Today in Latin Hip Hop

Today’s Latin Hip Hop was the Best Class Ever.  Amazingly I was on time, having rolled out of bed at 10:14.  I wanted to skip but I’d given grief to Hayley about attending after having run 5 miles so I couldn’t be a no-show.  Hayley and Marcia had staked out places in the 3rd and 4th row so I joined them instead of taking my preferred spot with the Second Row Shorties.  There wasn’t room anyway as there were seven Second Row Shorties crowded together, none of whom were willing to step forward and fill the gap left due to a mysterious absence of  Front Row Divas.  The front row was comprised solely of one reluctant pregnant latecomer.

Meanwhile, also in the third row was a girl in jeans and a long-sleeved pink hoodie who apparently skipped high school to come to the Y and practice for an American Idol audition.  She was really really skinny and the instructor kept pointing out how great she was so I’m pretty sure most everyone hated her.

By far the greatest joy of class was the Enthusiastic Retiree in front of me.  She was having such a great time it was practically contagious.   I enjoyed her happiness in much the same way I appreciate someone wearing an outfit of all crushed velvet.  If you love something that much you should just go for it.

I continued my campaign to keep moving between songs, an instruction most others in class don’t follow.  The only other person moving with me was Enthusiastic Retiree, thus dropping my cool factor even lower if possible.  But I stopped worrying about that when the whole class of Bachmann District voters starting chanting along with the refrain, “I’ve got what you’re looking for Daddy.” Except for British Hayley, whose expression I wish I had as an accompanying photograph to this post.

Back to the Y on Wednesday for BodyPump, although that’s never nearly as entertaining.

Today in Latin Hip Hop

The order of things was shaken today in Latin Hip Hop when 3 pregnant women arrived early and took over the left half of the front row, leaving several Front Row Divas without their usual stations.  I could see the distress in their eyes while they tried to assess the next best spots in the room.  We Second Row Shorties held our ground though and they were relegated to the third row.  One particularly aggressive Diva kept moving closer behind me and Token Asian Woman to my right, trying to force us aside so she could be right in the center.  At one point she was one foot behind us.  But we did not budge and eventually she backed off.

In case you’re still trying to wrap your mind around the women of Michelle Bachmann’s district attending Latin Hip Hop, here’s another tidbit.  At the end of class the instructor reminds us to be thankful because not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to attend a class like this.

Suburban Transformation Complete

This has been a season of doing things I swore I’d never do – owning a Mac device, joining Facebook, and now attending a Latin Hip Hop class at the Y.  After hitting snooze for an hour, I dragged my sorry Monday morning butt out of bed, put aside my downtown snobbery, and went to Latin Hip Hop in Lino Lakes.  Because Hayley made me.  I only left the house due to guilt that she was expecting me.  Hayley, who WASN’T EVEN THERE.  Okay, she did show up a few minutes into class.  Apparently there was a long line in the daycare room, and then she was worried about leaving the baby, and almost didn’t come upstairs but thought I would kill her if she sat in the lobby while I hipped and hopped.

As I suspected, there was no one in the class who was either Latin or could claim any sort of cultural connection to Hip Hop.  But – I can’t believe I’m about to say this – it was fun.  It was much more fun than Turbo Kick, where the classes are made up of 25 terrifyingly in shape, competitive blonde suburban women who have been attending Turbo Kick three times a week since forever and perform all the moves exactly in unison.  Being the short, near-sighted, over-achiever that I am, I like to be in the front.  Not with the Front Row Divas, but in the second row directly behind the instructor so I will have some hope of mimicking the moves.  This means everyone can see me and all the mistakes I make, which are numerous.  Plus this is Minnesota, so the women are generally 5′-7″ and taller.  I look like a child.  I keep expecting a truancy officer to show up and try to drag me back to the local middle school.

Latin Hip Hop was much more laid back.  Most of the people weren’t doing the same things with their arms anyway so my flailing wasn’t particularly noticeable.  I realize that many of you would describe me as graceful, but in fact I sometimes have trouble with coordinated efforts, like walking.   Hayley was all about the footwork so I assumed she had been before.  Turns out it was her first time, making her performance that much more impressive.  I just jumped around whenever I couldn’t follow out the steps.  Hayley was impressed with my hip action though.  That was the only part that was really like dancing, and what can I say, I’m good with my hips.  During the hip section, I was clearly the best shaker and roller in class.  That was a glorious 4-1/2 minutes.

Who knows what surprises will follow this?  Maybe I’ll go skiing.