So you think you can Zumba
December 14, 2007
By: Tommy Sneider <tsneider@hilite.org>
Senior Ana Dominguez
What’s the best part about Zumba?
The best part is, being Puerto Rican, it’s fun dancing to my own Latin music. It’s a great workout and I feel really great afterwards.
What do the classes consist of?
Our instructor choreographs playlists and songs of Latin music. It’s kind of like an aerobics class, and we just follow whatever she does. We do a couple eight counts, it’s an hour-long class of fun and dance moves.
How many years have you been dancing Zumba?
I just started in August; Kelsey (Scheibert) told me about it so she convinced me to go to a class with her at the dance place that we go to.
What’s the hardest part of Zumba dancing?
It’s really physically demanding. A lot of people think it’s not that hard, but if you throw someone into the class who has never taken the class before, it’s really physically demanding. (The instructor) works you the entire hour.
How did you get interested?
Kelsey, she’s been taking classes longer than I have, she’s been with this instructor so that’s how I got interested.
Do you have performances during the year?
No, it’s just strictly an aerobics class. Anyone can work out, it’s women of all ages, not just high school ages. There’s a lot of moms that go there. It’s a fun class for anyone who wants to take it.
Are you involved in any different type of dance?
Kelsey and I also do competitive dance team with the same instructor. I’ve been doing it for the past 14 years, and I’ve been with this company since freshman year. I’ve done hip-hop. I’ve done jazz.
Describe your favorite move.
She works a lot with how to isolate your body and stuff and different parts. She also gets us working on different core muscles. We work with abs and our hips and everything. Anyone who’s interested or looking for a quick after-school activity, it’s really fun, and it’s like working out. It’s a good class if you want to be burning calories. Just in this semester, we had a lot of girls bringing their friends. Good friends, good workout, good times.
Senior Kristina “Krissy” Krafchin
What exactly is Zumba?
It is a Latin dance. It’s a fast Latin dance class, like a workout with an instructor up front and follow what he does.
What do you like about it?
The great workout. You burn out something from 300 to 500 calories with one session, which is about an hour. It’s a great workout, and you do just about everything.
How did you hear about it?
(Senior) Ana Dominguez, she’s one of my best friends, and Kelsey (Scheibert) just got certified as an instructor, so it was just girlfriends that introduced it to me.
Where do you take Zumba classes?
At a studio, Showtime Dance Studio on Carmel Drive, and everyone can join. Walk-ins are great.
How often do you do it a week?
I do it once a week every Monday, it’s a full workout (set) fully (to) Latin music, it’s like kickboxing but you work out everything—your legs, arms, everything—to Latin music.
Describe your favorite move.
We do a lot of twisting with the upper body for your abs, and anything with the hips is big with twisting and stuff.
How many people are in your classes?
About 10 to 15. We’re all really close.
Anything to add?
It’s really cultural, that’s why I like it so much. All three of us like it so much, I’m Puerto Rican; it opens up cultural stuff.
Senior Kelsey Scheibert
What’s the most fun part of Zumba?
It’s just a really good workout and it’s a fun way to get a workout instead of running and other things.
How hard was it to learn dancing it?
It wasn’t that hard just because I’m a dancer, so it was easy to pick up on the moves.
What other types of dancing is Zumba like?
It’s a lot like hip-hop combined with salsa, latino, reggaeton, a variety of that kind.
What’s your favorite part of the class?
It’s just fun trying to keep up because you really have to keep your endurance up and just learning all the different moves and feeling good afterwards because you feel like you got a good workout.
How did you get interested?
I had heard about it from a friend, and then I went to the class, and I really liked it. I took the class and I got certified to teach it.
Do you plan to continue Zumba through college?
Yea, hopefully I will be able to teach Zumba at Ball State (University).
What do you think makes Zumba exciting?
I’d have to say just it’s really different. The steps are really different. Everyone can do it. It’s really fun because you don’t even realize that you’re getting a workout.
Anything to add?
People should come try out. They shouldn’t be turned off by it since it’s dancing. It’s a good way to just let loose and have fun.
Ballroom Dancing Club kicks off first year in Carmel High School
December 14, 2007
Hey Mambo: Practicing a turn, freshman Faridah “Faye” Dipatuan and dance instructor Brent Blackwell demonstrate a mambo routine in Ballroom Dancing Club. Club members meet every Wednesday after school in the Freshman Performing
Arts Center to learn a variety of dances from different cultures, including the mambo, rumba, fox trot, samba, salsa, cha cha, waltz and tango. Members will continue to review and learn more complex moves, and club president Amanda Finin said she is also planning to host a dance second semester.
CCPL to sponsor student poets in contest
December 14, 2007
By: Cathy Chen <cchen@hilite.org>
Senior Joshua Bird said he entered the annual Voice of Youth Advocates poetry contest through the Carmel Clay Public Library last year and ended up winning second place. He said he decided to submit a poem to the contest after receiving positive feedback from his mom, friends and teachers.
According to Young Adult librarian Diane Palguta, Voice of Youth Advocates limits the number of entries each sponsoring entity can submit, so the CCPL will sponsor three poems this year, just like it did last year. The library staff will judge the entries and vote on the three that they will submit to the official contest.
“It’s tough because we, of course, feel that we have a lot of talented poets, and we would like to submit more than three,” Palguta said. “But I would encourage as many students as are interested to enter because if you are a writer at all, it’s good to let it out. It’s good practice to enter a contest.”
Palguta said anyone from ages 12 to 18 is eligible to submit a poem. Those who want to enter the contest must bring their poems to the Young Adult department of the library by Dec. 22 at 5 p.m. There are flyers posted at the CCPL that provide more specific guidelines for the contest.
