I was fortunate to attend a two-day workshop in Phoenix last weekend presented by the founder of Zumba, Beto Perez, along with several Zumba Education Specialists from across the country. There were no top secrets, complicated formulas, or earth-shattering revelations. The dance steps we went over were far from intricate wow-their-socks-off-crowd-pleasers. We were reminded over and over again to just keep it simple, put our students’ needs foremost, and present the highest quality program we can.
Now I am an extremely skeptical person but I have a hard time finding fault with anything Zumba Fitness does. This is a successful company, run by honest and sincere people, with a fantastic product. There is a warmth, genorosity and optimism in their actions. It is a top notch organization that I am happy to be associated with. And Beto is just an incredibly nice and charming man who brings out the best in everyone he encounters. Oh, and he can dance like you wouldn’t believe! Nothing over the top– just so controlled and connected with the music and the students. I hope you all get a chance to take a class with him one day.
I’m very excited to apply what I’ve learned toward tweaking how I lead my classes, streamlining things a bit, getting a regular flow of new songs going for the new year…. it’s great to get a little outside inspiration once in awhile!