Join our professional Latin Dancers & International Performers for a fun & energetic Zumba® workout!

~ Find classes near you! Click here ~

Zumba® Instructor - Mio Takagi For the last 10 years, Latin Dancing has been my life, my passion, and my full time job that allows me to live life to the fullest. I am so excited that Zumba® is going to be another exciting addition to my life. I want to share my love for Latin Dancing through Zumba® with as many people as I can reach! I started dancing when I first came to Australia as a Japanese Exchange Student in 1999. In Japan, I grew up playing piano and singing in a choir since 4 years of age and loved music, but dancing was something that I always wanted to try. But in a very competitive Japanese Society, I was more encouraged to study than trying some new activities such as dance... So when my parents gave me an opportunity to study English in Australia, I knew I wanted to try everything I always wanted to do! I started learning Jazz & Ballet amongst beautiful Ballerinas who had been dancing for many years. Of course everything was so new to me, and I was not very good... but since then I knew dancing was something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life. After this amazing first year in Australia, I fell in love with the country and I decided to continue to study at University. Of course my hobby during my university years was dancing! So I started learning Latin Dancing! I danced nearly every night of the week for whole 3 years. In 2002, I met my dance partner and now husband Lenny Baeza, and together we established a Latin Dance Company called "Vida Latina" (means "Latin Life" in Spanish!) In 2005, we decided to make our dancing a full time career and have our own studio. Since then we have taught 1000s of people in Brisbane and some of them even became Australian Salsa Champions and/or are now contracted by other dance companies! Since 2008, Lenny & I traveled throughout Australia, Japan and New Zealand teaching and performing. In 2009, we produced 2 hours of theatrical Latin dance show with a beautiful story called "Latin Fantasy - Lolita's Story" which was showcased for the first time on the Gold Coast in September,Hervey Bay in December, and will be touring to Japan in July 2010. We even turn our dance studio into "Blackbox Theatre" where we showcase another show "Intimate Latin Cabaret". I was so excited when Zumba® approached Vida Latina to be the premises to offer First Instructors Workshop for Queensland. After having attended my first Zumba® Instructors workshop, I know Zumba® is going to be a really exciting addition to Vida Latina and to my life! See you at the Zumba® Class!! Mio

Zumba® Instructor - Simone Smith I have been dancing since I was young learning Ballet, Jazz and Ballroom. Now, many years later I am experiencing true Latin dancing: Salsa, Zouk, Bachata and Brazilian Samba with Vida Latina Dance Company. I started with Vida Latina at the beginning of 2009 as a student wishing to return to dancing and now 12 months later I'm living my Latin dance dream! Vida Latina directors Lenny Baeza and Mio Takagi saw a passion and drive in me that they have encouraged and supported to help me grow my skills as a dancer, a performer, a script writer and now, a teacher. ZUMBA® at Vida Latina started in October 2009 when ZUMBA® Fitness approached Vida Latina Dance Company to exclusively host the first instructor training course in Queensland and from there Mio Takagi held classes at the studio (Milton). I went to all of Mio's classes and I fell in love with the ZUMBA® music and the moves created by the "ZUMBA® party" experience. Dancing and learning with Vida Latina has given me a greater understanding of Latin dancing and now combining that with my previous dance experience I can fulfill the challenge of teaching ZUMBA®. I feel I can give my potential students the fun and excitement of ZUMBA® with the consistent quality required to really "enjoy the party"! The beauty of ZUMBA® is that everyone can do it: even if you have never danced before you will still love ZUMBA® because it's all about how much fun you have! The reason I enjoy ZUMBA® so much is because it reminds me of how I used to dance around as a child - so carefree and full of energy. Although the music I used was different (Aqua was my favourite choice, it was the early 90s after all! :-) But now I get that same happiness from ZUMBA®. I feel like an Australian girl trapped in a Latino's body! I love the rhythms and beats and most of all I love the feeling I get; the freedom, the energy, the excitement and most of all the way it makes me smile. Dancing has always been a part of my life and now I get to share that happiness and fun by teaching it! My passion for teaching has been reignited by Vida Latina and now with ZUMBA® as well. I thoroughly look forward to helping you build your confidence as a dancer or a non-dancer and I can't wait to make you smile! You will get a work-out, you will sweat, you will learn Latin dance moves, you will feel the party, you will be energized and you will feel awesome! Join ZUMBA® with VIDA LATINA party! See you there! All the ZUMBA® love! Simone Smith (aka Simonetta!)

