Exercise Review: Zumba Perth / Warwick!
June 15, 2010 | Posted by Annette @ Wellness WA 
Zumba!
I’d heard a lot about Zumba, from the advertisements on TV to the seemingly overnight explosion of people talking about it on Facebook, and now the appearance of a class at my local gym. The curiosity was too much – I had to go and see what the fuss was about, and of course to join in the ‘Cardio Party!’
So I grabbed a girlfriend and we both went off to see if Zumba really did live up to the hype. I can officially say – it did! We went on a Tuesday night, and it was very busy. I’d estimate there were probably about 70 people there.
We went to the class in Warwick, however there’s Zumba available all over Perth (log on to http://www.zumba.com to find a class near you). There is also Zumba Gold, a low impact class for people recovering from injuries or the elderly. Danza Loca run 66 classes across Perth and more are opening up all the time so you are bound to find one nearby! It costs $10 per class, and you get a 20% discount when buying a 10 lesson card.
Zumba is marketed as being suitable for all ages, which I think is a really big point of difference from other classes that do not advertise this fact.
As our instructor -Tass – walked in… I thought “If that’s the sort of body you get from Zumba, then I will definitely be coming back!”. Tass started the class with a bit of a pep talk about what to expect from Zumba and an overview of the moves that we’d be doing during the class. It’s a mix of meringue, salsa, cha cha and – which sounded really exciting as I’ve got a dance background and always wanted to try something a bit more exotic than jazz! Tass explained the importance of enjoying the class and getting into the moves – his motto seemed to be “free your mind, and your ass will follow!” and it dawned on me what we were in for.
The music started and we launched into the first routine, which was fantastic and definitely broke everyone into a sweat. The class then hit full pace and we were jumping, shimmying, meringue-ing and (most of all) laughing all the way through. The entire class is set to a soundtrack, featuring some songs that I recognised and some that I did not. This was great as it really helped to maintain the energy in the class, and Tass didn’t really need to shout out instructions as he was up on a stage at the front demonstrating.
The best part for me was how easy it was to pick up the moves, there were some people there who were Zumba experts, and some Zumba first-timers, like me.
The main focus of Zumba is the cardio aspect of it, however there is lots of oblique twisting as well, which I found to be quite beneficial and I was definitely sore the next morning.
The class goes for 55 minutes – there’s 10 minutes of warm up and explanation, then 40 minutes of actual Zumba-ing. This is more than enough to get you feeling like you’ve had a great workout! At the end, there was a 5 minute cool down and stretch, which was also done to the Zumba music.
I left feeling energised but not exhausted as is often the case after a fitness class. I would highly recommend Zumba, although it’s popped up really quickly it’s definitely not one of the fad classes that we’ve all seen come and go. It’s a great hour class, grab your friends and make an evening of it!
Review by Amy S., Zumba convert!
Website: http://www.zumba.com
Facebook: Look up – Zumba with Danza Loca
Email: maestro@danzaloca.com
Phone: 0402092900
Be well,
xoxo
Categories: Other | 
Tags: Features, Zumba Perth, Zumba Review | 
7 Comments »
Just wanted to point out that Danza Loca are just one of many schools and individual instructors offering Zumba classes. There are some excellent classes out there and not all of them are being taught by Danza Loca.
If you go to http://www.zumba.com you will find a listing of most, if not all of the classes on offer in Perth. There are 200+ classes a week that run. I’d highly recommend that people go and try and few different classes and not restrict themselves to just one provider.
I find the slant of this review that is only about Danza Loca, who are just one of many providers of classes a little suspect to be honest. Is this a review or a marketing plug? What is your affiliation with this school? And why haven’t you mentioned that they are just one of many groups that teach classes in Perth?
Zumba is fantastic! I am with you there (well obviously, since I have recently gone the next step and become a licensed instructor). But this so called ‘review’ seems a little suspect to me…….
Hi Paula!
Thanks for your comment. There is nothing suspect about this review, we have no affiliation with Danza Loca, the class that was reviewed was just run by them (and paid for by the reviewer). I was actually unaware that there were other providers of Zumba to be honest!
Thanks for informing us otherwise, so zumba.com provides a listing of all of the classes including the Danza Loca ones? If so I’m more than happy to change the link on the article!
Look forward to hearing back from you.
Annette
Hi Annette
Firstly I apologise if I came on a bit too strong. Us Zumba folk have a tendency to get a bit passionate (must be all those Latin rhythms!).
The Zumba® fitness program was created by Beto Perez, and became Zumba Fitness LLC in 2001. So the “provider” of Zumba Fitness® is actually Zumba Fitness LLC. Anyone who wants to offer Zumba® classes needs to be licensed as an instructor by Zumba Fitness LLC. Once licensed they can call themselves a Zumba® instructor and offer classes. So it’s not any one organisation or school that is licensed; all licenses are individual to each instructor. Any instructor who teaches a Zumba® class must hold a current license. Danza Loca, as a school, has several licensed instructors who then teach under their banner, but are individually licensed by Zumba LLC. Hope all that makes sense!
Zumba® has really taken off in Perth recently, with 236 classes a week running at last count. There are instructors teaching Zumba® at dance schools, gyms, fitness centres and many have sourced their own venues and teach as stand alone instructors.
My one caution is this. There are no prerequisites to take the Zumba® training and there is no assessment/exam to do prior to being licensed. As long as you have attended the training, which is a one day course, you will receive a license at the end. So the quality of the class you get and the expertise and experience of instructors can be widely varied. My best advice is to access classes via the ‘Find a Class’ option at http://www.zumba.com and to read the profile of the instructor by clicking on their name.
Go along to a few different classes, try them out or even just have a look from the sidelines. Jump on the net and see what is being said. As well as finding a ‘good’ instructor, in terms of their expertise and experience, each instructor will have their own style and add their own flavour to their Zumba® class. So it’s good to try a few and find the one that you ‘click’ with. If you don’t like your first experience, don’t assume it’s the program. That instructor just might not suit you.
I encourage everyone to give it a go. You get a great work out without ever feeling like your ‘working’. You’ll burn calories and can lose weight and tone up. But most importantly, it is really GREAT FUN!! If you’ve ever enjoyed a boogie on the dance floor, or just tapped a toe to a catchy beat, then you will love it.
Cheers! 🙂
….Oops, forgot to answer your question in full. Yes, Zumba® instructors teaching under the Danza Loca banner will have their classes listed at http://www.zumba.com. But they will be under the individual instructor’s name, as is the case with every licensed instructor.
Awesome! I’ll change my post to indicate that zumba.com is a better website to go to 🙂
That’s no problem for being firey hehe! Thanks so much for all your input! x
Hi,
As the author of this review I would just like to point out that I have absolutely no affiliation with Danza Loca whatsoever! They were just the company that ran the Zumba class that I went to and the one that is most prolific online (at least in my research) so that was the angle that I took in my writing – in no way did I intend to discount any other providers of Zumba. I was just unaware that they existed as there aren’t any other classes (to my knowledge) offered near me!
I was not even aware that there was other providers of Zumba, apart from the ones that run at Fitness First.
Just wanted to clear that up that I in no way meant for it to be a biased review.
Cheers,
Amy