April 2012

APRIL 2012

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diy stylish shirts

the latest zumbathon raises money for a cause

Departments

April 2012

Snip Snip SnipBy Christina Bilbrey

Style 12

This season’s hottest style with Zumba happening now.

Photo courtesy of zumba.com

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what’s inside?!

40Meet the Man Behind Zumba: Beto PerezBy Zumba Magazine

Pump

Beto Perez talks about how he started Zumba and where he stands now.

46Light and WaterBy Christina Bilbrey

Grow

Zumba is growing everyday to take over the exercise world.

23Learn the BasicsBy Christina Bilbrey

Tone

Helpful tips for class or just your lifestyle in general.

44Sexy SalsaBy Christina Bilbrey

Jam

Discover the music behind the routines.

52Live AlittleBy Christina Bilbrey

Move

How to have fun but still be healthy.

54Doctor ShoeBy Christina Bilbrey

Stomp

Let us help you to figure out what shoes you should be wearing in class to benefit your body type.

56Spa SpectacularBy Linda Maney

Glow

Feel beautiful with these exotic spa treatments that can be done at home.

April 2012

about the cover

Photo courtesy of djbooth.comPhoto courtesy of oyetimes.com

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Photo courtesy of fanpop.com

70Travel Gone WildBy Jennifer Brammer

Jump

Get a new view on the world by learning about the origins of the dances that inspire Zumba.

72More MusicBy Kevin Hart

Groove

More songs that inspire the latest routines for instructors.

features

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Test Your BodyBy Christina Bilbrey

Health Quiz

Take this quiz to find out if you are eating and exercising enough based on your lifestyle, weight, age, and height.

Her Hips Don’t LieBy Linda Maney

Celebrity

Shakira talks Zumba.

50Mr. WorldwideBy Ricky Martin

Pitbull

International Pop Star sits down with Identity to answer our queations.

57Dance for the CureBy Christina Bilbrey

Zumbathon

The latest Zumbathon raised over $250,000.00 for a cause.

I Work OutBy Cindy Berner

LMFAO

Read our interview with LMFAO to learn how they feel about their unique style of music and how it’s affecting Zumba.

45Zumba Sisters of MDBy Christina Bilbrey

Cover Story

Alva Bilbrey and Debbie Rice are tak-ing Zumba in MD by the horns and dominating the scene.

Photo courtesy of Christina Bilbrey

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Designed by Christina Bilbrey.Movement is what defines Zumba. US at Identity wanted to focus on what makes the movement- your legs.

APRIL 2012

23456 45656

diy stylish shirts

the latest zumbathon raises money for a cause

verybody loves the basic t-shirt. It’s comfy, goes with everything, and looks great. But what if you could up the look of the t-shirt

from just basic to fashionable? And to add even more to that fantastic idea, what if you could up your style at the gym? All gym clothes are the standard sports bras, leggings, and t-shirt on top. We here at Identity have come up with some ways to cut your t-shirt to add some flare and style to your boring gym gear.

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see page 14

April 2012

Find a t-shirt that you are okay with cutting up. Use a larger sized shirt so it makes the final product loose fitting and flowy.

Cut the sleeves off on a curved line. Follow the path of the scissors shown in the diagram on the left. It is smarter to cut away small amounts of the fabric first than large amounts since you can always go back and cut more off.

Cut on a curved line on the bottom of the shirt following the diagram shown in fig1. This will make the sides of the shirt fall more freely. The higher up your curved line goes that your scissors follow, the more your midriff shows.

Try on the newly cut shirt to see how it fits. Adjust the depth of the shirt’s neck, armholes, and the cut at the bottom of the shirt. For a more fashionable look, make the neck dramatically deep and long for your sports bra to show through.

This next shirt is great for adding movement to your clothes when taking Zumba classes. The fringe that you will add to your shirt will flow as you twist and turn inZumba class.