Zumba® Instructor - Navvii Lingam Born into a family with Indian/ Sri Lankan background in Malaysia has made me appreciate and given me a vast understanding of cultures around the world. Music and dancing has always been a big part of my life. It wasn’t until I was 15 when I started feeling music differently and having a secret passion for dancing. While rummaging through my mothers collection of fitness VCD’s (Yep it was that looong ago), it was then when I discovered Latin dancing. I loved the hip movements, the music, the beats and the energy portrayed, most of all…. The fun portrayed. In July 2007, I arrived in Brisbane to pursuit my Bachelors Degree in Psychology at the University of Queensland. Being away from home and family taught me millions of lessons, made me look for a definition of myself. I managed to persuade my friend to join me for Salsa at UQ Sport as I’ve always wanted to learn Latin dancing in August 2008. That’s when I met Lenny (Director of Vida Latina Dance Co.) who inspired me to keep coming just by what I learnt in the first class. However, one hour once a week was never enough. I enrolled myself in a membership with Vida Latina Dance Co. to dance every night that Summer 2008. My passion for dancing grew from day to day with the strong encouragement and guidance provided by Lenny and Mio. I have been a part of the Vida Latina Performance Troupe since March 2009 and it’s been an absolutely amazing journey! Ever since, I have performed at all of Vida Latina’s productions ? Latin Fantasy ~ Lolita’s Story and will be touring with the crew to Japan in July’ 10 with “Sakura” and “Latin Cabaret”. I have recently joined Vida Latina Dance Co. as a full-time performer, dance/ ZUMBA® instructor after completing my tertiary education! I was introduced to ZUMBA® in February 2010 and was blown away instantly after my first Zumba® class with Mio. It had so much flavour, energy, diversity, craziness, fun and most of all provided an extremely good workout. The PARTY atmosphere ZUMBA® created made me not realise how hard I had just worked. I noticed immediate changes in my body after several classes. The fact that I had learned Latin dancing prior to Zumba has definitely been an advantage given my knowledge and understanding of Latin moves and music. With this, I believe I am able to fulfil my students’ needs of a great quality workout with added Latin elements ? the sexy moves that will keep your hearts pumping, funky Latin/ World beats, CRAZY energy in the room and a HUGE SMILE ? Zumba® has provided me an outlet for my creativity and to express myself the most. To be able to combine rhythms of my heart, of my culture (Hip Hop, Arabian music, Bollywood, Latin etc.) with my body movements has the most liberating feeling. It would be a pleasure to spread the LOVE and fun of ZUMBA® with every one of you, to feel reignited, feel energised and to love yourself. ZUMBA® EVERYDAY TO KEEP THE DOCTOR AWAY! Keep in mind that an average of 1000 calories is lost with every ZUMBA® class! ;) Dancer or not, come along to JOIN the ZUMBA® with VIDA LATINA PARTY with a HUGE SMILE and HAVE FUN WITHOUT KNOWING YOU’RE WORKING OUT! See you soon at the classes and HAPPY ZUMBA®! Much LOVE and a HUGE SMILE, Navvii

