ORLANDO, Fla. – Let’s get ready to Zumba! It’s 5 a.m. and this writer and her colleague head to the conference center at the Ritz-Carlton Grand Lakes in Orlando, Fla., to participate in the 6 a.m. Zumba class. For those of you who haven’t caught wind of the sexy workout that’s equal parts exercise and dance, it’s a spicy, upbeat mixture of salsa, merengue, samba, belly dancing and hip-hop to give you the ultimate calorie burning experience, while having loads of fun.
The spirited Zumba instructor, Dr. Lisa Grain, lead the classes during the sixth annual Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit. Grain, an orthodontist by profession and dancer by passion, joined the Zumba movement and became an instructor a few years ago. She presently teaches classes in Sarasota and Martha’s Vineyard, which is held during the summer season.
“I stumbled across Zumba. I was a professional dancer and my parents didn’t want me to be a starving dancer in New York and they told me that [I had to] do something else, so I decided to go to dental school and became an orthodontist,” she shares.
Throughout college, Grain choreographed a lot of events and even was a cheerleader. She one day decided that dance was in her blood and that she had to return to her passion. “Someone dragged me to a Zumba class. The interesting thing was, that was the first class I’d ever taken. Usually there’s an instructor in the class with the ‘instructor’ on [their shirt]. The instructor teaching the class would call [a fellow instructor] up and say come ‘Teach this next one.’ The instructor called me up and assumed that I was a Zumba instructor,” says a svelte Grain, who was still full of energy after teaching an hour of class.
Grain pointed out that every year in June, 4,000 Zumba instructors from around the world convene in Orlando for their annual conference.
“Dance brings all cultures and all creeds together,” she says. “I was really grateful for the turnout at 6 a.m. and people were enthusiastic. The nice thing [to see was] all of my ladies of color. I could really turn the volume and pump up the choreography, which was really nice. They all followed along. There were beginners and advanced people … they all worked out and had fun.” –yvette caslin