Find a t-shirt that you are okay with cutting up. The shirt comes out better when it is a larger size so it makes the final product more loose fitting and flowy.

Cut the sleeves off on a curved line. Follow the path of the scissors shown in the diagram on the right. It is smarter to cut away small amounts of fabric first than large amounts since you can always go back and cut more off.

Try on the newly cut shirt to see how it fits. Adjust the depth of the neck in the shirt and arm-holes. For a more fashionable look, make it more deep and long for your sports bra to show.

Start cutting from the bottom of the shirt straight up about 6 inches (this length can be adjusted depending how much of your midriff you want to show or how long you want the fringe to be).

Try on your new shirt and see how it fits. The shirt should fit loosely around your arms and neck so that it hangs and does not hug your chest. The fringe should also flow easily when it hangs.

Both of these creative cuts that you can do yourself to make any outfit dynamic and fun. They are perfect for Zumba because they move with you as you are moving.

Try wearing layers at the gym with your newly cut tank top to be more creative in your gear. The brighter the colors and more mis-matching it is, the cooler you’ll be and have heads turning to look at your stylish gear at the gym. The shirt is even great for just lounging around the house because it is so comfortable.

By Christina Bilbrey

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April 2012

Dance the Cumbia, a folk dance from Columbia. The histo-ry of the dance helps the dancer to learn how the movements work. Workers in the sugar cane fields of Columbia were bound ankle to ankle. This makes the Cumbia a dance that only moves one side of the body as if the other side was chained. The cumbia step is right foot front, left foot steps in place, right foot back, left foot step in place. The cumbia feels like a rocking from front to back.

Zumba is choreographed to provide several different fitness elements without requiring too much explanation or technique. All you need to do in a class or in your living room with a DVD

Don’t worry be happy Zumba was developed to provide a general class membership with a way to unite and enjoy a unique type of fitness experience. If you decide to Zumba, the first thing you should remember is that Zumba is all about keeping a smile on your face and a song in your heart. One of the com-pany’s official slogans tells you to “Join the Party,” and Zumba instruc-tors are trained to offer you easily accessible, safe fitness experiences. There is no need to worry if you don’t get every step correct. The Zumba organization believes you should find joy in your classes as you move freely and confidently in your own body, whatever size, shape or age you might be. There are no class levels to achieve, other than your own personal goals.

is follow along. When the instructor goes one way, you should move in that direction too. Just be a mirror to the teacher in front of you. You should also follow along when it comes to the pace and the intensity of the move-ments. For quick dances, make your steps smaller and don’t try to add arms until you have the footwork down. The goal is to move to a quick song, not to slow down to get every nuance down to perfection. When the steps are large or slow, use control like the instructor. When moving your hips or shoulders, really move them! Your instructor is not shy, nor should you be. Aim to reach the energy level of your teacher. If you do that, even as a beginner, you will have a super-effec-tive workout no matter what steps you missed or mastered.

April 2012

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just follow along

cumbia

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Stand with both feet in place.

Before your right foot steps back, put your weight on the heel and twist it to the right as if stepping on a bug.

After you step back with your right foot, step in place with the left foot.

As you step forward with the right foot, move your arms in a swinging motion.

salsa The salsa rhythm is a triplet step rhythm that is counted as one-and-two, three-and-four. Your right foot goes out to the side on “one”, left foot steps in place on “and”, right foot back in on “two”. Then the left foot steps out on “three”, right foot in place on “and” and left foot back in on “four”. This becomes your simple salsa step. Refer to the image on the right to see how the salsa is done. The number represents the beat of the music. The yellow footprint represents the foot where your weight should be on the cor-responding beat of the music. “Break” means stepping for-ward quickly and rocking back; breaking your momentum. Remember to dance light on your toes.

The merengue is a Latin dance that is similar to a march, but the dancer doesn’t lift his feet too high off the ground, as in a typical high step march. Arms should move in small circular motions and should remain close to the hips or the waist. Refer to the image to the right to further explain this step.

