Zumba dancers didn’t mind a shower or two

“They all said, ‘We sweat anyway, so what’s the difference if we get wet?’ ” Zumba instructor Joan Kaminski reported with a laugh after more than 40 people took part in a 90-minute outdoor Zumba class on Saturday morning in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

Dancers came out despite the rain and, with some of them wearing slickers, kept up with instructors from the Odyssey Fitness Zumba team (Joan, Ed, Alyssa, Adamari, Shaneen and Marian) with special guest instructors Alexis and Amanda on the riverfront at the Millenium Circle between the Market Street Bridge and the Luzerne County Courthouse.

Zumba is designed with easy-to-follow choreography, danced to upbeat music, and the outdoors event was a celebration of “wellness, positivity and joy” for Mental Health Awareness Month, Kaminski said, noting that the Games for Health Journal has published a study “saying Zumba is the number one exercise to transform your anxiety, thanks to the mental focus it takes to perform the Zumba dance moves, and the fact that dancing is fun.”

The outdoors event, free and open to the public, was conveniently timed so dancers afterwards were able to visit the nearby Fine Arts Fiesta, which was taking place on Wilkes-Barre’s Public Square.

— Mary Therese Biebel