You know what's awesome?

FORTY-ONE children dancing their little butts off at 7:45 in the morning, laughing and smiling and having a great time...and getting some exercise while they're at it.

And next week I might even have a couple more.

That's it though.  I'm putting at cap at 50 kids, tops.  No more additions after next week!  I hate to deny any kid the experience because it really is a blast, but 50 kids with one teacher is plenty.

The time went by super fast.  We really only had time for a warm-up, about 3/4 of a routine, a game, and a cool-down.  Next week we'll finish up the routine and play a different game.

And, on top of that, it's Theme Song Thursday!

Today's theme song is incredibly inane...but it made for a great Zumbatomic warm-up this morning.  So LET'S GO!

For those of you who have been reading my blog from the first post, it should be clear to you by now that the actual dates of holidays mean very little to me.  If I'm in the spirit, I'm going to celebrate!  (See my Happy New Year post here.)

Why the Christmas spirit, you ask?  Because when I came home from work this afternoon I had a package waiting on my doorstep with a bunch of presents that I bought for myself!

My excitement of these gifts to myself is two-fold.  First of all, yay for new clothes, none of which will need to be returned because they all fit great!  But the really exciting part is the reason I purchased them:  I am going to start teaching Zumbatomic (Zumba for kids) in just a couple of weeks.  Eeeeeeeeee!

If I may, I would like to expound for a few moments (or a bit longer) upon my love for Zumba and how it came into my life.  And, given that this is my blog, I believe that I do, indeed, have permission to do so.

I have always loved to dance.  The connection of music and body is something that brings me great joy.  I've never totally gotten the whole "dance like nobody's watching" thing.  I dance the same way whether anyone is watching or not--with gusto.  And so you can imagine how thrilled I was when I was invited to join a West African music and dance society.  And if you can imagine that thrill, you might also be able to imagine the disappointment I felt when I realized that it was not all it was cracked up to be.

The performance schedule was heavy and the rehearsals frequent and long, with a high-pressure emphasis on perfection.  Dance--that music/body fusion that had once made me so joyful--was becoming an obligation.  I dreaded going to rehearsals, hated giving up so many weekends for performances.

So I quit.

This wasn't a decision I came to easily.  I agonized over it for days (and cried more than once).  Part of what kept me hanging on for so long was my need to dance.  As much as I had begun to resent the obligation of all the rehearsals and performances, those rehearsals and performances were my only real opportunity to dance on a regular basis.  In the end though, I knew that quitting was the right thing for myself.  Still, I was sad.

Enter Zumba.

I needed a dance fix, and found myself on Zumba.com looking for classes in my area.  It was hooked after the first one.  It was just what I needed.  I was able to re-establish that blissful music/body connection without the unnecessary pressure of perfection.  Every Zumba class I have taken since has left me with a smile on my face.  (Well, except for one, where the "teacher" was far more concerned with her own good time than anyone else's in the class--but that was a personality issue, not a Zumba issue.)

Someone once told me that she didn't like the idea of Zumba because it wasn't "culturally relevant."  I could go on right now about the fallacy of a calling anything that has permeated cultures all over the world irrelevant, but really, why bother?  Zumba is relevant to me.  It brought the joy of movement back into my life in a time when such joy was in very short supply.

And for that, I am grateful.

And you thought this post was going to just be about my new clothes.