Zumba

6th August 2010

THIS IS NO ORDINARY EXERCISE CLASS...

What do you get if you take a sports hall, fill it with people, add bass-thumping beats mixed with Latin flavour, a sprinkling of 'woops' and 'yeahs' and finish off with copious amounts of sweat...? Well, if you don't know, you soon will. Zumba Cumbria, the dance/fitness phenomenon that is spreading like wildfire around the West Cumbrian coast, is coming to a town near you!

Infectious, energetic and bundles of fun, it is the catchiest thing to hit Britain since the invention of Facebook, and people everywhere are raving about it.
Set up in 2009 by Mat and Shameem Arnold, the company has gone from strength to strength and now employs 11 instructors including a full time PA/Marketing Assistant, and delivers classes throughout Cumbria from Cockermouth to Carlisle and Whitehaven to Windermere.

Although you would think they've been dancing all their lives, Mat and Shameem actually have a background in engineering: Mat worked as a Civil Engineer at Westlakes Science Park while Shameem used to work for Sellafield as a Quality Engineer. However, their passion for dance and fitness led them to the brave decision to leave their jobs and set up their own company...the rest, as they say, is history! Mat and Shameem are qualified Zumba Instructors, possess their Exercise To Music qualifications and are qualified First Aiders. They have taught Latin dance through their company Salsa Studio for 3 years prior to setting up Zumba Cumbria. Their recent highlights have included being featured on ITV's Lookaround as well as numerous local newspapers, and most famously on Channel 5 News for their stunning first dance choreography for local couple Gareth and Diane Messenger, who performed the iconic 'Time of My LIfe' dance from Dirty Dancing and consequently became an overnight YouTube phenomemon.

Regularly attracting over 1000 people a week to their classes, Zumba Cumbria has been described by one ardent fan as: 'the buzz without batteries!' Zumba works on the principle of fitness interval training and resistance training to maximize caloric output, fat burning and total body toning. Just one class can burn up to 1000 calories - one regular member has lost over 3 stone in just 4 months! It is a mixture of body sculpting movements with easy to follow dance steps, more like a party without the hangover! With moves like 'the donkey', 'washing the windows' and 'the crazy frog', it has developed its own lingo and members just cannot get enough of it! You have been warned: this is no ordinary exercise class...

New classes at Moorclose Community Centre start on Tuesday 3rd August at 11am. Regular classes in the Allerdale area are at Maryport Netherall School on Tuesdays at 6.30pm and 7.45pm; Stainburn School on Thursdays at 6.30pm and 7.45pm; Keswick St Herbert's Centre over the school holidays at 7pm on Thursdays (Keswick School at 7.15pm from September onwards) and Cockermouth School on Fridays at 6pm.

For more information, contact Shameem on 07724 240179, or Clare  or see our website.  We are also on Facebook - see our page 'Zumba Cumbria' for all the latest updates.