When our event planner told me, in a reverent lowered tone, that we’d snagged Tony Witt, “the Zumba guy,” for SLM’s annual Be Well STL Boot Camp, I gave her a blank smile. Love the music, love the way the word hums on my tongue, tried it once in a church basement and couldn’t keep up.
Still, I figured I should interview the guy.
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He’s a real dancer, it turns out. He and his wife were dancing with a salsa dance troupe and looking for a way to get into better cardio shape, and somebody suggested dance aerobics. So they watched a video—on VHS, because it was 2001, just two years since Zumba slipped past Customs and entered the U.S.
The guy on the tape was Beto Perez, the Colombian choreographer who created Zumba. His program was so compelling, they signed up for his first instructor training.
Finally, Witt had a way to dance with his class, not just do a demo and then wind around the room correcting students individually. “I could teach steps and have everybody’s full attention the whole time,” he says. “Not that I want them to stare at me! But they are engaged in the class the whole time, not just waiting for their chance to dance with the instructor. A class should be about allowing the students to perform.”
He had some learning to do himself: “There are so many Latin dances. I had some basic footwork patterns down for some of them, but there were styles that were completely unfamiliar.” Luckily, Zumba isn’t the rigid pattern of a waltz or foxtrot; you can interpret the moves as you like. “It’s completely nonjudgmental,” Witt says, and deep inside me, there’s a little sign of sweet relief.
As the craze spread, Witt was singled out to be Perez’s right-hand man, training the trainers. “I always try to emphasize that this is a fitness class,” he says. “People are going to be wearing tennis shoes. And the class is for everybody; you’re not auditioning for the Joffrey Ballet, where everybody knows the foot positions already. And the floor might not be a hardwood dance floor, so you have to be careful of twisting actions. Also, if you spin, and someone doesn’t know how, they might twist their knee. Or you’re booty popping, and somebody’s back is killing them. Instructors get too complicated sometimes, and it’s not safe. I watch videos and think, ‘Ouch! Somebody’s going to…’”
As Witt traveled with Perez, he watched the program go global, absorbing complicated rhythms in India, Romanian folk songs, the lilt and thrum of Irish ballads, intricate beats from Africa. In a good class, he says, you express yourself freely, without fear of judgment. “You don’t think about the fitness part; you just get lost in the music, traveling through different genres and cultures, and at the end of the class you realize how sweaty you are and how much you’ve used your muscles.”
What he loves most is that Zumba is “an everybody-together experience.
People become friends in class, because it’s a party. It’s not clique-y. People feel healthier; they feel sexy. Their blood pressure might change; they might lose their depression.” Pretty soon, he says, people are arranging the rest of their schedule around their Zumba class.
I have to remind him to list the fitness benefits, which are considerable: “It’s aerobic, great cardio, muscle toning especially for the legs. There’s also a lot of mind-body connection, because your body has to move in different ways to different rhythms.” And then there’s that party aspect…
The best way to find a good teacher? The official website. A great way to sample with a master? Witt’s sessions at the Be Well STL Boot Camp, June 16, 8 am – 1 p.m. Just save a little energy for Cyclebar, Prymal Sweat, Patio Yoga, Power Yoga, Buti Yoga, Tabata, Pilates, Core 3…