Step forward with Right Foot

Shift weight to Right Foot

Break forward with Left Foot

Rock backonto Right Foot

Step back with Left Foot

Shift weight to Left Foot

Break back with Right Foot

reggaeton Reggaeton is a combination of Latin and hip hop. Reggaeton does not have a specific basic step to it but is more of a style of dance. It requires stomping feet, bent knees, and shaking your hips. the stomping is not harsh but more of a marching type of stomp. Stay low to the ground when dancing Reggaeton. To master this genre, practicemoving your hips, clockwise, forward, and backward. You can

Rock forwardonto Left Foot

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merengue

also listen to reggaeton music, so you can get used to the beats and its rhythm called, “dembow.”

Start with both feet together.

Twist the right foot to the inside. Raise the right arm perpendicular to the body as the left arm bends in to the chest.

Twist the left foot to the inside. Raise the left arm perpendicular to the body as the right arm bends in to the chest.

April 2012

Get off the treadmill and

IT TOOK FOUR TRIPS from his native

Columbia, to Miami, before Beto Perez got his

big break. The fitness and dance instructor

simply wanted to bring his workout classes

to America. But with little money and even

less english, he could not get fitness-center

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managers to watch his latin-dance-inspired videos.

Finally, in 1999, one manager said, “Teach me.”

Caught off guard, Perez asked, “Only you?” Yes, she

said. Soon a passerby wandered in to watch, then

two, three, four... about 15 people. They thought it

was a new class and wanted to sign up.

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April 2012

Beto Perez, 39, is now the creative director of the privately held Zumba Fitness. His success is all the more impressive given the obstacles he has overcome. Raised in Cali, Colombia, by a single mother, Alberto “Beto” Perez was just 14 when his mom was injured by a stray bullet. To help support them, and he worked three jobs. All the while, he dreamed of turning his passion—dance—into something more, but he could not afford lessons. (Perez says he saw the movie Grease when he was seven or eight, “and I knew I wanted to dance.”) What he lacked in formal training, though, he made up for in raw talent. At 19, he won a national lambada contest. One of Cali’s best academies called with an offer to study dance while teaching step aerobics.

Have passion and perseverance. It’s like fishing, you have to throw the bait. You throw it once, and the fish might not bite, so you have to throw it again, until it bites. If people have ideas, they need to find the right people to help.

Somebody called wanting to start a Zumba class in Thailand. The students were quiet, respectful, expressionless. I come in and say, “Hey! Are you ready for the party?” I play music, and they’re like robots, not moving. But after 20 minutes, they were totally into it. You have to hook them with the music and

In a recollection from Perez’s memory of his first memories of Zumba, we asked him to tell us how it went. Back in 1999, one manager asked Perez, “Teach me.” Caught off guard, Perez asked, “Only you?” “Yes,” she said. Naturally, Perez started to teach the manager his rhythmic moves. It was 3 p.m., and the gym was empty.

Soon a passerby wandered in to watch, then two, then three, then four. “After 20 minutes,” says Perez, “I had about 15 people. They

thought it was a new class and wanted to sign up.” Recognizing Perez’s sharp choreography, charisma, and energy, the manager invited him to teach a Saturday morning class. One day, Perez forgot the music for his class. He had one cassette with him—Latin music he had taped from the radio. “I improvised,” he says,

the energy. It is a huge challenge working with other cultures.

I’m now pro-ducing music, something I never studied. And we’ll be adding more international beats to the mix.

Four or five years ago, I was teaching 22 classes a week. Then the company grew, and I went from an instructor to a busi-ness guy. It felt strange. But I need the time to create. I still teach five classes a week. I can’t stop. I need the contact.