Zumba® Instructor - Shankkar Suyambulingam I could easily say I have been dancing since I was one year old but my mom and dad later told me that those pictures were me learning to walk!!! I guess you got to start somewhere learning to walk was my big step....and I haven't looked back since. As a child I was fascinated with dance and big sounds (any kind of band music or concerts) and supposedly I was never shy to bust a move at the many festivals and events back in Sri Lanka and India (spent more than 20 years of my life between these 2 countries). It was always like "shankkar show us your dance!" or "shankkar here's your favourite song dance for us" so I guess I'm no stranger to showing off :) But Dancing was never an easy dream to pursue in my part of the world and a male pursuing a dancing career was considered a sign of failure! Although I got my share of performing in school level, I was never allowed to pursue a more serious dance learning curve when the opportunities arose. I was always told there were more important things in life like a career and getting a proper job! Here lies the truth ladies and gentlemen you can remove the dancing out of your life but you can't remove the dance out of your soul. Although my desire to learn dancing on a professional level never panned out I still managed to continue my dancing travails even through my undergrad degree in India. All this while the intermittent performances kept my dancing dream alive and never let me forget the joy of dancing and entertaining. Enter the year 2004 and I fly down under to further pursue my studies at a postgraduate level and after slipping in through various performances and some dancing schools including a Latin dance school I arrived at Vida Latina Dance Company's doorstep in February 2007. My love for Latin dancing began while I was in India where I was introduced to Spanish guitar music..it was love at first note! I loved it, the emotion conveyed by the Spanish guitar is unmatched in my dictionary and this evolved into a love for all things Latin. Vida Latina took this passion to a whole new level with their meticulous teaching methods and Lenny and Mio's personal love for Latin dancing. Some of their infectious talent had to rub off on you sometime and so it did with me joining their pro team at the end of 2007. It's been a roller coaster ride for all of us involved over the years with the growth of the company from it's humble beginnings to Australia's only Latin dance theatrical company. And now Zumba® joins the ranks and there is no better place for it to land than at the heart of Latin dancing in Brissy. Zumba® for me started when Mio instigated an interest with her well choreographed classes filled with loads of energy and cool moves. What a way to workout without even thinking for one moment that you are actually working out. The concept of Zumba® was an interesting one where all you have to do is turn up and follow the instructor and before you know it you are singing, jumping, pumping, dancing, sweating, smiling, laughing and a million other emotions you can only feel at one of the Zumba® with Vida Latina classes. I guess the biggest advantage our instructors have over the other schools and instructors is simple, we are a Latin Dance Company primarily. Personally for me it's a superb opportunity to share some of the skills I have learnt over the last few years and a good chance to infuse my style of dancing into the classes I teach. Watch out for my Michael Jackson choreography's ( they tend to pop into my zumba classes every now and then, he is a huge inspiration). I usually teach along with my partner Navviitha and you can expect my classes to be high octane, funny and sing out loud fun. Let's see you shake that thang in one of our classes. Love y'all, Shankkar S

Zumba® Instructor - Chris Baeza My dancing passion began at the age of 13 in a little restaurant called Sirocco in Southbank. I have been dancing traditional salsa for the past 15 years socially having been taught by my father Lenny and in February 2008 when I decided to take it more seriously. Lenny and Mio introduced me to the wonderful style of LA Salsa which has become a dominant passion along with Zouk Lambada and Bachata. My passion continually grows and I have never looked back! Vida Latina has not only taught me how to become a professional dancer, but how to become a confident instructor. Having been introduced to Zumba® by Lenny and Mio at their studio, watching people work out to the music I love inspired me to become an instructor. The craziness, the colours and the laughter of people having a good time filled me with energy and passion! Zumba® has taught me to use my Latin creativity in a way so that anyone can enjoy fitness and not think of it as a workout but as a party with all their friends cheering and laughing! See you at my Zumba® Classes!! Chris Baeza

