Sonja Poturica
The Zumba Oz team
It’s estimated that as many as 12 million of us are doing it worldwide. Zumba is the addictive Latin music dance-fitness programme that makes traditional aerobics seem all too – well, Anglo. Leading the pack in Sydney – the force behind Zumba Australia, Sydney Dance Academy, Zumba Oz, 2 Can Dance Academy and Brazilian Fantasy Productions – is Sonja Poturica, toge
ther with Marcos Moran. Aussie born and bred, Poturica is often mistaken for being Brazilian by Brazilians. She’s been teaching Latin & Brazilian dance for 15 years and says Zumba is the perfect blend of world music and world dance. “It’s a big mix! A lot of people that attend Zumba want to learn more; they want to learn the style of dance they just did.” In any one class you can find yourself dancing Salsa, Samba, Merengue, Reggaeton, Belly dancing, Line dancing, and even Swing dancing, and burning up calories before you even realise it. Zumba Fitness was created in Colombia in the mid-90s by Alberto Perez, when he forgot to bring his aerobics music to a class and had to substitute a tape of salsa tracks. Poturica, together with Moran (born in Rio de Janeiro) started Zumba Australia at the tail end of 2009, and now they have classes in five different locations around Sydney for anyone aged from four years and up. “It’s a fun class!” Lara says. “There’s no level, no category. It’s just ‘go in, have fun, follow the move.’” By the end, you don’t even realize you have done a workout! Our students come out dripping, and they know they’ve done something good. [But] for an instructor, the music’s got to be just as good, high energy, loud, vibrant and catchy, for the people to be able to feel and connect to it.”
Zumba Australia location: Bondi Beach.
