the first class. I can see that she's gotten better at the steps, which is AWESOME. Zumba is not easy, and in my beginning speech I always tell people to keep at it! So even though it's only about 4-5 people, I have high hopes for that class! I also finally have new students in my Orange class, and they are loyal students too!! That makes me excited. They've both definitely learned a lot in a short time. It's pretty cool, and I give myself a pat on the back :) It's awesome that no one really is teaching a Zumba class in Orange, but I still need to figure out how to get the word out about my class. I just wish Orange wasn't that far away!! I have big dreams of teaching a 20-30 person class. I know I just have to be patient, but I WANT IT NOW!!! I also got certified to teach ZumbAtomic (kiddie Zumba), and that was SO MUCH FUN!!! Loretta Bates was the ZES, and she was amazing. The people were awesome too. It was definitely a different experience than when I got my B1 license. Maybe because I wasn't so scared, and I knew what to expect. Maybe it was also because I had teaching experience under my belt, so I wasn't so terrified when I got called on to do a dance move. In any case, it was so much fun acting like a 7 year old for the day. Most importantly, I learned how to suppliment my income by doing Zumbatomic birthday parties. Again, something not a lot of people in this area have gotten to experience. So I need to go back to work to figure out how to market that too!!! I'm always open to ideas, so feel free to leave me comments!!

El Rey

Never judge a book by it's cover. It's really hard to follow that advice, but it's true. Especially when you are an instructor. There's one lady I have in my class who has a very strong personality. For a while I thought she hated me, and was trying to sabotage me. No really. But after going on my fact finding mission, I discovered that she doesn't attend anyone elses classes but mine. So I guess she doesn't hate me. Or maybe she does, and can only make it on Tuesdays. Who knows. When I first started I was really insecure about whether or not people were having fun in my classes. I mean that's the whole BASIS of Zumba! It's supposed to feel like a party. No one was laughing or smiling, or handing out cocktails in my classes. But then another, more experienced instructor pointed out that everyone is just tired from working so hard. So I put my insecurities on the back burner. Last week I had a new student in my class. Well, she was new to my class, but I had seen her before during operation Zumba stake out. She followed everything, and was just a normal participant until one song on my playlist. The song is called El Rey which means 'The King.' Apparantly it's not a Zumba exclusive because three notes into the song she totally came alive. She and I were singing at the top of our lungs, which was hilarious since the song is completely in Spanish. She was singing the correct song, and I was singing what I thought they were saying. Then we high-five'd at the end of the song. It's a really good song, and one of my absolute faves! I debated about whether or not to include it, since I didn't want to get sick of it! Good call on my part! After class, my singing buddy came up to me and said in a hopeful voice "you're here tomorrow too, right?" All thanks to one song! So I guess the moral of the story is to just treat every student as if you are grateful to have them, and no matter how miserable everyone looks, treat every class like the party it is! Viva El Rey!!

Bueler? Bueler?

