Are we having a blast?

No, seriously. What on earth do they (whoever authored that official Zumba page) mean under “having a total blast”? What is “blast” anyway?

The thing is, we are all guilty of word devaluation. We say “fine” when we mean “acceptable”, “great” when we mean “better than usual”, and “awesome” when we mean “good”. Likewise, we say that we are “happy” when we are merely satisfied with something. To quote the recent BBC news report,

A UK wide survey has revealed that dancing and going to the gym are among the things that make us happy.

Sure, I am glad that 2 million people in Britain attend Zumba classes, but... really? Going to gym makes us happy?

All in all, Zumba classes is a product that we sell and our students buy. One cannot buy or sell happiness. I can only hope that my students are looking forward to classes, enjoy the classes, feel good after the classes.

I think I begin to understand why Zumba is such a big hit in overworked countries like US and UK but met with much less enthusiasm here in Spain. For Zumba to succeed here, a different, um, marketing approach is needed. Spaniards are not likely to buy a “blast”. (Nor “Latin-inspired”, for that matter.)

That’s enough ranting for now. The new song this week was La Peinada. Also, I used the Gotan Project’s version of Last Tango in Paris theme for cool-down.

Song List

1. Mbube — Warm-Up (1) — African song — by Miriam Makeba
2. Adouma — Warm-Up (2) — Afro-pop — by Angélique Kidjo
3. Las Mujeres Lo Bailan Bien — Merengue
4. Los Campeones de la Salsa — Salsa
5. La Peinada — Quebradita
6. Bla Bla Bla — Reggaeton / Cumbia
7. Tunak Tunak Tun — Bhangra
8. Dança Da Mãozinha — Axé
9. La Batidora — Reggaeton
10. Baila Pa Emociona — Calypso
11. Hecha Pa’lante — Bellydance
12. El Baile del Gorila — Rumba Flamenca
13. Mueve la Booty — Merengue
14. Zorba — Sirtaki
15. Last Tango in Paris — Cool-Down — by Gotan Project