By: Tommy Sneider <[email protected]>

Senior Ana Dominguez
What’s the best part about Zumba?
The best part is, being Puerto Rican, it’s fun dancing to my own Latin music. It’s a great workout and I feel really great afterwards.

What do the classes consist of?
Our instructor choreographs playlists and songs of Latin music. It’s kind of like an aerobics class, and we just follow whatever she does. We do a couple eight counts, it’s an hour-long class of fun and dance moves.

How many years have you been dancing Zumba?
I just started in August; Kelsey (Scheibert) told me about it so she convinced me to go to a class with her at the dance place that we go to.

What’s the hardest part of Zumba dancing?
It’s really physically demanding. A lot of people think it’s not that hard, but if you throw someone into the class who has never taken the class before, it’s really physically demanding. (The instructor) works you the entire hour.

How did you get interested?
Kelsey, she’s been taking classes longer than I have, she’s been with this instructor so that’s how I got interested.

Do you have performances during the year?
No, it’s just strictly an aerobics class. Anyone can work out, it’s women of all ages, not just high school ages. There’s a lot of moms that go there. It’s a fun class for anyone who wants to take it.

Are you involved in any different type of dance?
Kelsey and I also do competitive dance team with the same instructor. I’ve been doing it for the past 14 years, and I’ve been with this company since freshman year. I’ve done hip-hop. I’ve done jazz.

Describe your favorite move.
She works a lot with how to isolate your body and stuff and different parts. She also gets us working on different core muscles. We work with abs and our hips and everything. Anyone who’s interested or looking for a quick after-school activity, it’s really fun, and it’s like working out. It’s a good class if you want to be burning calories. Just in this semester, we had a lot of girls bringing their friends. Good friends, good workout, good times.

Senior Kristina “Krissy” Krafchin
What exactly is Zumba?
It is a Latin dance. It’s a fast Latin dance class, like a workout with an instructor up front and follow what he does.

What do you like about it?
The great workout. You burn out something from 300 to 500 calories with one session, which is about an hour. It’s a great workout, and you do just about everything.

How did you hear about it?
(Senior) Ana Dominguez, she’s one of my best friends, and Kelsey (Scheibert) just got certified as an instructor, so it was just girlfriends that introduced it to me.

Where do you take Zumba classes?
At a studio, Showtime Dance Studio on Carmel Drive, and everyone can join. Walk-ins are great.

How often do you do it a week?
I do it once a week every Monday, it’s a full workout (set) fully (to) Latin music, it’s like kickboxing but you work out everything—your legs, arms, everything—to Latin music.

Describe your favorite move.
We do a lot of twisting with the upper body for your abs, and anything with the hips is big with twisting and stuff.

How many people are in your classes?
About 10 to 15. We’re all really close.

Anything to add?
It’s really cultural, that’s why I like it so much. All three of us like it so much, I’m Puerto Rican; it opens up cultural stuff.

Senior Kelsey Scheibert
What’s the most fun part of Zumba?
It’s just a really good workout and it’s a fun way to get a workout instead of running and other things.

How hard was it to learn dancing it?
It wasn’t that hard just because I’m a dancer, so it was easy to pick up on the moves.

What other types of dancing is Zumba like?
It’s a lot like hip-hop combined with salsa, latino, reggaeton, a variety of that kind.

What’s your favorite part of the class?
It’s just fun trying to keep up because you really have to keep your endurance up and just learning all the different moves and feeling good afterwards because you feel like you got a good workout.

How did you get interested?
I had heard about it from a friend, and then I went to the class, and I really liked it. I took the class and I got certified to teach it.

Do you plan to continue Zumba through college?
Yea, hopefully I will be able to teach Zumba at Ball State (University).

What do you think makes Zumba exciting?
I’d have to say just it’s really different. The steps are really different. Everyone can do it. It’s really fun because you don’t even realize that you’re getting a workout.

Anything to add?
People should come try out. They shouldn’t be turned off by it since it’s dancing. It’s a good way to just let loose and have fun.