Zumba Convention 2013

The one training I look forward to every year is the Zumba Convention. The awesome trainings, amazing concerts, parties and people from all over the world make for a life time experience. I'm always amazed at how Zumba brings total strangers together. You don't even have to speak the same language, the connection is there. For example, I have a Zumba Instructor friend who I only know via Facebook, while I was ordering coffee she turns to ask me a question when at the same time we both yell.. Me: "Omg! Zumba Annette" Her: "Omg! Zumba Marisol"..... We were both happy to finally meet in person 

(Annette and I meeting for the first time)

And that's how new friendships are developed... All because of Zumba. Then of course you also bump into instructors you may have met at a training and then you get to talking and you end up hanging out with them for the entire 4 days. Yep! That's exactly what happened in my case. A fellow instructor recognized me from our Basic 2 training and the rest is history... Good times, great convos and amazing classes together. Glad she remembered me :) 

(Mykle,pronounced Michael-yes, like the male name..lol) and I before the Sean Paul concert.)

Our "bump-in" happened while waiting in the crazy Zumba outlet line. It's not your normal line. People start to form a line at 5am and the store opens at noon. Go figure! Are the sales that great you ask? For us Instructors it is! The prices are worth it. Now I'm not sure if others think waiting in line 2 hours is worth it but evidently I did since I stood in it .... See pics below

(Ppl waiting yet the doors haven't opened)

(The line circled the entire lobby area of the Hilton hotel)

(As if standing in the line outside wasn't enough, this was the line inside to get into the actual store)

(Making memories while standing in line)

According to my friend Mykle, we burned 971 calories by standing in line and shopping. The pic below shows the madness ....

Yep, that's the outlet. People trying on clothes everywhere. Some folks are going through piles on the floor in hopes of finding their size. It wasn't easy but we made it! Then came checking out. If you thought getting in was crazy, you should see what it was like checking out....

This was another 2 hour wait. All for some discounted Zumba wear...lol

I hate to admit it but I missed my first class standing in this line. But I made it to many other great classes. The one most special to me was the masterclass with Marcie Gil. She's one of my favorite ZES(Zumba Education Specialist). Why was it so special? Well.... I was able to get on stage and JAM OUT with her! 

That was the highlight of my day until Beto (Zumba creator) came into my Zumba Core masterclass and I was able to take a pic with him... We took a selfie

I've managed to get a pic with him each time I've attended a Zumba conference or a convention. Hoping to keep my little tradition going.... 

There were tons of evening activities. It's not all exercising. Zumba Convention is worth every dime, EXPENSIVE, but worth it! This year our theme party was Soirée.... Elves, Fairies and anything fantasy related. Our celebrity guest was Sean Paul(my husband but he doesn't know we're married..lol) I was trying my best to get a pic with him but it didn't happen. This is as good as it got (see below)

Don't laugh, it was all I could get!..lol The concert was amazing and of course his performance was OUT OF THIS WORLD! I'm so glad Zumba brought him out this year. Our theme party was great as well. People go all out and get super creative. I can't say I go all out, I leave space in my suitcase for Zumba wear..lol

Two fairies and a Unicorn :) posing in the photo booth.....

Four days of pure fun and great memories! I can't wait until January for the conference! Not as long and not as intense but still FUN! Here are some more pics of me with Zumba Celebrities. I was acting like a groupie...lol

Beto's dancer, presenter and Zumba wear model

My fav Zumba gal, Marcie Gil! (Check out her abs...RIPPED)

Gina Grant... Beto's #1 girl for Zumba

Dahrio Wonder-Zumba singer and song writer

J Perry- Zumba singer and song writer

Stay tuned for next week's post for a slide show of pics!

