Ditch the Workout, Join the Party!

          As we are halfway through the year, some people haven't lost sight of their New Year's resolutions. While many people are paying hundreds of dollars to take Zumba classes at places like Bally's Total Fitness, Lucille Roberts, and Planet Fitness, my good friend ,Omari Davis, took it upon himself to offer a Zumba class at his church, Grace Cathedral International at a cheaper price.


Omari is in the front with the grey t-shirt



"My best friend and I were teaching African dance classes, and someone said 'I really think you should start teaching Zumba classes because people really need it, [and] its a good workout ,'" said the 19 year-old. "I started last week monday and the last class is July 1st, 2011. "

          Omari holds classes Mondays and Wednesdays from 8 pm to 9:30 pm and the price is five dollars on Mondays and a free class on Wednesday. However, one can not only attend Wednesday classes just to skip out on the Monday's class fees.

Some of the members of the class

          Because the dance classes are held in a christian facility, Omari tries his best to combine fast pace gospel music as well as the instrumentals of secular music just to make sure he doesn't not offend anyone.

         According to Livestrong.com, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, Zumba is an aerobic fitness exercise that consists of other types of dances, such as, mambo, cumbia, merengue, cha-cha as well as belly dancing and hip hop. Zumba was created by Alberto Perez in Columbia and began his Zumba empire in 1999 peddling workouts on DVD's. With Zumba you have the opportunity to combine fitness, dance and most importantly fun. Zumba uses music to make the exercise more fun and exciting. Luckily for me, I had the opportunity to attend my first Zumba class and boy did Omari give us 'students' a workout. Idealy, one can burn 500 calories or more in one hour of Zumba, depending on how much you weigh and how much work you put into your workout. 

The class doing jumping jacks



          I personally believe that if you have a spare five and is willing to break a sweat and burn calories, what do you got to lose? This Zumba class certainly beats jogging in circles around the race track for an hour. Omari also states you dont have to be a member of the church to participate in the Zumba classes.

          Just to give a little insight as to who Omari is, Omari is an upcoming college Junior and plans to attend Mount Saint Clare University. Omari has been freelance dancing for 11 years and has been professionally dancing for 1 year.

Grace Cathedral International is located 886 Jerusalem Avenue, Uniondale, NY 11553. The head pastors of the church are Bishop R.W. and Novella Harris. To contact Omari for more information, email him at OmariTDavis@yahoo.com.