Hey, are you ready to Zumba?

Feeling the beat. (Nick Pearce Photo)

A Tuesday evening at Dalplex. (Nick Pearce Photo)

Instructor Richard Gormley puts participants through their paces. (Nick Pearce Photo)

If you’ve felt the Earth move on a Tuesday night at Dalplex, it’s not an earthquake but an epic workout class.

More than 100 people are turning out weekly for the new Zumba class taught by instructor Richard Gormley. As word of mouth spreads, the crowds are growing.

At a recent class, eager students warm up to Boom Boom Pow by the Black-Eyed Peas, stamping, sliding and tapping their feet to the beat, the walls of the building vibrating along with the crowd. Everyone’s innocent shoulder rolls gain momentum throughout the class, evolving into some impressive hip rotations.

Our enthusiastic instructor describes the class as a “Latin-inspired cardiovascular party workout with an emphasis on fun.”

He’s a ball of energy, jumping and dancing through a crowd so thick that sometimes it’s hard to spot him.

“How you doing?” he yells to the class. They scream back at him as if they’re at a rock concert.

Matthew Doherty, a first-year oceanography student, says he loves the energy, the fun, the music, the workout—even the copious amounts of sweat.

“I recommend it to anybody. Anybody can do this class. It’s so much fun,” said Mr. Doherty, 17.

Krista MacInnis, a second-year radiological technology major, says it’s up to you what you want to get out of it.

“You can go completely at your own pace and no one really notices if you’re just kind of walking there,” she says. “You can do whatever amount of exercise you need to get.”

“There’s no right or wrong step,” explains Mr. Gormley, 20. “It’s all about putting in your own flavour and having fun.”

He discovered Zumba when he went to an Aquafit conference in Orlando. He fell in love with it and immediately worked to get certified to instruct.

“It’s a fun way for people, who don’t necessarily have a normal fitness routine, to get fit,” he says.

Zumba originated in 2001, when creator and celebrity fitness trainer “Beto” Perez forgot to bring the music for his aerobics class. He grabbed whatever tapes he could find in his car and improvised an entire class by dancing to the music, which was mainly traditional salsa and meringue.

Although Zumba has been around close to a decade, it’s still fairly new to Canada. Mr. Gormley, a third-year kinesiology student at Dal, was in one of the first groups of Canadian instructors to get certified.

Check out the Zumba class at Dalplex, Tuesdays at 7:45 p.m. and Fridays at 4:30 p.m. There is another new “cardiovascular party workout” on the Dalplex fitness schedule: Cardio Groove on Sundays at 5:30 p.m.

LINK: Department of Athletics and Recreational Services