Starting Friday, May 11th, join local Zumba instructors at the College Basketball Experience every 2nd Friday of the month.

Join the Party™ this month with Tony Witt, Zumba Educational Specialist.    6:30pm-8pm, Doors open at 6pm    $15 in Advance, $20 at the Door    Purchase tickets online at www.collegebasketballexperience.com    Questions?  Email Brian Murphy at brian@thecbe.net or call 818-949-7517    Party afterwards with friends at KCP&L!  Certain discounts for restaurants will be handed out at these events.    Parking is free after 6pm if you choose to park on the street. You will also have the option to park in the Power & LIght parking garage which is $2 with a validation. You will be able to receive this at any restaurant within the Power & Light District.

Want to incorporate into schools/after school programs?

BECOME AN  INSTRUCTOR in 1 day training!

We are teaching the 1^st pilot program where you can get licensed in the basic Zumba® program and Zumbatomic ® program in a SINGLE DAY TRAINING!

Date: Tuesday June 5^th 2012

8:00AM -5:30PM

Where: Amore Dance Studio
11800 Quivira Road, Overland Park KS 66210

Register now!

Regular price is $300 if you register before May 15th (price increases to $320 on May 16th)

Cost includes:

Basic Steps Level 1 Review DVD
Basic Steps Level 1 Mash-Up DVD
Basic Steps Level 1 Mash-Up CD
Rush DVD
Basic 1 Instructor Manual
Zumbatimic Instructor Manual
ACE Trainers receive 0.9 CEU’s
AFAA Trainers receive 7.25 CEU’s

During training you will have opportunity to join zin. You must join zin to get the zumbatomic license

When you join ZIN at the training you will also receive:
ZIN Welcome Kit with bonus choreography DVD and CD.
Zumbatomic Official Training CD
Zumbatomic Official Training DVD
Zumbatomic Certificate of Completion
License to teach Zumbatomic classes (as long as you are a ZIN Member in good standing)

What is ZIN?

If you have already taken B1 and are a ZIN member and are interested in attending this training, you can register at the same zin price as other zumbatomic trainings!!! But you must already be a zin member to register at this price!!!

Please enter ZIN username:

OR Call 913-338-0888

Email jessica.witt@zumbamail.com for more information.

Tuesday night ballroom classes. Beginning students can learn the basics of 4 different rhythms with Tony, Waltz on the 6th, Rumba on the 13th, Foxtrot on the 20th and Cha Cha on the 27th at 7:30. We’ll take fundamental patterns/partnering techniques and show you how to apply them to different rhythms so you can get out and dance to many different songs. This is a great course for wedding couples/those preparing to dance at special events. For those returning for more intermediate/advanced ballroom, join Stephanie and Charles for Samba at 6:30.

Wednesday nights West Coast Swing class is always fun with Kris! Join his crew at 7:30!

Spice up the floor on Thursday night at 7:30 salsa lessons with Tony, Lauren and Steve

Weight/Less

Kimberly Winter Stern
January 1, 2012

For these six people who lost more than 400 pounds collectively, it’s not about saying no to what they love— it’s about saying yes to healthy choices.

January is a restorative month, a time when we put aside the indulgences of the holidays, the excesses of the past year, the habits we want to shed. We wiggle back into a simpler life and eat simpler food. We detox from the intake of carbs and sweets and spiked eggnog that started the day before Black Friday and continued well past “Auld Lang Syne” at midnight on December 31. We take a good, long look in the mirror and honestly consider the reflection.

For resolution-makers, the New Year is clean slate time; a white board filled with fresh opportunities to succeed in any area of life that needs a nudge, a measure of improvement, a makeover. And in case you’ve missed the post-holiday headlines for the past three decades, the most popular pledge that people make on January 1 is to lighten the scale.

435 South magazine put out a call last fall for people who shed weight during the past year through nutrition and healthy lifestyle changes and choices. We found six individuals who joined the legions of weight-loss seekers in 2011 and succeeded in reaching their goals. Though each of them—Lisa, Mark, Nancy, Kurt, Annette and Elizabeth—wanted the same result of a slimmer physique, their approaches were different.

The common thread, however, with these Weight/Less stories, is that no one experienced a quick fix. There was sweat in the gym, growling stomachs, occasional feelings of defeat.

Dan Kampen, the January 2011 cover boy for our “Perfect Loser” issue, dropped 69 pounds in 2010. He’s now run three marathons and narrowly missed qualifying for the Boston Marathon in November 2011. Kampen has a sage piece of advice for anyone who wants to drop weight in the New Year: first figure out why.