Zumba® Instructor - Annette Scaroni Ever since I was a small child dancing has been a passion of mine. Growing up I tried many different styles searching for what suited me best. It wasn’t until Vida Latina opened their Camp Hill premises in (April 2007) that I found out about this wonderful world of street Latin. I was always interested in partner dancing but did not know much of it and perceived what I had seen to be flat and felt I would not be able to express myself through it. I still remember the first time I walked into the Camp Hill studio and met Lenny Beaza one of the directors of Vida Latina, he was vibrant, happy and full of life and made me feel very welcome. I was nervous as I was only 14 at the time but still enjoyed the challenge and found salsa to be something intriguing and exciting and something I definitely wanted to continue. It wasn’t until I attended the Milton studio that I was introduced to a whole new world of Latin dancing, I started training with the Vida Latina performance team and was able to pursue my love of performing. Teaching Zumba® has now become another stepping stone in my growth as a dancer and performer. The first ever Zumba® class I attended was one of Mio Takagi’s Saturday classes at the Milton studio, it was vibrant, exciting, fun and such a great workout. It was this atmosphere created simply by putting on some catchy music and doing some spiffy moves that inspired me and made me believe that maybe Zumba® was really as fantastic as the infomercials claimed. After some time of attending Mio’s classes and a little while after that Simone’s classes I began to want to teach so I too would be able to share my passion to dance with people. When Lenny and Mio said that they were able to make this happen for me I was ecstatic and have not looked back since. Zumba® to me is a place where I can combine every style of dancing that I love into one big ball of fun, and to me that is amazing. It is something that allows me to express all sides of my life, whether it be silly, fun, exciting or serious. One of the greatest ideas that Vida Latina has implemented with Zumba® is the team teaching, it is such a fun and interactive way to start out the Zumba® teaching experience, and creates a whole new atmosphere for the student as well as the instructors. I feel through Zumba® I can give the students a fun and exciting experience whilst they are exercising without even realising it. Another fantastic aspect of Zumba® with Vida Latina is that all of the instructors are dancers so we get to incorporate some of our own flavour whilst teaching the students some sexy moves that they can bust out on the dance floor, adding an extra element to the class. I can’t wait for the new and exciting experiences that are yet to come with Zumba®, and would love to see you all in my classes so you can be Zumbafied just like I was! :) Hope to see you soon, Annette :)

Zumba® Instructor - Ronan Smethurst My name is Ronan Smethurst. Zumba® instructor, latin dance teacher, performer and enthusiast. And this is my zumba story. As a growing young boy, I would never have dreamed to be teaching or performing dance as I do today. I was the classic Aussie sportsman through and through. I played every sport imaginable, I was completely hooked. Being healthy and fit was integral to my life. When I was sixteen I suffered an injury to my spine that changed many of my perspectives. I was ordered that light exercise for twelve months was the only possibility. Needless to say, I was devastated. At this junction I sought for something to fill the void in my life. It was now that I met Lenny Baeza from Vida Latina Dance Gym. He gave back my hope and allowed me a glimpse of an incredible world. The world of Salsa. I was instantly hooked.... Also terrified that I was actually trying to dance! With the caring and studious guidance of both Lenny and his wife Mio, I learnt how to move my body and walk tall once more. Fast forward five years, It is now the year 2010 and I have been teaching and performing with Vida Latina for the past five years. Late one night as I was dozing off in front off the TV after a satisfying night of dance, I saw this crazy infomercial. Being the type that loves these kind of advertisements, my ears pricked up at the word, ZUMBA®. As always, I disregarded this infomercial as another American gimmic. I couldn't have been more wrong. A month or so later I saw an actual Zumba® class and the music and crazy party atmosphere floored me. I jumped in to the class head first and haven't looked back. The brilliant thing about the Zumba® program is the way you end up exercising in a way that you never realise. you spend so much time singing, dancing and shaking everything you've got that you barely realise how hard you've worked til the class is over and even though you're completely out of energy, you're still grinning from ear to ear. You also have the option to pace yourself and determine how hard you work/party within the class. I've now held my instructors licence for a few months and love sharing the joy that is zumba®. The most amazing feeling you get as an instructor the first time that timid new member shouts out or jumps up on the stage and joins you and everyone cheers them on is what makes these classes so special to me, it really is for anyone, you just have to take that plunge. And trust me, you'll never forget it. Ronan