Where: DanceFIT Studio, 25 Monmouth St, Brookline, MA

Maeve Byrne: Dance the Stress Away

I spent the whole summer ahead of me studying for that dreaded Bar exam. Four hours a day of watching video lectures, and another three churning through homework. LAME. Way to ruin my summer, Career.

The Massachusetts Bar apparently frowns on consumption of Ecstasy or Hippie Lettuce (weird), and as such, I had to find the best, natural (and legal) high.

The Answer:

DONE: Maeve's Zumba class at Dancefit.

I've Waka-Waka'ed and Jai-ho'ed my lady lumps in Zumba classes before, but not like this. As if there were a threat of forgetting, the second I jumped in my beat-up Passat after class, I grabbed a pen from the glove compartment and wrote my "notes" on the back of a receipt: "SO. FLIPPIN. FUN."

As I looked around the room, everyone was mostly around my age...although I might be flattering myself as there were many t-shirts advertising local colleges. Bubbly, blonde Maeve bounced around the group introducing herself or warmly greeting the usual suspects. I'm pretty sure her facial expression naturally rests in a smile.

Here We Go!

As soon as 7:00 rolled around, Cascada's "Evacuate the Dance Floor" boomed from the speakers and it was time to cut a rug.

If ever Maeve felt wary a dance move would be the slightest bit tricky, she marked the steps for us before the next song started. But, even if your dance move recall is a little slower than the average bear's, each song called for its own, repeated pattern of steps. So, let's say it takes you eight tries before your limbs are more or less where you want them- ain't no thang, girl (/boy!)! Maeve is forgiving. You've got more than enough time to keep at it.

Plus, Maeve made sure that no one move is particularly complicated. Can't figure out which arm goes up? Which foot steps back? Just rock out! Jump around! MOVE! Whatever you're doing is probably close enough anyway.

So, prepare to jump up and down to Spirit's "Let it Rock." Get ready to twist to Train's "Soul Sister." Amp yourself up to shake it (double time!) to Shakira. Brace yourself to pump those fists to Rock Master Scott and the Dynamic Three's warnings that "The Roof is on Fire."

But, most importantly, psych yourself to SWEAT and have an UNBELIEVABLY good time.

From the DanceFit website: Maeve has been dancing her whole life… growing up in jazz classes, cheerleading…and joining the Kickline team in college – dance has always been a major part of her life. Years later…fitness and dance are even more important to her. After a long and stressful day at work…she knows there’s nothing like dancing it all away and getting in shape! She discovered Zumba and fell in love! By learning fun sexy dance moves and burning calories… she soon forgot it’s a workout and began to think of it as a dance party! She hopes that everyone will fall in love with Zumba -Every class is a party and all you have to do follow her lead - it's that simple!

Find out more about DanceFit at www.dancefitstudio.com

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Read more about Maeve on Zumba Fitness and on DanceFit

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