Last Saturday, I joined nearly (or possible over) 300 women from the great city of Philadelphia for the second attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Record for the Largest Zumba Class. The attempt, which was held at the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum along the Parkway, was part of the week-long events honoring the official Odunde Festival, the largest and longest running African American street festival on the East Coast. The actual Odunde Festival was held the next day. Sorry guys, no pictures from that as prior commitments made it impossible for me to go.  I know, bummer.

But for those who know me, know that I am serious about Zumba, which is a dance fitness program created by dancer and choreographer Alberto "Beto" Perez in Colombia during the 1990s.  I go about three times a week.  Not only is it great cardio but it is a lot of fun too. The latter is especially important for me considering how much I hate working out. Also my Zumba instructor Jena Renee Rogers was leading the attempt, so I would not miss this for the world.

Currently the Guinness World Record title is held by a group in Australia, where about 1400 folks helped to get them in the book. So I doubt that we made it. However that didn't stop our flow.  Also, there may have been some journalists out there, probably from print media, but I didn't see any news trucks, which is unfortunate considering that the national conversation right now revolves so much around Black women and their weight. It would have been good to see so many of us - many of whom came from Zumba programs across the city - actually working out. However,  I guess that image does not jive with the narrative of Black women being fat and lazy.

Anyway, enough of me talking: check out some of the pictures from the event after the jump.