Zumba love,

Marisol

Failed Audition

I impatiently wait for that email from Zumba home office. I log in and out of the Zumba forums to check on others who also wait to hear if they made the audition or not. Many talk about dreaming of being a jammer and others speak of how anxious they are to hear the news. Noon passes and still no word.... I continue to check the forums when I see someone post, "CHECK YOUR EMAILS"! I click refresh on my email icon and the pop up on my phone says "Zumba Fitness" by this time it's almost 6pm and I'm on my way to teach the group of women who helped me through the process.... I finally get to a stop light and I open the email. The minute I read, " We regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you the role of Zumba Jammer at this time."  I close my email and drive in silence. I anxiously wait until the next stop light to log back into the Zumba forum to see who made the audition. As I read each post, I see.. "I didn't make it" pictures of sad faces and posts of frustration. One instructor posted this was her 4th time auditioning. She felt she nailed it this time and had assistance from jammer friend of hers. I didn't see any posts of instructors who made it but perhaps they are just being polite ....

I continue to drive and I know my students are wondering if I made it. They too were nervous for me. I show up and they all give me that look like, " did u make it?" What they didn't know was that I had already posted the news in our private Facebook group. I disappointedly let them know I didn't make it. Of course their first reaction was to comfort me and that they did! They gave me tons of energy that day and smiled big as they did their hard Sentao workout. 

Wondering what I could have done better/different; Zumba home office isn't able to give feed back because of the overwhelming amount of auditions. I will continue to attend Zin jam sessions, work on improving my skills and audition again the next time around. I'm not sure I have the will power of the instructor who auditioned 4 times but I will try again. 

"If at first you don't succeed, pick yourself up and try again".... That's all I can do :)  

Did someone say Gina Grant?

Three hours in the car with some of the best women I know and having every conversation you can think of. At one point we suggested we start thinking of topics to talk about on the way back because it seemed we covered everything in sight! Where to you ask?....a road trip to Austin, Tx to see Zumba celebrity Gina Grant! To most this seems silly but to a Zumba enthusiast like myself, the drive was all worth it. Three instructors bringing their students to a Masterclass they will never forget. Two hours of Gina Grant... who knows when that will happen again?! It was a class to remember and that we did! We laughed, we screamed and we danced our A$$es off!! No one went home unsatisfied. And here are the pics to prove it.... 

Two hours before the masterclass and the line already circled around the wall... The girls were super early!

VIP style for the Masterclass (still not sure what the VIP was for..lol)

 My Curves & Impact ladies posing before the big event...

A little surprise from Gina... Two Zumba celebrities in one class!

Gina Grant 2013!! 

If you didn't make it out, you have to the next time! Stay tuned for more masterclasses!

XOXO

MARISOL ❤👯

Tic-Toc-Tic-Toc....

At 3:30am I submitted 6 videos, 3 essay questions, 3 recommendation letters, resume, application, ACE Certification, CPR Certification and proof of convention registration to Zumba Fitness. It was a stressful couple of weeks as I debated if I should go through with the audition or not. When I thought about giving up, I thought of my Zumba Students who gave up their Zumba class time to allow me to record. I thought of the people involved as I prepared for this audition and there was no way I could give up. 

I want to thank all those who supported me. My Curves ladies, a big shout out to you for participating in my live classes. I'm sure I got on your nerves each time I asked if we could record a live class. To Yaneth, thank you for being my camera man and for having your brother work on my videos; not to mention the recommendation letter. To Dalila, thanks for introducing me to Zumba Fitness and for always supporting my ideas. The words in your recommendation letter made me smile :) You rock! Roci, thanks for staying until 1:30 in the morning to record my last two videos. I truly appreciate it( I know you were tired!) And to my friend Jennifer who took the time to write a recommendation letter for me even though she has mom duties !! To that special Jammer(you know who u are) who was kind enough to give me advice and guidance... Thank u! Thank u! THANK U!! Last but not least, I want to thank my newest Zumba students from Spring (Jennifer & Lara) who helped by recording my salsa routine... U guys rock! 

So what's next? Now I wait! I wait until June 28th to hear YES or NO! I'm not sure if I'm ready for either answer but I'm glad I did it! Once I get an answer, I will post the videos from the audition for you all to see. Say a little prayer for me, these next couple of weeks will be intense!

XOXO

MARIS☀L

March Madness

I know many of you don't do the social media thing so I hope my blog posts will keep you up to date with things going on in the Zumba world and other news.

