The Big Reveal

There are a few things (ok, a lot of things) I’ve kept under my hat where this blog is concerned. Nothing sketchy, I assure you, nor anything that would prove compromising to my life, or anyone else’s, for that matter. In fact, there are a great many things I’ve let fly via Twitter and Facebook that I’ve never alluded to here, so what I’m about to tell you might not even be a surprise. I guess it’s just that whatever I write on the blog tends to feel very official and recorded for all time, so I like to be good and sure about its content before I publish it.

While I’m not yet at the point where I envisioned writing a post such as this one, I think its time has come nonetheless, seeing as I was hired as a group fitness instructor this week.

I grew up a dancer. Not so much in an artistic sense as there being something that compelled me to move to music. Indeed, I wouldn’t call myself a great performer or anything. For this reason, I didn’t pursue dance beyond the point where it was easy to participate in dance-related activities, such as it was in college, where I shook pom-poms with the Dance Team at football games and shook my hiney with Synergy Hip Hop Dance Company.

I always assumed I’d have a “normal job” after graduating and that exercising on my own would be enough to fulfill my craving for dance. I did get a normal job. I still have it. The crave, however, remains unsatisfied.

Until now, that is. In the past few months I’ve been seeking to fill the void. I’m now an AFAA certified personal trainer and a Zumba instructor. Next month I will test for certification as a group exercise instructor.

I actually have no immediate plans to train private clients (unless you, er, wanna call me). I went through the personal training certification process in order to educate myself in depth on anatomy and kinesiology. It worked! But what really changed everything was Zumba.

(Me with Tanya Beardsley, Zumba guru and star of the Zumba DVDs)

To be openly cheesy about it, no other exercise format has spoken to my own musical and dansical (made up word—I’m keeping it) inclinations like Zumba. It comes naturally to me and makes me happy and I’m pretty sure I’m meant to be sharing it with other people, so perhaps it is fitting that I was hired within 48 hours of completing my certification. The universe has wasted no time in showing me the path to putting all this in action, so I’m happy to “ease on down the road!” [Insert funkadelic soundtrack.]

I’m so excited to add group fitness teaching to my life! For any interested New Yorkers, I’m happy to share my teaching schedule (which begins February 1). I’m teaching Zumba, cardio sculpt and a boot camp. I’m also happy to kick your ass. With love, of course. With love.

In the meantime, I’ve got lots of groovy tunes to choreograph into my Zumba routine, so between that and some judgmental Golden Globe-watching, I’ve got this evening’s work cut out for me.

Before I go, allow me to direct you back to my last post, in which I published a rice cooker recipe and on which every single comment (except for one! Edited to add: TWO! Excellent!) referred to the commenter’s love for slow cookers rather than rice cookers. It is entirely understandable that not everyone knows that the two are different appliances, in which case some may be in for a surprise when they try the recipe in a slow cooker, but I don’t think that was the case here. My point is that I have been cracking up all week at the consistent comment references to slow cookers, despite my frantic interjections. If you’re in the mood for a laugh, I suggest you read through the comments—don’t worry, there aren’t many.

Cheers!