“and that was the beginning of Zumba.” But on the first day of class, Perez got stuck in traffic. “I was ten minutes late,” he says. “I did not know how to say ‘I’m sorry,’ but I played the music, and they loved it.”That tends to be the reaction to Perez’s fitness program, called Zumba (pronounced “zoom-ba”). The hour-long classes alternate easy-to-follow fast dance moves with slower ones for an interval-training workout that tones muscles and burns hundreds of calories. When the music starts pumping—salsa, merengue, reggaeton—people forget they are exercising. And that just may be the secret to Zumba’s success. Ten years later, five million people take Zumba classes every week from 30,000 certified instructors in 75 countries, from Canada to China. More than four million DVDs have been sold, and Zumbawear has taken off (the $64.95 cargo pants are the top seller).

Ninety percentof them hate toexercise. I think people in the fitness business create programs for people in the fitness world. With Zumba, anyone can do it. Sometimes we have three generations in class.

No, no, no. We were so poor. If I wanted Nike or Puma shoes, my mom said, “You want them? You have to clean the house for two months.” She taught me that noth-ing is impossible.

you’re teaching less so you can focus on the business. how’s that going?

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who are your students?

you were rejected alot when you first started. diD you get discouraged?

what advice do you have for people with ideas?

what’s next?

what challenges have you faced as the business has grown?

April 2012

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Rubby Ruiz, 25 years old, raises money to benefit her nephew diagnosed with Down Syndrome.

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April 2012 58April 2012

Rubby Ruiz, 25 years old, raises money to benefit her nephew diagnosed with Down Syndrome.

WHEN HER NEPHEW, Noah, was born with Down Syndrome three years ago, Rubby Ruiz vowed to become an advocate for others with the developmental condition.

“As soon as he was born I said, ‘Oh my God, we need to help that community,’” Ruiz said of the about one in 690 who are born with Down Syndrome’s mental and physical delays, according to the National Association of Down Syndrome.

But Ruiz did not know she wouldd be helping Noah, of Cape Coral, and others like him through a heart-pumping Zumbathon that would draw more than 60 participants to celebrate the opening of her own fitness center as well.

On Friday evening, Ruiz jumped barefoot on a wood stage, stomping and twisting to Pitbull’s “International Love” while others mimicked her dance moves outside of Fitness Raise, two days after World Down Syndrome Day.

continued on pg 59

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At $10 per person, the Zumbathon helped raise money for Guardian Angels for Special Populations, a volunteer organization that has supported Cape residents with developmental disabilities since 1996.

The fundraiser served as a grand opening for Fitness Raise, where Ruiz has offered fitness classes ranging from Zumba to boot camp and Judo since January. Ruiz also teaches Zumba at locations throughout the Cape, including the Yacht Club and Rotary Park.

Since last summer, she has visited the Freida B. Smith Special Popu-lations Center on Friday afternoons to lead about 50 of its members through Zumba moves.

“The group absolutely loves it because it is exercise disguised as fun and dance,” Guardian Angels volunteer Laurie Wolfe said, adding that movement is particularly important for those with challenges such as Down Syndrome, Autism, and Cerebral Palsy. “A lot of people in our group are accustomed to sitting and getting little exercise.”

During the high-energy Zumbathon, Wolfe demonstrated steps and kicks for Special Populations members Pam Powers, 36, and Al-anna Cotto, 26, who danced but occasionally stopped and needed a little encouragement to keep moving.

“...we need to help that community.”

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“It’s fun,” Cotto said of Zumba. “I like the exercise the most.”

Cotto’s mother, Mirta Beverwyk, said she and her daughter even play a Zumba Wii game at their home.

“It’s hard for me to keep up with her,” Beverwyk laughed. While organizations such as Fort Myers’ The Skinny Pantry health food store and Firefighters of Southwest Florida distributed information inside the fitness center, a bounce house rested outside, where salsa beats blasted from the huge speakers.

Cape Coral resident Linda Rodino, 56, slid across the asphalt, practicing the quick Zumba steps that have helped her lose 18 pounds and drop three clothing sizes. Rodino began taking three weekly Zumba classes with Ruiz at the Yacht Club a year and a half ago.