Save the ta-tas:
On March 17th, a few of your classmates and my Zumba students (along with myself) danced at the Rocket's half time show with 300 Zumba enthusiasts. The game was 98% sold out and the crowd showed us lots of love. I have to admit, all my students did an amazing job, a few appeared on the big screen and some even got a text saying they were seen on tv...woohoo!!! Looks like I have some celebrities in class. Let's give these ladies a round of applause for having the courage to perform infront of so many people and being a part of such an awesome event.

Patiently waiting for practice to begin....

All ready for our half-time performance

All smiles after a great performance...MY STUDENTS ROCK!

   

Masterclass with Texas Zin Jammers:
   For the first time ever, all of our Texas Zin Jammers (Jammers are instructors who are auditioned by Zumba to teach other instructors choreography) came together to have a HUGE masterclass. The event was a huge turn out, there was not enough space so we had to move the party outside. I don't think they were expecting this big of a crowd but it goes to show how many people LOVE ZUMBA!! Check out the pics of a few of your fellow classmates who attended

Pendragon at their FIRST Zumba event

Izzy gettin' down

Get it ladies

I want to thank all my students for always being so supportive. I can't thank ya'll enough. Thank you for choosing me as your instructor.

What's happening?

I didn't keep my promise...I know, I'm sorry. I said I would blog at least once a week and four months later I'm finally writing my first post of 2013. This year started super busy but I'm not complaining. First things first..... I need to do my "thank you" shout outs!

I want to thank.......
 - The ladies at Impact for attending the Masala Bhangra Masterclass. Thank you so much for being a part of such a great event. I appreciate all the support. Secondly, thank you for being patient with us as we try to find the perfect spot for our Zumba classes. As you all know, our classes will resume this Wednesday, February 20th at 8:00pm. Until our new place is ready, we will have class at 11688 Barker Cypress Cypress, TX 77433. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for being so patient.

 - My Curves Crew: Thank you for your participation in our Sparkle, Glitter and Bling party. I loved watching all of you participate in making up your own dance. How about those choreo skills??? Looks like ya'll can help me come up with some moves. I know we haven't added it into our routine but I'm trying to use that song for toning so we will be using our toning sticks once again...can I get a woot! woot! I also want to thank the ladies who came out to the Masala Bhangra Masterclass. I hope you enjoyed the class as much as I did. You all know how obsessed I am with the Indian culture so it made me so happy to see ALL(impact and curves) my ladies at this event. Thanks again for all your wonderful support.

Choreographing their own dance while working the stilettos!



Upcoming events: For those of you who will be participating in the halftime performance at the Rockets game..ARE YOU READY?? Another great Zumba event, filled with  over 200 Zumba lovers supporting a great cause. Space is limited so if you haven't registered, be sure you do so soon. I will be having a Sunday practice. I haven't asked Dalila yet if we can use her facility on Sunday but I'm sure it won't be a problem. I'm trying to learn the dance so that I can teach it to ya'll. The event is only a few weeks away ...eek! No worries, I'm not ready either. Worse case scenario, we will all learn it the day of. If we mess up, we'll mess up together :)

 I know I'm constantly inviting ya'll to Zumba events but I try to keep my ladies motivated. I want ya'll to try new things and meet people who are on the same mission as you. I think it's important in life to try new things, at least you can say you tried it ONCE!

Bluebell Run: I announced a few weeks ago about the Bluebell Run in Brenham, Tx. This is a fun run that rewards us with ice cream at the end :) How great is that?  You may register for the 5k or 10k, it's your choice. If you would like to register, here is the link https://bluebellfunrun.com/index.html  We will meet at Memorial Park to practice running or walking. We haven't discussed times yet but if you're interested please email me and I will add you to my "Bluebell run" distribution list.

Okay, I think I covered all the upcoming events. I get invites every day to different master classes. I would post them all except at some point ya'll will disown me. Instead of making money from Zumba,  I spend it on attending trainings or master classes..Ay yay yay!!

Do you ever want to dress like a Zumba rock star? ....Then don't forget to use code (pinksol08) when you check out to receive 10% off your entire purchase. Log on to www.zumba.com to check out the latest styles. I just came from the LA Conference and there will be tons of new things coming out.

So that's the skinny on the latest events. New blogs coming soon. Stay tuned.