Veronica Yamagata loves Zumba, the dance-based fitness routine with a Latin twist, and she loves local music. So she put the two together to come up with "Zula Fitness (Vol. 1)," a DVD workout choreographed by Honolulu Dance Co. and featuring the music of some of Hawaii’s top reggae artists.
As a sales manager for Summit Media, which operates several radio stations here, Yamagata was in a good position to enlist her musical contributors. The workouts are scored to songs by Fiji, Kapena, Kolohe Kai, Mana‘o Company and others.
"Zula Fitness" was filmed at the Nanakuli home of Salevaa Atisanoe, better known as famed sumo wrestler Konishiki, who also is a recording artist.
"It only took three days to film but it took three years to get it off the ground," Yamagata said.
Honolulu Dance Co. members perform the dance moves wearing colored-coded outfits to make it easier for viewers to follow along based on their level of fitness (red for beginners, yellow for intermediate and green for advanced).
The workout is broken into four phases. The first is a simple warm-up done to "Spread a Little Aloha" by the Mana‘o Company. The cardio phase features dance moves set to songs by Fiji and Kapena. An upper-body workout uses an elastic workout band that comes with the DVD. The cool-down provides a lesson in reggae "skank" dancing to "My Love" by Conscious Roots.
For "Zula Fitness (Vol. 2)," Yamagata plans to have the performers show off their own dance moves.
"We want it to be fun and support the local musicians," she said.
Priced at around $18, the DVD is available at Barnes & Noble, Jelly’s, Na Mea Hawai‘i, Sam’s Club, Shirokiya and Amazon.com. Proceeds from Shirokiya sales benefit the Japanese Red Cross Society.
