Hips Don’t Lie

I started dancing when I was three years old.  It became my life, my love, my passion, and I continued dancing and competing until I graduated high school.  Growing up, I never went to the gym.  I hated gym class, running was a foreign thought to me and I’m pretty sure I’ve touched a treadmill less than 20 times in my entire life.  I never had to work out – I danced four or five days a week, three hours a day and kept in shape by doing something that I loved.

When I went away to college, I took a couple of dance classes and considered hiking to class through the mountains in the snow to be my daily exercise.  I’ve never been one to feel comfortable in a gym.  Working out never made me feel alive and passionate and happy the way dancing did, and I snubbed the strange sweat that didn’t make my soul sing.

Fastforward to a year after college graduation.

Yes, I still hate working out.  I find nothing redeeming about collapsing on a treadmill with a boiling red face while sexy shirtless men are in plain eyesight of me.  I despise the skinny Minnies in their sports bras with the perfect tans who can run five miles without breaking a sweat.  I get bored taking walks and I didn’t even like riding my bike when I was eight years old.

What’s a girl to do?

Cue music and enter the best kept secret of Charlotte.

Several months back, a friend told me about a magical organization called Queen City Dancing Queen.  The moment I attended my first Zumba class, I was hooked.  Feelings rushed back to me that I hadn’t felt in over five years, since the day I competed in my last dance competition.  I was reminded of how great I feel when I move.  Booty shakes and hip swirls overtook my body and I realized that by George, I still had it in me!  My rhythm never left me, only my motivation.  All of a sudden a piece that had been missing in my life for five years clicked right back into place.

The instructors of QCDQ have more energy than I’ve ever seen anybody possess in my entire life, and it inspires me to keep moving even when I feel like I’m about to collapse.  The music blasts and my soul shakes and for an hour every Tuesday, I remember my first love.  As I look to my side and see my 50 year old Zumba-mate shaking her rump with the same oomph that I am, I am reminded of the movement that I will always possess within me.   And the beat goes on.

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Check out www.queencitydancingqueen.com to find a class near you!