If you’re the type that enjoys group exercise classes but can’t afford a gym membership, get thee to North Beach with a small towel, a bottle of water and $5. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m., you can participate in Zumba by the Bay with licensed instructor Kimberly Padgett. In the warm weather months, the classes are held on the pavilion right by the beach and boardwalk. Classes will move indoors to Holland Point Civic Center on October 14th and change to Mondays and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.
This class is not for the shy. You have to be okay with exercising in public and having photos and videos taken of you by Kimberly’s husband, Robby. These will go on Zumba by the Bay’s Facebook page. It also helps to be able to laugh at yourself, particularly if you’re not always quick to pick up the choreography.
In this 45-minute Zumba class, you will do a variety of dance moves to different genres of music like country, hip hop, pop and swing. The steps are not particularly complicated, and I was able to pick up some of them easily. Others took a bit more time and repetition. The routine is roughly the same each class, though songs are swapped out two at a time to change things up a bit.
Kimberly informed me that she usually gets anywhere from 2 to 14 people per class, and a few come every week. I noticed as the class went on that more people were joining in. It is a drop-in class, so you don’t have to register in advance. Just show up prepared to shimmy and shake.
Zumba by the Bay is a lot of fun, and Kimberly is friendly and offers a lot of encouragement. Not only did we all work up a sweat, but we were rewarded at the end of our workout with a beautiful sunset over Chesapeake Bay.
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Judy Windsor Henry says
This would be great if I still lived there. Love being outside to exercise. I need it to really bad.