She said the Latin-inspired workout is easy to learn and lets participants move at their own pace. Rodino was thrilled to burn calories while supporting the Zumbathon cause.

“She (Ruiz) is always wanting to help people out,” Rodino said. “It’s a great community wide and well known event.”

Ruby Ruiz with Laurie Wolfe after the Zumbathon.

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April 2012 46

By Christina Bilbrey

ebbie Rice and Alva Bilbrey are more than just two women that instruct Zumba together, they are sisters that instruct Zumba. People come from

all over Maryland to take their high intensity, yet fun, Zumba class. Their classes can include numbers of people from 15 to even 100. Their class consists of a warm-up to a top 40 song, about 10 other songs, and finishing up with a cool down song to slow down the heart beat. Their songs alternate between high and low cardio to give the heart boosts to burn calories and really make you sweat.

Debbie and Alva started out as just two people who loved to take Zumba at Gold’s Gym just down the street from their houses. They kept at the class for about a year until they started talking about possibly becoming instructors. They felt that they were familiar enough with the class that they could even instruct one. Plus, getting paid while working out is even more motivation to go to the gym and get a good sweat on. After the talk of the idea seemed like a good idea, Deb and Alva put the idea into motion. They went and got certified after weeks of studying and hard practice for the grueling test. Now that they were certified, they applied for instructor positions at various gyms. They started

D

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substituting for current Zumba instructors who couldn’t teach a class. The Zumba Sisters slowly started instructing more and more, slowly becoming more comfortable with being in front of a big Zumba class.

Deb and Alva finally got their big break in 2010 when they were given their very own class to instruct on Fridays at 6:00 pm. The opportunity couldn’t have been more perfect for them: they could come straight from work after getting off, they were fairly close to their houses,

and they knew enough people from Zumba that would come to take their newly offered class.

I have never seen two women work harder to create Zumba

routines. They stayed up in to the wee hours of the night creating workout routines to the Zumba hip-shaking songs. They would

meet up at the gym to practice their routines and then come home and practice their routines even after working out. It was Zumba 24/7 for these ladies, and they loved every single Zumba shakin’ second of it. Their first time instructing at their 6:00 pm class was a complete blur to both of them. They were shocked with how many students came to take the class (around 60) since the gym they were teaching at could barely reach a group of 15 people. More people were into Zumba than they knew. The music started and the Zumba Sisters were feeling the music. They were in another zone. The class went by so fast. They had so much fun instructing they didn’t realize how quickly the time passed. As students exited the Zumba class, people came up to Deb and Alva and told them

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how much they enjoyed the class and would be most defi-nately be coming back, and bringing friends to take the class too. Hearing that students enjoyed their class was the most flattering thing an instructor can hear, and hearing that compliment was a sign that they were going to be great. Today, Deb and Alva get recognized anywhere, from the grocery store to the mall. People come up to them and say they took their class and absolutely loved it. The Zumba Sisters still have their same Friday at 6:00 class but another class on Mondays and a soon to be Tuesdays and Thursdays class at a private Dance Studio. The Zumba Sisters not only love instructing, they love the clothes that come with instructing. The style of the clothing consists of baggy cargo pants paired with a tight tank top. Of course everything is extremely bright colored and loud. The pants have tassles on them so that they move with you while you do Zumba. Debbie has around 10 pairs of pants and even more shirts. The discount for the Zumba clothes she gets for instructing Zumba is just a plus to them being so cute. The Zumba Sisters of MD just absolutely love Zumba. Their favorite part of instructing is watching people enjoying the routines they have created. Alva especially loves seeing people laugh and smile while getting a good workout. Zumba is so much more than just burning calories, it’s a workout disguised behind a fun class that anyone can do. You can burn just as many calories, or even more, than just running on the treadmill.

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