Well I though considering a few of my friends have posted to their blogs about Saturday, I would too! It is a day I’ll never forget but already the smaller details are beginning to fade…
My day started bright and early…. Well less of the bright and more of the early really, 4:30am! Quick shower and dressed and out the door for 5:40 (yes an hour and 10 is ‘quick’ for that time of the morning!!) – slight detour into Prestwick to pick up two fellow ZINs, Mary and Gillian, and then off up into Glasgow!
I’d already done the route and found the venue the day before, which Lyna gave me a bit of a ribbing for, but when it’s THAT early on a Saturday morning, the last thing I wanted was to get lost! So we arrived and parked at just about 7am, arriving about 20mins earlier than I anticipated. Got to the venue and there were already 3 people in the queue ahead of us, so we stood around and stood around and stood around some more waiting for 7:30 to arrive when registration was due to open, 7:30 came and went and we were still standing there – Donna came out to say there was a slight delay, the Zumbawear shop hadn’t finished setting up… from the queue we could see all the people involved in organising and running the day posing away in front of the Zumbawear poster (yes you lot were spotted!!!)… anyway about 10 to 8 we finally got let through.
Got registered and my neon pink wristband and went to stand in line, held place while Mary and Gillian went off to raid the shop. Mary came back with my ZIN day t-shirt which I then started to cut up while standing in line, it wasn’t a great job- scissors were just the standard ones I happened to have still sitting in my bag from Lyna’s birthday and working off your lap isn’t the best table… but managed to get something semi-decent from it.
Then we got let in.
This really is the only part of the day where I have a grumble to share. Behind the registration desk was a sign saying “please queue here” so that’s where we queued, only to get into the hall to find ALL the doors had been opened and people who had come in well over an hour after us had got into the hall before us! Not chuffed to put it mildly…
Anyway, we still got reasonably close to the front.
After a wee while of standing around things began, THE Tanya B came out and said her big hello, sending all the ZINs wild and off we launched into the Masterclass – the atmosphere in the room was nothing short of electric!
For those not in ‘the know’ Tanya is one of THE master instructors from America- she’s on most of the publicly available DVDs, she’s one of the founding members really, having worked with Beto from back when Zumba was in its infancy, working incredibly hard to make Zumba the name it is today, so THAT’S why her being in Glasgow was such a big deal and instructors were using their elbows to get close to the stage! (they weren’t really, we are all civilised people, but it probably wasn’t far off it! Lol)
During the class both Lyna and Mary got shots up on stage with Tanya, Mary told me afterwards she was so scared she spent most of the time trying not to throw up!! lol
After the masterclass we had a wee break and cue change of t-shirt #1! I cut up my top a little more and while I was doing this I was approached by a lady asking if I’d mind cutting her top, unlike my top, which was massively too big and needed taking in, hers was too small and she wanted it loosened off, so took the scissors to her top and the end result was reasonable.
We had a wee info session with the head people from Zumba home office- where they’ve come from and where they’re going, a pep-talk and a real grounding from Tanya, that woman really is an inspiration to us all! Lyna also got a wee shot up on the stage to spread the word about the Zumba Jammers, who they are, what they do etc etc
Then we had a break for lunch, I am not sure how much of a lunch break Tanya got as there was a queue about 100 people long to get their photo taken with her!
I took a wee wander into the Zumbawear shop, not really intent on buying anything but interested to see what some of the new range looked like ‘in the flesh’ – while in the shop I got pounced on by Lyna who I think was trying to exact revenge on me for embarrassing her on her birthday during class lol she showed us her ‘zip-up all the way to above your head’ hooded vest-top/windbreaker type thing and had a wee dance around the shop, yes I can certify the woman really is as bonkers as she is in class!
Bumped into the woman I’d cut the top for in the shop as she was showing it off to the Zumbawear people (who asked me how I did the designs! Lol), I was approached again by another lady asking me to do her top too! We ended up having a wee t-shirt cutting workshop going! I cut a top for Mary too.
Next on the schedule was refresher session in warm-ups and cool-downs, which there is a hell of a lot more to than you really would ever think as you take part in class, cue changes of tops #2 and #3! Our ZES (Zumba Educational Specialist- the instructor who trains the instructors) Donna took the stage with Tanya for part of both of these to demonstrate different ways of going about warm-ups and cool-downs, she really got the crowd going, it was amazing to see and hear the support for her, we’re really proud of our own!!
The warm-up session was hard going, by the time we got to the 3rd stage of the warm-up a lot of us were beginning to flag, there were a lot of comments about being exhausted and being ready to go home…. Mary and I had both brought changes of clothes with the thought of possibly going out afterwards, but by this time we knew we’d be calling it day when the event finished.
Then Mo took the stage!
Words cannot describe this man, seriously!!!
A lot of people were unsure about the African dance session of the day, had heard a lot of people saying about leaving before it, but I think all in all it ended up being the crowd favourite! Considering most of us had been on the go for about 12hrs come this point, and a lot of us were totally exhausted, the way he got everyone moving…. It was unbelievable! Even more so considering he never uttered a single word throughout the entire class.
And then… the day ended. And what a day it was! Well worth getting up at 4:30 for! I made 3 new friends thanks to ZIN day, I refreshed some of my skills and knowledge, got a wee confidence boost, I taught people how to customise their tops and I burned about 2 million calories from dancing my ar$e off for hours!
Gillian went off to her party and Mary and I headed back to Ayrshire. Had a phonecall from Lyna when I got in, but it didn’t last long… was so tired I was actually struggling to get comprehensible sentences out, which gained a few chuckles. My brain knew what it wanted to say but my mouth was just like “stuff this, too much like hard work” lol
But probably most importantly from ZIN day, I realised how lucky I am to be a part of this mad family we call Zumba! mad as all the members may be, I wouldn't swap it for the world!