“Make it personal to you and no one else,” suggests Kampen.

Meet our six Weight/Less success stories—people who felt the burn and were rewarded with the payoff of a healthier, more fulfilling life.

Annette de la Cruz Hilvitz

Annette de la Cruz Hilvitz calls it like she sees it, and what she saw in her mirror in October 2009 was disturbing. She calls her personal epiphany the “something’s gotta give” moment.

More than a wake-up call, the sober realization that Hilvitz’s health was being severely compromised by her poor diet and exercise choices was a swift kick in the butt.

“I was overweight,” says Hilvitz. “I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that something had to change or I wasn’t going to be around for my two kids.”

Physically active as a young adult, Hilvitz had slipped into a mono-routine of non-activity and yo-yo dieting over the years. She felt insulated by her weight, detached from reality and mired in a virtual bed of quicksand. Her first decision was to begin taking yoga classes.

“I wasn’t overweight because of ignorance, because I knew what I needed to do,” says Hilvitz. “It was apathy.”

The body movement and breathing of yoga and monitoring her food intake helped Hilvitz find a light at the end of her self-imposed tunnel of overeating and inactivity. She progressively started to feel better, and lost 30 pounds the last three months of 2009. She entered 2010 with a resolve to continue exercising and eating healthy foods. She took up playing tennis again—a sport she loved—lifting weights and taking Zumba classes.

Movement has become Hilvitz’s mantra.

“When people tell me they don’t like to work out, I tell them to find something they like,” says Hilvitz, who recently became a certified Zumba instructor. “Unless you’re 15 years old or have an unusual metabolism, weight isn’t going to stay off just by eating the proper foods. We take our dogs for walks … why can’t we take ourselves for a walk?”

Hilvitz has maintained her impressive weight loss through a variety of exercise—Zumba, tennis, road cycling, yoga and walking and eating a diet high in protein.

“I can’t eat sugar and the white carbs, and I recognize my triggers,” says Hilvitz, who stresses that she also doesn’t deprive herself of the occasional sushi dinner, slice of gooey chocolate cake or glasses of wine. “You have to enjoy life, too. Just be aware of what you’re putting into your mouth.”

Hilvitz says one of her secrets to successful weight loss is accepting that it’s not only a physical challenge, it’s a mental one, too. “I’m an emotional eater, and every so often I will eat even if I’m not hungry. That doesn’t mean I’m a failure, it just means I get back on track.”

Hilvitz doesn’t suffer fools gladly. When friends tell her they lack discipline, she volleys back a quick counterpoint.

“Make a decision to take care of you—to be the best person you can be,” she says.

Hilvitz is a mere shadow of her former portly self, and though she says her body isn’t perfect and never will be, she’s comfortable in her own skin.

“Weight loss and proper nutrition are liberating,” she says. “I love life, and I love who I am.”

Kansas City Zumbatomic Can Improve Self-Esteem

Cultural influences can negatively impact the confidence young girls feel and thus lower their self-esteem. They watch the thin models on television and come to believe that they are not pretty enough or thin enough or good enough to be a success. They grow up lacking self-confidence and an unhappiness with the way they look, and this spills over into an unwillingness to try new things.

Our culture continues to promote an unhealthy body image in girls. Though some boys fall prey to these influences, it is girls that seem to be most susceptible according to a number of studies. That’s why girls develop problems like anorexia and bulimia and experience higher rates of depression than boys. One of the best ways to combat negative cultural influences is to have the child participate in a confidence building exercise program like Kansas City Zumbatomic.

If you have ever mastered a hobby or activity then you know how good it feels to succeed or to reach a goal. The same thing is true for children. When they learn something new, success brings an increase in self-confidence and self-esteem. Fitness programs also offer children other important benefits including a healthier body.

Girls Gone Dancing!

The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports has reported that sports and exercise can build self-esteem. Kansas City Zumbatomic offers exercise in the form of high energy dancing to Latin inspired music. The tempo is fast and the beat is strong as girls and boys learn to do choreographed moves that get the heart pumping and little bodies moving.

For girls, the dance moves prove that they can be graceful and competent and able to learn new activities. Dancing is fun and develops physical skills that include flexibility, coordination and balance. The program includes games too that also promote physical well-being.