I'm flummoxed. I teach on Thursday nights and Saturday afternoon at a karate dojo. It's eventually going to become a Zumba/Zumbatomic (kiddie Zumba) class, but I'm completely stumped as to why no adults have shown up thus far to my classes. Well, except one but they were tricked into it. They thought they were coming for kickboxing. SURPRISE!!! Every time I'm supposed to teach, everyone drops out last minute. One time, a mom dropped her son off, and then WAITED IN THE CAR OUTSIDE for him. I mean, just come in, and watch at least. I feel bad for the owner. She feels bad every time it happens. But I love her kids, so at least I get to hang out with them for an hour. One of them told me I was skinny today. So hearing that is totally worth it! Getting back to the problem at hand, this no-show business is annoying because I don't think people realize (or care) how much time and effort really goes into teaching Zumba. My free time is spent marketing myself, social networking myself, blogging myself, going to trainings, learning new choreography, practicing new choreography, adjusting my play list, adjusting choreography to tailor it to the fitness level of my students, coming up with modifications if I think something may be too hard etc etc. I can't remember the last time I've listened to the radio. I use every car trip as an opportunity to practice my verbal cuing. Think it's easy? YOU try giving someone a new dance step exactly four beats before it actually happens. It takes even more than four beats to say "six step Merengue," or "Beto shuffle, single, single, double, double." God forbid you stutter, and it all goes to pot. I always confuse the words 'Merengue' with 'Mambo,' so if I have a song that includes either one of those steps, I have to factor in even more beats, so I have time to say "OK, six step Meren, uhhh, Mamb, no Merengue. No,no Mambo." It's no easy task. Next month, the dojo is moving to an area with much more pedestrian traffic. So that will be good, but I'm nervous. This town does not now, nor has it ever had a Zumba class. So first off, I'm faced with the challenge of letting people know what Zumba is. Next comes the challenge of getting those who DO know what it is, to actually come. I am going to post flyers and what not, but the problem is that I live an hour away. So it's not like it's easy to pop in to Subway to make sure my sign is still there. There's already a craigslist ad, and once we move, there will be a sign outside, but no one wants to take the plunge. I told my boyfriend that one day I'm just going to go park myself in the super market parking lot, and host my very own, all day long Zumba party. I'm not kidding. Maybe that will get people interested. The silver lining is that since no one has really seen a Zumba class before, they have no basis of comparison. So I win best Zumba class by default. Until I actually do muster up the courage to host my z-upermarket z-umba-thon, I'm open to other marketing ideas. I'll try anything!!

NetWORKing

Who knew that a part time instructor job could turn into a full time marketing position. It's hard being your own boss!! I'm having problems with filling my classes. I usually get anywhere from 3-5 people show up, which is strange seeing as the class before mine is always packed. I tried begging people to stay, but no one ever does. I talked with the owner of the gym, and she said that usually October starts the busy season. I didn't want to wait until October, so I took matters into my own hands, and decided network myself by attending the two other instructor's classes. It was free, since my gym offers free membership to instructors, I was curious to see how they were doing numbers-wise, and to see what kinds of routines they were doing, and I also felt it was super important to support them, and show my face. That way I was part of the action, and not some mysterious entity who appears out of thin air, rocks her face off every Tuesday, and then leaves. I wasn't expecting the outcome at all. The first class I attended was packed to capacity. There were some faces I recognized, and I talked with them. It was fun to be on the other side of things, and to laugh and joke with my students when we messed up. Instructor #1 was super supportive, and even offered to meet up and exchange routines. My next class, some of those students came, and one even told me she came because she has fun dancing with me in instructor #1's class. So that was a success. Instructor #2 I had "met" on the website sittercity.com. I applied to be her Saturday morning babysitter, and through our conversations, we discovered we both worked at the same gym. Small world. The Saturday babysitter thing didn't pan out, since it turned out that she didn't need a sitter after all, and I got another instructor job. She's new to instructing too. I attended her class, and then wound up watching her son a few nights later (who is as adorable as can be, by the way). Now, were shaping up to be good friends. She is going away for 6 weeks, and asked me to sub all her classes. I'm so excited! Instructor 2 1/2 (she's not quite there yet,)was also in attendance that night. She had attended one of my classes back when I first started, and she gave me a huge hug and was genuinely excited to see me. So it was nice to put names to the faces, and to get my name out there. All in all, I think my mission was successful. I found out that people do like ME, they just don't like the time of my class (6:30), which is out of my control. But what can ya do? So, I made two new friends, and I now understand the meaning of Zumba-love!

