Wow! Nowhere was it more apparent that I'm white and from the midwest that at my very first Zumba class last night. I've been observing for a few weeks now and since I'm trying to heal a hip flexor injury I've reduced my running a bit and tried to diversify my workouts. I made it through the warm up just fine, minimal sweat and thought "I've got this" but then whoa! the tempo got faster and my feet were a tangled mess in no time - quite possibly I hit myself in the head more than once with my flailing arms too. Now in fairness - most everyone in the room didn't have that "extra latin flair" the instructor brought to every step, but at least they could master the basics my formerly proud pom-pom squad co-captain self thought I would nail no problem!
I've lived in SoCal for 9 years so diversity of people is my everyday norm and mexican food is now a weekly staple for us, but maybe the warning bells should have gone off when I was like "hmmm, there are only two white girls in this room" something I almost never actually notice living here. Interestingly enough, I tend to notice the serious lack of diversity when I do encounter it though, often back home in the burbs of Chicago. It was a humbling experience to see my pale Polish self flailing along in the mirror, trying like hell to keep up with our very nice but let's face it, oozing with latin flair dance instructor.
So will I be back? Of course. If you know me you know I'm not a quitter and even in my dizzied state of trying to follow along - I found time to identify plenty of fellow classmates who in my opinion were not really trying as hard as they could (once a manager, always a manager). At the end of the day though, where I really want to be is just like the 50ish asian guy who caught my eye a few weeks ago - who takes the class in soft sole loafers with his sweatpants but always, always has a joyful smile on his face and a surprising swing in his hips.
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