Who's Who: Teresa Hickman, Tote Maker and Zumba Instructor

Name: Teresa Hickman

Age: 48

Occupation: Zumba instructor and bag maker

Where do you live? I live in Kensington.

What is Zumba and how long have you been teaching it? It's a Latin-based workout, so most of your routine is to Latin music — salsa, samba, cumbia, reggaeton, all sorts of different Latin sounds and rhythms from different countries. I've been teaching at for three or four months, and I've been teaching Zumba for almost two years.

Where did it come from? It was created by this guy named Beto Perez, who is from Colombia. He came to Miami and was teaching over there. He just basically had whatever music he had in his car, and then people went crazy and kept saying, “Hey, when is that guy gonna to be back?” So thousands of classes, people and teachers later, it's this really huge thing.

How long have you been teaching dance or aerobics? This will be my 29^th year. I've always loved teaching aerobics. I've done everything – step, body sculpting and body conditioning, you name it. When Zumba came along, I felt like I really wanted a new challenge as a teacher. At first I thought, “How am I ever going to do this?” And I remember my instructor said, “Just take one song and memorize it completely. Then take two songs.”

What's your teaching process? When you teach people Zumba, you don't talk very much, so people hear the music. It's really about their connection with the music. You're trying to show them what to do with visual cues, but you want them to hear the music and to experience it. For the instructor, you memorize the song and choreography. I listen to the song at least 10 to 15 times before I use it because we memorize what's going to happen and when. In Zumba you may only have three of four moves in a song, so it's easy to remember, especially when people really get attached to the music.

It seems like a very approachable workout. Yeah, anybody can do it. Anybody can learn three or four moves. Another reason it's so popular is that for people who exercise a lot, it can really plateau, and though they can come out of a class and say, “That was really hard!” they still do this bell curve where they go up and stay high and then go down. In Zumba it's 90 beats, it's 160, it's 170, it's 120 — really fast and slow so your body stays challenged. Your arms are up, so your tummy's in. For a lot of women who can't seem to lose that, your arms are up and you're twisting for ... oh wow, it's about 35 minutes! And they don't even notice.

You said you also sew tote bags? Yes, I make tote bags, workout bags, mommy bags. I have a Zumba bag that I made and a towel. I feel very blessed because I have two creative jobs. I get to dance and choreograph, and I get to sew, design and create.

How did you start sewing? I got hurt and I couldn't teach for some time, so I really felt like I had to do something. My husband said, “Why don't you do something you love?” And I really love sewing. I was sewing and giving these bags away, and he said, “No, no, no, don't give those away! People will buy those.” So I signed up to sell at the , and people just started buying them. Now I do all sorts of crafty art shows too.

You said there was something coming up this Saturday? We have a which is from 9:15 to 10:15 a.m. and we're giving away prizes and a free massage. Kids are welcome too. You can just check out what the place is all about. For any normal Zumba class though, the first class is always free.