Let There Be Zumba

The year was 1998-ish. I was working in a video store, and we recieved an advanced VHS (yes, VHS) screener copy of this new fitness revoloution called Zumba. The owner of the video store had no interest in it, and she knew that I had grown tired of the one Tae-Bo work out tape we had in stock, so she offered it to me. Not being one to turn down anything free, I accepted. That night my sister and I tried Zumba for the first time. I admit it was fun, but I was frustrated that my hips--or any part of my body for that matter--didn't move like the girls in the video. I chalked it up to the fact that I wasn't Spanish. My favorite was the belly dancing song (because I was good at it), and the Flamenco (because it was easy, and I knew that after Flamenco was the cool down)! I lasted about three days before I grew tired of Zumba. It was too hard to move like the people in the video, it was too high impact, and it was 55 minutes long! The only other work out tapes I had used up to that point were Jane Fonda, and Sweating To The Oldies. Both were only 30 minutes. Those extra 30 minutes were just too much for lazy college me. Flash forward 11 years. I started, and stopped various different work out regiments that included walking the track with my best friend, Curves, and lots of other fitness tapes. Nothing stuck. I grew bored of videos very quickly. Once I learned the "routine" I wanted nothing to do with it. My friend suggested I come to try Yoga at the gym. I was terrified of gyms (I had never even set foot inside one) and group fitness scared me more than anything. She assured me I'd be fine, since it was in the dark. After much convincing, I agreed to try it. I actually loved it, and wound up joining the gym. For a while Yoga on Thursday nights was the only time I set foot in the gym. My friend was unable to make it to Yoga one Thursday, and asked if we could switch our Yoga date to the Monday night Yoga class. I had nothing else going on so I agreed. I arrived early so I peeked into the class that was just finishing up. It was Zumba. I made a comment to my friend about how I remember the VHS tapes I used to have, and asked if she had any interest in trying Zumba. She stated that she tried it, and hated it, because the instructor was too hard to follow since she didn't even speak. She just did whatever she wanted. As the class was letting out, I ran into someone I knew and she told me that I HAD to try it, because it was so much fun! She was laughing, and smiling and didn't look like she just spent an hour in misery, so I was intrigued. One Saturday I decided I was going to give Zumba one more chance. I was terrified. This was the first time I had set foot into the gym without using the buddy system. I stood in the back corner, making sure no one inside the class could see me, and that no one outside the group exercise room could see me through the doors. I couldn't even see the instructor. I picked someone out of the sea of people, and followed her. She seemed to know what she was doing. An hour later, and I was in love. Zumba was just what I needed. The hour flew by, the music was great, and yeah the instructor didn't speak, but it didn't matter since I couldn't see her anyway. I extended my membership to include all the NYSC gyms in my area and went to every Zumba class I could find. Before I knew it, I was one of the front row girls. A few years later I moved to Virginia. My first priority was to find a gym with a good Zumba class. That's where I met my mentor Natasha. She is an amazing instructor, and when she first started she didn't even speak a word of English!! We became close friends and she eventually convinced me to go for the instructor training. I had the greatest ZES (Stephanie Masceri). I learned so much about Zumba. Get this--instructors are encouraged NOT to speak so that the workouts feel more like a party and not like someone is telling you what to do. Genius. Getting my certification was definitely one of the moments I am most proud of. I spent an entire YEAR reviewing concepts, memorizing choreography, and perfecting my cueing. I believed I was finally ready to teach. I had an audition at one of the bigger gyms in my area, and although it went great, the director prefered that I had more experience before I started. She invited me to come back and audition whenever I was ready. I was a little sad, but happy at the prospect of being able to come back. I threw myself even more into perfecting my craft. It paid off because not even a month later, I had an audition at another gym (with a brand new studio), and landed that job! I also landed a second teaching gig at a martial arts studio. Next month, I'm going for my Zumbatomic certification so I can teach the kiddo's Zumba as well. I can't wait for that! When I look back at how it all started, I'm so surprised. I gave up on Zumba, and almost passed it up a second time because I was shy and insecure. When I tell my students about my first live Zumba experience, and how I stood in the back they can't believe it. It's amazing how far I've come, and I can't wait to see where Zumba takes me in the future!! Onwards and upwards!! Stay tuned to find out what is going on in the Zumba life of Rinny. Oh, and I promise future posts won't be this long!! Peace, Love, and Zumba!!