Dance for a Chance

If you’ve known me longer than, say, 2 minutes, you know that these two things are a given: 1. I’ll do practically anything to help a child and 2. I’m on a perpetual quest for a fitness concept that keeps me entertained and that actually works to get me back into those jeans that have been relegated to the back corner of the closet.

Saturday was a perfect opportunity to combine these two things!

My sister-in-law, Karen, and I joined her friend Natassha at Dance for a Chance, a Zumba marathon to raise money to help Johnston County Partnership for Children and The Miracle League build a ball field for children with physical challenges and a playground where children of all abilities can play together. I’d tried Zumba before and unlike Shakira, my hips do lie when they try to tell my brain that I can move like the people on the Zumba videos. The great thing about Zumba, though, is that when you get lost in the choreography, you can just dance around until you find yourself again. In a live class, Zumba participants are about the most fun-loving and unassuming people I’ve ever met- if you’re having fun, and getting your cardio groove on, they don’t really care if you’re in step with the music or dance like a frog in a blender.





For two hours, we lived William W. Purkey’s quote of “You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching” and let me just say, it may not have been pretty but it was FUN! Fun to the tune of 1000 calories burned and 4400 dollars raised for a great cause!

I can’t wait to see the playground and ball field when they are complete; thanks, Dance for a Chance, for helping to make sure that kids of all abilities can share the simple joys of childhood- swings, slides, and sportsmanship!



One happy little Zumba crew!