Even girls who are not interested in traditional exercise programs or sports are happy to participate in Zumbatomic. Though the dance steps are broken down to make it easy for children to learn the dances, students are also encouraged to add their own style. You can’t do Zumbatomic “wrong” which means only positive reinforcement is used.

Kansas City Zumbatomic is fun, interesting, innovative and a successful method of building children’s self-image. It is for boys and girls, but the dance programs can help parents teach young girls that they are beautiful inside and out. For all young participants, Zumbatomic develops self-confidence and fitness motivation.

Kansas City Zumbatomic Grooms Kids to be Healthy

Most people have to exercise and follow a healthy diet in order to achieve fitness. There are plenty of adults who certainly wish they had learned healthy habits while young because developing healthy lifestyle habits would have come naturally. Instead, the growing obesity rate in the U.S. proves that fitness for many people is a distant goal.

It’s much easier to follow a lifetime of good habits if you learn as a child. Unfortunately, many of today’s American children are inactive and that has led to obesity rates increasing in the younger age group too. That’s why Kansas City Zumbatomic is growing steadily in popularity. It offers children the right motivation to get moving and parents approve because the fitness program is safe and effective.

It is estimated that there are over 9 million children in the U.S. who are overweight or obese. It’s tragic that such young people are dealing with excess weight because their health is also jeopardized. There are growing incidences of childhood high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes brought on by poor diet and too much body fat.

Dancing Children are Healthy Children

Exercise can take many shapes and forms, and dancing is one of the most enjoyable. Children need to exercise regularly in order to maintain a healthy weight, but there are other reasons physical activity can be so important. For example, parents may want to insure their son or daughter is fit enough to participate in school athletic programs. Some parents rely on fitness programs as a way to help their child build self-confidence.

Kansas City Zumbatomic dance and fitness classes can fulfill all exercise goals and is fun at the same time. A child that joins a Zumbatomic class and begins exercising with high energy dance develops a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction too. Zumbatomic fitness programs can help children:

• Develop fit bodies
• Minimize the chances of injury when participating in sports
• Improve sports performance
• Enhance sports conditioning
• Gain confidence in the ability to learn
• Encourage social participation
• Teach that non-competitive exercise can be fun
• Encourage self-motivation

In other words, there is plenty for parents and children to appreciate in Zumbatomic. The Kansas City Zumbatomic classes can turn children onto fitness by proving that exercise can be fun. There’s no need for parents to push or plead for their kids to get active once they discover the power of dance.

Kansas City Zumbatomic class instructors at amore dance say “Let’s Party!”

Usually when you tell a parent that their children are going to a dance party, there’s a bit of trepidation. When it’s a Zumbatomic party there’s no need for worry. This is a party designed to promote good health, cardio exercise, and energetic movements, all of which children need for healthy bodies.

Combining lively Latin inspired music with a variety of Latin inspired dance steps creates the perfect fitness routine for children. Kids like exciting activities that keep them interested and engaged, provide plenty of social interaction, and build confidence. The Kansas City Zumbatomic program offers all of these things making it ideal for:

• School physical education programs
• School dance clubs
• Birthday parties
• Community fitness center programs
• Summer programs for children

Your children or students are going to be really surprised when you say, “Let’s Party!” This kind of party is safe for children as young as 4 and benefits ages up to 12. After the age of 12, teenagers can join adult Zumba classes that take exercise to the next level. The Zumbatomic classes add music and dance to children’s lives even as schools cut back on the arts programs, providing yet another benefit.

Keeping Children Engaged

Keeping children engaged today is not as easy as it once was because they are so involved in fast paced action games and high tech electronics. You may have trouble getting a child to take dance lessons, but you won’t have any difficulty convincing the same child to dance at Zumbatomic classes. The dance steps are fast paced, varied and designed specifically for children still learning balance and coordination.

Jessica Witt is a Kansas City Zumbatomic instructor that teaches at amore dance studio and helps lead the zumbatomic program nationally.  She is specifically trained in breaking down the steps for children. This makes it easy for kids to start dancing at the first class. There’s no time to get bored with the class.

Teaching children dance steps promotes child development in a number of ways. For example, children learn to turn instructions into dance steps thus improving information processing. A child also learns how to participate in a group activity as a supporting member and how to practice something until it’s mastered. These are all valuable lessons that they will use for the rest of their lives.

As a parent or teacher, you may appreciate the many lessons and health benefits of Zumbatomic. For the kids, all that matters is that Kansas City Zumbatomic classes turns exercise into a party!