Video of Poker Face Zumba with Oscar

Zumba is about fitness and also about party and fun.  One of the aspects of Zumba I love is the chance to express and help a group to experience what I feel during a song.  This is almost true for every song I come across.  One of those songs in Poker Face.  I must admit that I've not been a fan of Lady Gaga from the start but now that I'm on the dance floor, almost daily, I can appreciate the appeal to her songs.  Poker Face had been in my mind since I began hearing it.  Thus began the quest to find the set of physical exercises that could compliment the beats of the song and also keep it simple and fun enough for my students.

So, when I hear the start of it, what comes to mind is a set of repetitive hand motions that begin over the head and end on our hips. It's kind of an American Macarena, lol.  This move would be the basic move for the chorus.  For the verses, I use simple, but effective punching moves that make the body core sway from side to side.  The second verse move is kind of a semi-side squat that is accompanied by a rhythmic down and up arm moves.  The arm stretches down from the front of pelvic area and curls up to the face level while the head twists right to front and so forth.  The hand kind of spreads in front of the face as the verses sing "Woh-ho-ho-ho-ho" or "Po-po-po-poker Face".

But to me the most fun comes at the chorus when we all repeat the arm and cross extensions on 8 counts and then we roll our hips in a playful, sexy move--rolling left and then rolling right.  This gives the dancer a feel that Zumba doesn't have to feel 'restricted' or 'constrained' to just 'exercise' movements.  Being expressive with our bodies at times may give us a chance to take a little of a risk, of moving in ways that perhaps we wouldn't in daily life--- I mean, do you sway your hips that way when you are serving dinner or when mowing the lawn?

I know that there are several ways to dance to this song, but my approach has been simplicity, personality and a bit of risque.  And that is what I feel my students get with this song.  I hope you enjoy the video as much as I enjoy teaching it.  Weeepppaaa!!!

Zumba love

~Oscar

Zumba Video of Livin' La Vida Loca

Whenever I think of songs to bring to my Zumba class, I think of the fun they are capable to bring out of the dancers.  One of those is Ricky Martin's Livin La Vida Loca.  If you haven't listened to it, you probably missed out back in late XX century.  But it is back and with the upbeat tempo of a hot party song--perfect for Zumba.  

So, when I thought of the choreography, it transported me to the days when I used to dance to it onstage in San Francisco's Sound Factory (near Harrison and 1st. St).  Some of the moves are from that era and some are from dance workshops that I had previously taken.  Overall, it was a labor of love and I love bringing it to my students.  I hope you get to enjoy this video as much as I and my students enjoyed dancing to the song.