The Merengue Soul











***dont’ forget to visit http://www.howtozumbawearclothing.com for cool videos, music, Zumbawear & bellydance scarves

Meeting ZES Tamara Said – This sexy chica has lots of energy, she’s great at cueing, and great dancer and most of all she is hilarious!!! Great sense of humor that chica. Zumba Love Girl xxoxoo (btw. I believe only Tamara S. teaches the Aqua training in Canada)

Aqua Training in Guelph Sept 11 2010 – My Experience

I was really curious and excited to take Aqua Zumba Training. For one it was in Guelph, ON which is 1 hour away from Mississauga – from big city to boonieville. I got there an back in one piece. When I finally arrived I was relieved because I got a bit lost because I didn’t notice the huge brown YMCA building on my right that I zoomed by.

I really liked that we didn’t have to wear a traditional bathing suit. For Zumba you can wear a lycra zumba tank, or aqua zumba tank, zumba skorts, or zumba booty shorts.  Most of all, don’t forget aqua shoes, which are rubber soled shoes made for the water which can be found at Canadian Tire for about $15. I wouldn’t recommend wearing your regular runners in the water because you don’t want to ruin them right because the water has chlorine in it which can weaken certain fibres of certain kind of fabric especially cotton.  Aqua  shoes don’t have laces, but they fit snug just like a shoe.  Purchase a size that will fit your feet nice n’ snug. For a running shoe I’d go for a 7.5 but for an aqua shoe I fit nicely into a size 6 because you don’t wear socks with em.

I love the water first off which was a plus. You could just see me bouncing around in the water like a red buey.  The music began and we got excited and followed Tamara Said to the best of our ability. One thing you don’t realize until you get into the water that moving on land is so different than moving on land. On land you can do any tempo but where the slower you go it gets more difficult. But in the water, going fast is restrictive and more difficult, but the slower you move the easier it gets.  All the steps are modified, such as the cumbia step, machete step, merengue step. You can challenge yourself depending on how you have the palms of your hands placed, whether it is a fist, or open.

There are 3 things that I was surprised to find out about Aqua training

1. Because you’re moving slower on land, it requires a lot of core strength, and stamina so you get super hot and sweat like a pig while on deck teaching the class. Because it’s impossible to jump slow, you’re supposed to use the help of a chair which gives your body a rest period.

2.  Our training was for 2 hours. By about the first hour you began to feel a bit tired and about 2 hours you felt kinda exhausted. But the feeling of exhaustion doesn’t become apparent until you get out of the water. In the water you’re cooled off, you don’t feel any sweat because it’s going in the water and as light as a feather.  Get out of the water and you feel there is a ball n’ chain strapped to your ankle and you’re exhausted like a noodle.

3. Although you’re in the water, you gotta make sure you drink lots of water to avoid cramping. So bring your bottled water and put it at the side of the pool to keep handy during your class.

Teaching an Aqua class is hard work so trainers should be paid more than with a basic class.

Upcoming Training Aqua Zumba Training Classes: You can only take this once you’ve completed B1 Training

1. Aqua Zumba Training – Windsor, ON – Oct 3 2010 with Tamara & Nile Said

2. Aqua Zumba Training – Winnipeg, MB – Nov 13 2010 with Tamara & Nile Said

3. Aqua Zumba Training – Darmouth, NS – November 28 2010 with Tamara & Nile Said

Next Basic 1 Training – Basic 1 training is anything but basic soooo fun!!!

Sudbury, ON in October 2 2010 with Andrea Hamilton

Windsor, ON in October 2 2010 with Tamara & Nile Said

Register at www.zumba.com



{June 2, 2010}   How to Learn Samba Step

The origin of this step comes from Brazil and I learnt to do this step last night. Found an awesome www.youtube.com video and posted it on my website at www.zumbaworkoutscanada.com

This step will get your heart rate up like an intense merenge or salsa step because you’re hopping from one foot to another. I was doing this step all wrong before but it was more important to not fall over myself. With my belly dancing background it actually looks pretty good for not much practice. I’ll keep practicing it to improve my styling technique.

I’m so looking forward to using this in my next Zumba workout session



et cetera