The lights were turned down and the music was turned up at the Zumba party held in the CUB’s multi-purpose room (MPR) on Wednesday, Oct., 1.
The event was thrown by Multicultural Affairs Chairperson Claudia Prieto. She explained how October is National Hispanic Heritage Month, and she thought doing Zumba would be a fun way to raise awareness.
Zumba is a Latin-based dance to upbeat music that incorporates both Latin and international rhythms. Dance elements from salsa, cumbia, merengue, flamenco and calypso all make up Zumba.
From 8-9 p.m., the CUB’s MPR was turned into a party zone with the ceiling lights turned off, but red and purple lights against the walls.
Upon entering, everyone was given a purple and yellow silicone bracelet reflecting “Hispanic Heritage Month” and a raffle ticket for the drawing to win a pair of Beats wireless headphones. Free Gatorade, fruit snacks and Special K protein bars were also available for all the participants.
After individual stretching, instructor April Smiles stepped into the spotlight on stage and loud Latin pop music started playing over the speakers.
Smiles started with a quick warm up, followed by a cardio workout for the majority of the hour, working mainly legs, arms and core muscles. She ended the session with a cool-down to the song “Rude” by MAGIC! and few deep breathes with yoga-like arm stretches.
Smiles has been teaching Zumba since 2009 and has been a Zumba education specialist for three years. As a Zumba education specialist, she teaches and licenses future Zumba instructors.
Smiles used to work as an administrator at Temple University and says she “just felt like something was missing,” so she left Temple and started going to the YMCA, where she taught dance.
After teaching dance, the YMCA paid her to learn and teach Zumba there. She taught Zumba at the YMCA for a year and now travels, every weekend to teach anywhere from Virginia to Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Smiles currently lives in Richmond, Virginia, where she has her own Zumba classes, as well. Recently, though, she traveled all the way to Trinidad for Zumba. Trinidad is a small sister-island off the coast of Venezuela in South America.
“Zumba is a lot of fun and a great way to spice up your work out,” an attendee said, “It is worth anyone’s time to give it a try.”
Anyone interested in getting more involved in Zumba can attend classes in Room 107 of Shippensburg University’s Recreation Center from 7-8 p.m. on Wednesdays.
For more information on April Smiles, check out her Facebook page “April T. Smiles” or aprilsmith.zumba.com.
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