Local Zumba instructor offers

online Zoom classes amid

pandemic
 Fred Hiers

 Sep 15, 2020 Updated Sep 16, 2020

 

For people wanting to exercise and stay fit the corona pandemic creates a dilemma:
stay home where its safe from the deadly virus or head to the gym and risk
infection.  

Zumba instructor Donna Scarpello offers a safe alternative. Until the pandemic
Scarpello hosted Zumba class at Unity of Citrus church in Lecanto and volunteered
as an instructor at the Key Learning Center. Then the church closed.

Scarpello’s clients are mostly seniors and she says are worried that going to a gym
or confined room for Zumba class is too risky. Scarpello, 69, also has a
compromised immune system.

Scarpello now offers three Zumba classes per week via Zoom and helps her clients
create an online account and sign on to Zoom in order to participate with other
members. She said that most of her clients have joined the online effort but thinks
there are more people who are vulnerable to the virus and want a safer way to
participate in Zumba. So she wants to get the word out about her online classes.

During the pandemic, the Citrus County Chronicle is reporting on local businesses
who want to reach their customers and potential new ones.
“I have some older (clients), they don’t want to do the gym thing. I don’t want to do
the gym thing,” she told the Chronicle. “And this would be a great way to open this
up to other people who don’t want to go to gyms (because of the virus).”

“So I’m going to do Zoom until they come out with a vaccine,” she said.

Her three Zumba classs begin at 11 a.m. Scarpello is offering new members a week
of free classes. Classes are $5 per class, payable via Paypal or personal check.   

Scarpello began the Monday, Wednesday, Friday Zoom classes in March.

She averages 10 to 12 clients per class, slightly down from the 12 to 15 before the
pandemic.

"Zumba on Zoom is a great virtual platform because we are able to interact before
and after the class,” she said. “My class participants are mainly senior citizens
ranging in age from the 60's all the way to the 90's and are designed for fun and for
a safe-at-home fitness workout.”

Each class is one hour long and you can go at your own pace. These classes are
geared toward the beginner, intermediate as well as the advanced.

“The dance steps are repeated throughout the session, so they are easy to follow.
You can see and talk to others in the class before if you want to. Also, if you happen
to be shy you can opt out of being seen on everyone else's screen,” she said.  

"Some people I know have begun to return to attending live group classes, which is
very risky to many, especially those in our age group,” she warned.

Exercising in a small, confined room is too risky, she said.

“You’re moving around, up and down, left and right,” she said. “It’s too dangerous.
It’s too dangerous until we get a vaccine.”
If new clients are not familiar with or need help signing onto Zoom they can contact
Scarpello’ husband, Tim Scarpello for help. He can be reached at 954-464-4406.

“It is not the same as being there in a live class with everyone but it is definitely the
next best thing,” Donna Scarpello said.