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Zumba
Road Trip
by Randy Baez (Instructor)
February 1, 2008:
I took a road trip down toFort
Lauderdale,FL with my friend
Liesl Ramos. Both of us had signed up to
take a Zumba workshop with Alberto “Beto” Perez, yeah BETO, the Zumba King!!!!!! I can’t tell you how exited we were in going
to meet him. Not to mention that it was
my first time away from home in my 21 years of marriage for an all girls
weekend. Anyway, Liesl rented and picked me
up in an electric car! It was hilarious because the whole time while she was
driving on the way down south, we were watching the battery meter on the
vehicle dashboard, making sure the car battery would not run out on us. My friend Margie Milan called us on the way
down and told us “make sure you plug it in”.
I told her, “What? Plug it where”!!!!!!
Yeah, we spent the next seven hours looking for the “plug”, but we
didn’t panic! So we are halfway through on our
seven hours of this long journey and my phone starts ringing like crazy. To my surprise it was other Zumba instructors
calling us to find out where we were, where we were meeting for dinner and so
on. So Liesl asked me, “Do you know
them? I said, “Yeah, through the Zumba
message boards!!!” It was so funny and
we both laughed. I had never seen them
before, but we decided to get together and all meet for dinner that night. We reached our destination of Fort
Lauderdale, without having to find an electrical
outlet to plug in the electric car. We
get to the hotel and of course they only had one room left with one bed. After checking in, we met up with 10
instructors (all from various places in Florida,
New York,Chicago
and Ohio) over at a
restaurant. I had only communicated with
these instructors through the power of cyber space, but when we met, it was as
if we had known each other forever.
Ah!!! Real cool! Coolisimo! We
enjoyed meeting these instructors and had a great time at dinner. Liesl and I shared the one bed that evening
(anything for Zumba right???).
February 2, 2008:
On this day, Liesl and I got up
early. Well for some reason Liesl did
not sleep at all. She kept hearing the
train going by, the car alarm go off and other noises. I told her maybe it was because we didn’t
plug the car in - Ja! I slept very well,
after taking my Tylenol PMs of course. Anyway,
we were so excited knowing we were going to finally see and meet Beto!!! Did I
already say how exited I was?? Well, I thought he was going to make a big
entrance through the back doors and all that, but then suddenly he just walks
in. That’s it???? He just walked right in???? Where were the fanfares, the
music, the guards and all that??
Nada! Anyway, he stopped for
pictures, hugs and kisses (yeah kisses, I got the pictures to prove it). We
started the workshop with a Master class. Once he started, there was no
stopping him! He had live drums, a cute
DJ and of course himself. He’s so
cute!!!!!!!!! The Master
Class was so fast-paced that after 15 minutes of non-stop movement, Liesl and I
didn’t want to move from our space on the floor. As much as we wanted to get a drink, we didn’t
because that would mean we would lose our spot, which was right in front of
Beto! Well, we were not on the very first row, but close enough. The entire session of the Master Class was so
much fun.
February 3, 2008:
Ah, our last day with Beto. OMG, on
this day we had breakfast with Beto. It was so nice. Of course I did not eat in front of him. Are you kidding me? Let Beto watch me eat, like the king of
fitness, NO WAY. But it was nice he was
making sure that everyone had something to eat to get ready for yet another
full day of dance and exercise routines. The previous day, we were assigned
a song and had to come up with a group choreography. The class was divided into 12 groups. I was picked to go with group number one (my
luck). Liesl was placed into group
number two. The Master Instructors
assigned us two different songs, so we couldn’t copy off each other either. Well, I started choreographing our cumbia song,
but everyone in my group kept saying it was a salsa. I was like huh? As if I don’t know salsa
right?? It was a cumbia!! A cumbia!!! A
cumbia, don’t you get it people, but what do I know, I’m just a music
teacher! Anyway, I started the cumbia
and we had not finished when our group had to go on stage. How embarrassing, dancing a song, halfway done
in front of Beto. Of course we had a
“Diva” in our group. Half way through
the cumbia choreography that we barely practiced, she pushed me out of the way
and started shaking her bootie, the nerve of her!!!!! It was awful and embarrassing, but she heard
it from Beto later on that day. We learned so much
and danced, danced and danced. By the
end of the day three, Liesl and I could hardly walk. We took a few more pictures with Beto and said
many, many goodbyes. Ah!!! So cute! Did
I already say how cute he is?? Yeah, I did huh? Never the less, this road trip, the
Master Class and finally meeting Beto in person has been an experience that I
will cherish for a lifetime. Beto is a
very kind and down to earth person. His vision of coming from another country
to the states, of having to sleep in the park, and begging the gyms to see what
Zumba is all about is what Zumba has become today. It is truly, truly something to admire. I love that he speaks from his heart. When
you take a Zumba workshop with the “creator”, you really really, really “get
it”, and you really get what Zumba is all about. Its hard to explain. So, if you ever have a chance to
see Beto live and meet him in person, go for it! Maybe he will hug you and sit
on your lap too (yeah got pictures of that also!!!!) I just wanted to share with my fellow junkies
the wonderful time I had on my road trip to meet Beto. Remember to show some Zumba love!
Randy
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