Last summer I tried Zumba for the first time. Alyson Stephens is the instructor and she makes it what it irresistibly is – a totally joyful experience. You dance moves you didn’t know you had in you, you laugh at yourself when your body is first catching onto them, and you feel embraced and completely unjudged. You follow along by watching what she does with very little verbal instruction yet plenty of nonverbal guidance.
Gyms bore me to death, running is solitary and hard, and even though I walk a lot, it’s quite dull. Doing Zumba, on the other hand, is such a high for me that everything else afterward in my day will have a tough time comparing.
Orcas Island is such a calm, peaceful, quiet place that every now and then it’s wonderful to have something positive that is fast-paced, fast-moving, and loud in a good way. It’s held in the Odd Fellows Hall, which is a building hovering over the ocean and overlooking Indian Island and the Sound. It’s like dancing with heaven outside the door.
We’re all ages, you can go at your level of intensity, and it will make you smile for the rest of the day. It’s Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8 AM and Wednesdays at 9 AM. It’s also wonderfully affordable – love that – at $7 per class or $30 for the month (which means 12+ classes at $2 to $3 per class). There are also lower intensity classes called Zumba Gold on Wednesdays at 10:30 AM and Thursdays at 9:30 AM.
For more about Alyson and Zumba-ing on Orcas, click here.
Come on out and try it!
