Michelle Cabral was ready for another night of fun with her friends.

But she wasn’t at a club. She was inside a school cafeteria in a quiet neighborhood preparing to teach an exercise class.

“It’s almost like you’re going out with a bunch of friends to go clubbing, but you don’t have to worry about the cigarette smoke or the crazy men coming over to you,” Cabral joked.

If all this sounds a bit odd, you don’t know Zumba.

The Latin-influenced fitness program has been gaining popularity for the past year or so in the county, with classes sprouting up at a host of local gyms, community centers, and through the county’s Recreation and Parks Department, which also offers children’s Zumba.

Cabral is currently teaching three classes through the department, including the one that met Wednesday at Piney Orchard Elementary School in Odenton.

Long after students had departed for the day, more than 30 women clad in sweats filed into the cafeteria and got ready to salsa, merengue and mambo their way to better bodies. Zumba is a kind of hybrid of Latin dancing and traditional aerobics, with an emphasis on the dancing to create a fun, fast-paced fitness environment.

“I think it’s great for the mind, body and soul,” Cabral said. “It just feels so good.”

So good, in fact, that dietitian Nicole Mazur is thinking about getting certified to teach classes herself. She’s in her third session with Cabral.

“I love the energy,” Mazur said. “I think it’s the music in combination with the dance.”

It’s also an alternative to “boring” workouts on the treadmill or other more traditional cardio work at the gym, she explained.

“They don’t go fast,” she added. “Here, the music and energy keeps you going. You don’t even feel like you’re exercising. This is the first class I’ve ever looked forward to coming to.”

Anne Raup, a Piney Orchard resident who was standing nearby, said the 45-minute session seems like it takes 10 minutes. The intensity shows up in perspiration. “I never, ever sweat when I exercise,” she said. “But (with) this, I’m drenched in five minutes.”

Cabral, whose outfit included black exercise pants and a white tank top that said “Zumbalicious,” taught the class from the stage at the end of the cafeteria. Several times during the night, she invited a couple participants to join her onstage. Even the initial warm-ups looked like a dance, albeit a bit slower than the ones that followed.

“It’s the moves,” said Rosie Neely of Annapolis. “You get to shake it up a little bit. I’ve always done dance (and) I’ve always done aerobics. But now, I get a combination of both.”

It’s probably safe to say Melinda McArdle is more at home with Zumba than most instructors.

She teaches it in the basement of her Annapolis home, which is equipped with a sports court. Three times a week, McArdle holds houlong Zumba sessions in the space. She also teaches at a couple local fitness clubs as well.

“The biggest thing about Zumba is that it’s fun and easy to follow,” McArdle said. “I think a lot of people are intimidated when you say ‘dance.’ Most people have a very negative opinion of themselves and their dance ability. (But) if you can breathe, you can dance.”

And like Cabral, she starts off classes slowly, building to the more intense and involved routines. She coaxes her students along, but also realizes different people have different skill sets.

“(It’s) fun … and nonjudgmental,” said Tracy Exarhakis of Annapolis, who smiled continuously during the class. “There’s no expertise required.”

Terry Sindler, also of Annapolis, said the comfortable atmosphere also contributes to the classes’ appeal. “The camaraderie keeps you going and giving a little extra,” she said.

“This is more friendly,” added Jan Funkhouser of Edgewater, who has lost 25 pounds since September, thanks to Zumba and a nutrition plan.

Although a few men have been known to attend Zumba classes, it’s definitely a rarity. Raup’s explanation is that men might be a bit embarrassed by the amount of hip shaking involved in the routines.

“It’s too bad more men don’t feel comfortable doing it,” she said.

Added McArdle, “It’s movement that’s so far out of the box for men.”

There wasn’t too much time in either class to ponder the issue further, though, because the music had started. “I want to see big legs,” McArdle said over the thumping rhythm. “Go for the gusto. Dance like your life depended on it.”

And the women did, as sweat beaded on their foreheads and their expressions grew more determined. At the end of the session, everyone looked like they’d worked out hard, yet all were happy.

“It puts a smile on your face,” McArdle said. “It’s a mood lifter — and that’s worth the price of admission.”

SOURCE: MARYLAND GAZETTE

PORTAGE — Imagine it’s 6:15 p.m. on a Thursday and you’re on the way to belly-dancing class.

You enter the Portage Public Schools Administration Building, climb the stairs to the second floor, walk past the classrooms full of night-school students, hang up your coat and head to the dance studio to warm up.

You grab a bottle of water and line up with 15 women ranging in age from 16 to 60. They’re wearing stretch pants, T-shirts and pink, lime, silver and black sequined hip belts that shake like loose change.

The instructor frantically looks through her leopard-print tote bag for the first song. She inserts the CD into the boom box and the drums start, then the lutes, hammered dulcimers and vertical flutes. This is not Western music, you say to yourself. The old wooden floor begins to creak as you start to move to the beat.

“Are we ready to go?” calls out the instructor as she leads a warm-up dance.

It doesn’t matter if you’re overweight or if you have physical disabilities. Joette Sawall helps any willing woman, and the occasional man, shimmy and undulate to a new body image.

“It’s very empowering, and it creates a positive force for women,” says the 36-year-old Sawall, owner and operator of the West Michigan School of Middle Eastern Dance.
Where it started

Belly dancing, or raks sharki, as it’s known in Egypt, conjures up all sorts of images: scantily clad women, sequined midriff-baring costumes, dangling beaded belts and an exotic nightclub setting.

The truth is that the dance form has humble beginnings that date back thousands of years to Egypt and the Turkish countryside.

It became a hit in the United States when a young, fully clothed girl performed belly dance at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, Sawall says. Sal Bloom, the exhibit director, coined the name Little Egypt for the girl, who shimmied and undulated her way into the hearts of an uptight Victorian culture.

The 1950s and ’60s ushered in the dance technique as we know it today in the United States. Nightclubs featured the dance in a burlesque style. Dancers wore over-the-top costumes, including bright, coined sequined belts, as they quivered unabashedly and rotated their bellies in a suggestive manner.

Weight loss and aerobics

Health clubs, on the other hand, thrived on the weight-loss aspect of the moves, and some colleges began offering belly dancing as an aerobics credit.

“It works different muscles without the torture of regular aerobics,” says Deb Hansen, 56, of Portage. “It’s great for anyone who has curves.”

Johanna Hamilton, a 16-year-old high school student, agrees. Hamilton has taken dance classes since she was 9 years old. Her mother and sister took a class with Sawall and encouraged her to get involved.

“I like the mix of styles and the light structure,” she says. “Most other dance instructors have rigorous standards, and this is so much more fun.”

Kathryn Walter, 53, of Portage takes the beginning belly-dancing course with Sawall. She was exposed to belly dancing for the first time when a belly dancer paid a visit to the nursing home where he father lives, near Detroit.

“It’s nice for women who are curvier and any size or shape,” she says.

Three instruction levels

Sawall instructs belly dancing at three different levels. The first level is for those who want to learn the basic moves — undulations, shimmies, circles, hip drops — which feel a little awkward at first. After 12 weeks, most students know them well.

Upon the instructor’s approval, students can move up to the next level, which focuses on choreography for performances. This is when the fun shopping begins — the buying of headdresses, extravagant belts, veils and costumes.

The third level brings opportunities to perform at Greek Fest and other festivals or private shows.

“Women tell me they come to find their happy place. I have found mine,” says Sawall, who also teaches gender and media studies at Western Michigan University after obtaining a master’s degree in communication there last year. “I may not be wealthy, but I’m rich in many other ways.”

SOURCE: MLIVE.COM