Bird said he highly recommends other students to enter this contest. “All the art forms—photography, painting, short stories, poetry—the focus on these art forms seems to be dying off,” he said, adding that he thinks this phenomenon is unfortunate. “We need to have inspiration.”
The national winners will receive a $20 cash prize, but Palguta said that the monetary reward is not the highlight of winning. She said, “The big deal is the prestige of winning the national contest.”
NHS markets final exam survival kits
December 14, 2007
By: Tim Chai <tchai@hilite.org>
National Honor Society (NHS) will sell final exam survival kits again this year, according to NHS sponsor Deborah Haire. She said that the exam kits will sell for a few dollars.
“There are order sheets in a lot of places. For one, we sent out order sheets in the last issue of the Carmel High School newsletter. Cash or checks are both perfectly acceptable,” Haire said.
According to Gizele Rubeiz, NHS vice president and senior, the club will continue selling final exam survival kits until a few days prior to finals.
“We’ll be passing out the kits during the SRT prior to the exams,” Rubeiz said. “We’re packing and getting the kits together right now.”
Rubeiz also said that the kits will be filled with pens, pencils, paper, erasers, snacks and other school supplies.
“I think it’s a good and easy way to get organized and make sure you’re not missing anything. I know some parents get them for their students just so they don’t have to worry about not having pencils or running out of lead,” Rubeiz said.
According to Haire, NHS members can receive group hours by helping packing or delivering the final exam survival kits.
Lesser known “American Desi” brings cultural issues to light
December 14, 2007
By: Reid Conner <rconner@hilite.org>
Director Piyush Dinker Pandya’s first and only film, “American Desi”, tells the story of Krishna Reddy, a second generation Indian immigrant played by Deep Katdare. Being a lesser known, indie-type film, “American Desi” portrays culture identity issues very accurately. It manages to be hilarious and still maintains a seriousness about having pride in your roots. The whole point of the movie is really finding yourself and establishing your own identity.
Kris (as the character calls himself to avoid sounding Indian) is a freshman in college who has just moved away from home and wants to use this chance to leave behind the Indian culture his parents pushed on him. However, he arrives at school and ends up rooming with three other Indian-Americans who actively practice their culture. When he falls for a girl (Purva Bedi) in his engineering class, he must accept and learn about his culture to win her over. He turns to his roommates for help, who teach him what it really means to be Indian.
Kal Penn, who is probably best known for his role in “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle,” is the comedy in this movie. While the other characters did provide some comedy, I found myself laughing at almost all of the stupid things Penn’s antics. This is definitely a movie where having an understanding of Indian culture will help you get some of the jokes. However, having none didn’t stop me from enjoying this truly funny movie.
The actual production, acting and scenery were decent, but noticeably managed on a very tight budget. For the money available, the movie is still well done. For a low budget indie film, the acting was pretty good. The actors did a good job of really bringing their characters to life. Ronobir Lahiri, who plays the Sikh roommate had to learn all about the cultural aspects of being a Sikh. To make the character more convincing, he even insisted on learning the actual way of tying a turban. It’s the little details like these that I think helped make the characters so real and personal.
With this film, Pandya was obviously trying to undo some stereotypes and establish a basic understanding of unfamiliar cultures for people. He did an amazing job of showing that despite all the differences there may be between groups, when it comes down to it we all actually have a lot in common. There are definitely some good lessons on identity and cultural acceptance that people can take from this movie.
Not so Confused
December 14, 2007
By: Beverly Jenkins <bjenkins@hilite.org>
Multi-award winning book Born Confused, from first-time author Tanuja Desai Hidier, is a book that deals with sensitive issues including racial, sexual and religious identity in the most elegant way.
The novel, published in 2002, has already won several awards including the 2002 American Library Association (ALA) Best Book for Young Adults and the 2002 Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (BCCB) blue ribbon.
The book title is taken from the South Asian slang alphabet, ABCD (American Born Confused Desi). The alphabet is used to help first generation South Asians identify with one another. For example, Desi is another word for an Indian countryman.
The story opens with Dimple Lala’s 17th birthday, which also happens to be the last day of her junior year in high school. So begins Dimple’s multifaceted, not quite mid-life identity crisis.
The author makes it clear that Dimple feels like she is “not exactly American, but not exactly Indian either.” She also believes that she is unable to coexist with her parents and is incapable of measuring up to those around her. These are issues that many teens from different backgrounds face. For these reasons, New Jersey teen Lala will seem like an old friend to readers, or perhaps even a side of readers themselves.
Like most teens, she experiences growing pains, rebellion, peer pressure, and first love. What Dimple doesn’t realize is that she is not alone in this teen angst, and this reason alone makes her relatable to readers.
But while Dimple awkwardly stumbles through adolescence like the rest of her high school peers, some of her concerns are uniquely cultural.
The author seamlessly integrates the Indian culture and Hindu religion, usually coupled with Dimple’s sarcastic remarks. The reader will be inspired from the author’s wise, however straight-spoken, observations and a bit more knowledgeable in the realm of Indian culture and Hindu religion.
The story also takes on a few subplots, such as Dimple’s best friend Gwyn’s infatuation with Karsh Kapoor, the boy who is supposed to be Dimple’s “suitable boy,” personally picked by Dimple’s parents; the growing relationship between Dimple and her lesbian cousin, Kavita; Dimple’s arrival into the Bollywood-inspired club scene in New York; and Dimple’s passion for photography, which she feels is her third eye.
While the novel is lengthy (well over 400 pages) Hidier easily keeps readers engaged by sprinkling subtle humor and romance throughout the story, not to mention that Hidier has a natural gift for the written language. She easily captures the candid speech and thought processes of every character so it is both believable and relatable, but Hidier’s ability to turn ordinary words into poetic ones is what will really keep readers’ eyes glued to the book from cover to cover.
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