You can tell when your Zumba Fitness instructor has been hanging out with thousands of other Zumba instructors. The enthusiasm is high, the tempo goes up, and your butt and thighs hurt more than they usually do.

That's the case with my Zumba instructor, Tina Neville, who has just returned from her second international Zumba Fitness convention in Orlando, Florida, which attracts about 7000 instructors from all over the world.

Tina has taught a variety of fitness classes over the past 30 years, and says there is something special about Zumba. She distinctly remembers her first class in Papamoa in October 2009.

'I've taught most popular fitness formats – step, highlow, aerobics, and circuit – but I'd never taught a class where people cheered and clapped after every song. I remember standing there and thinking ‘this is really cool'.

'Zumba has a totally different atmosphere. Teaching in community halls attracts people who would never step into a gym.”

Tina has also found the people who attend Zumba are usually in it for the long haul.

'I have people who have been regulars for nine years and I've never encountered that before in any other programme I've taught. People come along and think they're going to get fit or lose weight, but they stay because of how it makes them feel.

'They stay because the music is different, it's fun and there's no pressure to do it perfectly. In Zumba if you make a mistake, people think you went that way on purpose!”

Tina offers four Zumba Fitness classes and two Zumba Gold classes in community halls around Tauranga each week. She will soon be offering Strong by Zumba, a high intensity tempo training set specifically to the beat of the music.

Zumba Gold is aimed at ‘active retirees' and after just a year, Tina has seen a huge improvement in the balance and coordination of the elderly attendees.

'And that's just from dancing for 45 minutes. We don't do anything on the floor, or any turning and jumping. It really improves quality of life and helps to prevent things like Alzheimer's because you're connecting the brain with the body.”

Tina says the older generation love the Zumba music.

'I don't use typical ‘older people's' music. I use Zumba music and modern pop music and they absolutely love it because they can tell the grandkids nana dances to Bruno Mars and Justin Timberlake.”

Tina is buzzing after returning from the international convention, which she describes as, 'like being in a giant flash mob for five days”.

'Many of us don't speak the same language, but when the music comes on everyone is dancing.”

Among some of Tina's success stories have been students who have enjoyed substantial weight loss, or those who have used Zumba to cope with trauma, illness, or loss.

'It's great to know you've helped make someone's day a little bit better or brighter; to see them walk out with a smile and a spring in their step.”

One of those people is Susan Skinner, who has been attending Tina's classes for seven years. Tina has supported Susan through her breast cancer treatment, and last year dedicated her fundraising Zumbathon for breast cancer support services to her.

'I love the fun and friendship of Zumba,” says Susan. 'It gives me so much confidence, and it really kept me going.” The exercise has also given her a lot more movement in her upper body after her surgeries.

At 78, Valerie Taylor is one of Tina's oldest students. Zumba is so ‘enlivening', she says.

'We have a responsibility to stay well as we get older,” says the septuagenarian, who also does another fitness class, line dancing, and leisure marching.

Tina says Zumba is not only great for your physical health, but your mental health too.

'I've struggled a little bit with depression over the years and I've had others come to my classes with similar issues, and it's made a huge difference. I think because you have to focus on the music and think about the steps you forget about everything else.

'People come to class after a bad day, and half way through their facial expressions will change. It's like ‘yes, I'm in my happy place'.”

Zumba has also helped improve the occasional sex life here and there too, says Tina.

'In everyday life we don't tend to move our hip area very much, but there is a lot of hip rotation in Zumba, so it encourages you to loosen up and let go.”

Tina has invited international Zumba jammer Marlex Pagalunan to put on a Zumba party class in Tauranga at the Queen Elizabeth Youth Centre on Sunday, September 2.

The 90-minute class costs $25 and gets underway from 4-5.30pm. For more information visit Zumba Fitness with Tina Neville on Facebook.