Saturday of Zumba Convention 2014 was the last big day with lots of fun on the agenda and 3 big sessions:
- 9:30am – 11:00am Master Class with Kass Martin
- lunch in the hotel room
- 1:00pm – 3:00pm Hip-Hop Turn Up with Gina Grant and Dahrio Wonder
- 4:00pm – 6:00pm Burlesque with Gina Grant
- 7:30pm dinner at Roy’s
- 9:00pm – until Theme Party – Celebrate Your Culture
I kicked off the day with a lively master class with Kass Martin. Everyone always raves about Kass, but sadly, this was my first Kass experience. I can see why everyone loves her so much. Kass put all of her energy into that master class, and for Day 3 of Zumba Convention, that is a lot! You could tell she wasn’t holding back on us, and I had a flippin blast! It didn’t even feel like it was the morning. It felt like I was out at night partying at a club!
Kass had some cute choreo, but mostly I was paying a lot of attention to her teaching style. It probably stems from my old skating days, but I really love training and practicing being a Zumba instructor. I’m always looking for ways to improve my teaching, and one thing I love to analyze is how a great instructor, like Kass, teaches their class. I loved watching Kass in action to see how she not only danced and cued but how she engaged the class and interacted with the room. She was amazing!
{Sign around Zumba Convention 2014}
After a quick lunch back at the hotel room, I headed back to the Hyatt for Hip-Hop Turn Up with Gina Grant and Dahrio Wonder. Gina is one of my favorite ZESs. We even traveled to Virginia once to see Gina and Tanya for their Gin and Tonic Tour a couple years ago.
I’ve done the hip hop session at Convention twice in the past: once with Michael and George and once with Michael and Eric (who stepped in for George when there was a minor snafu with George’s travel). I was sad to see that Michael and George weren’t teaching the hip hop session, but glad that there was still a hip hop session at all and that it was with one of my faves.
Gina and Dahrio did a great job with the session. We did a Groove Section where we learned a mini routine and then broke down 3 hip hop inspired songs. After the breakdowns, we put it all together for a master class. It was fun! I think hip hop can sometimes be intimidating for people, but Gina and Dahrio made the class really simple with easy-to-follow moves that still made you feel like you were a hip hop rock star.
We even had a special guest…
Beto!
PS I must have picked the popular sessions or something because almost all of my sessions were in this same room. Do you recognize it from the other photos? Anywho, I just thought it was kind of funny because Zumba Convention actually spans 3 hotels AND the Convention Center, so there are plenty of rooms for all the sessions. I just kept ending up here! Hey, I’m not complaining. This room was my favorite because it had the awesome stage and all the fantastic lighting!
After the hip hop session, I swung by the Zumbawear store to look “just one more time”. Dangerous last words, I know.
The store was pretty cleared out, and I was sticking to my guns to not shop as much this year. I did find one other cute top for $20 that I decided to bring home.
Next up – it was time for Burlesque with Gina Grant, Melissa Chiz, and Betsy Dopico!
I did Burlesque last year and really enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to another round. We went over some Burlesque basics, broke down 3 songs (one led by each presenter), and then put everything together in a master class. I really love the girly feel of this session. There were some super-cute moves from this session that I hope to put into some new choreo for my classes.
I went out with some friends for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants – Roy’s! More on that next time.
As for the Theme Party this year, the theme was Celebrate Your Culture. I kept my outfit simple, but I couldn’t wait to see what everyone else was wearing. Some people really go all out, and I love to see all the costumes! I posted a couple more photos over on my Facebook page (click). You do not want to miss the tribal-looking crew!
Check out my other Zumba Convention 2014 Posts:
- Hammock Beach {Zumba Road Trip}
- Zumba Convention 2014 {Day 1} Latin Pop, Tribute to the King of Pop, and Lindsey Taylor’s Master Class
- Zumba Convention 2014 {Day 2} Bollywood Obsession, Rockettes, Queen of Pop, and Fitness Concert
Thanks for reading! Next time – dinner at Roy’s!
Hi! I was at the convention too and went to the Hip Hop and Burlesque sessions with Gina as well. I loved them!! Did you happen to get any video of any of the choreo (even though officially we weren’t allowed to video)? Could you email me your response…I really loved the choreo, but definitely can’t remember all of it. Thanks so much.
Thank you for your sweet words. I stumbled on to this page and wasn’t sure what you were going to say…thank you for coming to the master class and you know there is nothing better than teaching and instructing a group of amazing people…convention is awesome and it’s people like you who are a presenters dream b/c you come, smile, dance, pay attention…:D:D:D You rock!
Hey Kass! I’m so honored you stopped by my blog to say hello! I had such a great time in your master class and can’t wait to dance with you again at next year’s convention! Btw, we’re doing your choreo of Bambalam in class, and my participants LOVE it! Thanks for being so fabulous and for visiting my blog! 🙂
Thank you for your sweet words. I stumbled on to this page and wasn’t sure what you were going to say…thank you for coming to the master class and you know there is nothing better than teaching and instructing a group of amazing people…convention is awesome and it’s people like you who are a presenters dream b/c you come, smile, dance, pay attention…:D:D:D You rock!