Administrative law judge, law professor team up to teach Zumba

By Allison Retka The Daily Record Newswire Nine miles from her quiet classroom at Saint Louis University, law professor Jacqueline Kutnik-Bauder struts forward, punching her fist in the air to the beat of a blaring Pink song. She flings her head back, the damp strands of her brown bob sticking to the back of her neck. Kutnik-Bauder still is teaching, but given the boisterous pack of spandex-clad women -- and one man -- behind her, tracking her every shake and shimmy, she might as well be several salsa-loving countries away from the law school. Welcome to the world of Zumba, a raucous dance-fitness class set to Latin and pop music rhythms. Kutnik-Bauder and Karla Boresi, a St. Louis administrative law judge in the workers' compensation division, are Zumba icons at the Webster Groves YMCA. Each woman teaches a couple of Zumba classes each week, plus a 90-minute joint class on Sunday mornings. Two dozen devotees descend the stairs on a Sunday morning in late June, filing into a basement studio lined on one wall with a massive mirror. Kutnik-Bauder pops upstairs for a quick bathroom break. "Never Zumba on a full bladder," she warns. Downstairs, the class's sole male attendee bursts into the studio clad in a flimsy black judge's robe. Greg Vogelweid, chief operating officer of St. Patrick Center, spins around and says he heard the class's legally-minded instructors were being featured today. "Johnnie Brock's called to me," Vogelweid says, referencing the St. Louis costume emporium. He chucks the robe as Boresi plugs her iPhone into the sound system at the front of the room. A hip-hop remix of the song "Shake, Senora" blares through the room, and the group immediately begins militantly clapping and shouting. "You get hooked," Boresi says. "You get addicted to it." She discovered Zumba DVDs while exercising with her sister who wanted to tone up after having her third child. Before long, Boresi had moved to the head of the class. She's been teaching Zumba at the YMCA for four years now. Kutnik-Bauder has taught Zumba for nearly three years. "I'll definitely wake up in the middle of the night with choreography in my head," Kutnik-Bauder says. It's similar to the midnight ruminations that jolted her awake during the years she spent litigating cases for Legal Services of Eastern Missouri and as a state public defender. "If I say this, what objection will they make?" she wondered to herself. For Zumba, she instead ponders the perfect playlist of red-hot rhythms that will push a roomful of people to the brink of their possible caloric expenditures. Boresi loves the hip-swiveling sounds of meringue, salsa and cumbia. Kutnik-Bauder digs reggaeton, a Latin music offshoot known for its hypnotic, thumping beat. Boresi has pulled her short hair back into pigtails. The women both wear Zumba gear, including pants with short pink straps hanging from the rear and legs, so attendees can more easily follow the body movements of the instructors. "If you're moving the right way, those things should be going like this," Kutnik-Bauder says, tracing little circles in the air with her index fingers. They say most of their teaching fees supplement a healthy rotation of Zumba-brand tops and pants. Boresi flips on "Move Your Body," Beyonce's pro-fitness anthem. One portion of the song calls for everyone to jog to one side of the room. The group tromps to the left. Boresi runs ahead and launches herself off the wall, a grin on her face. After nearly an hour of booty shakes and shoulder shimmies, hearts are racing like crazy. The room is steamy, but no one looks phased. They don't even look tired. At the 45-minute mark, Boresi examines the watch-cum-heart monitor on her wrist and announces she's burned 460 calories. The news is met with a collective cheer from the class members. "Woo!" By the end of the class, the number has jumped to 681 calories. The teachers half-apologize to the class for that apparently paltry figure; they blamed it on a few brief minutes spent leading the group through new choreography. Kutnik-Bauder says in a typical 90-minute class, she expends 850 calories. Boresi said she looks forward to the classes after days spent hearing difficult workers' compensation cases or dealing with personnel issues at the division. "This is our balance," she says. "This is not our career." Kutnik-Bauder agreed. "Even on the bad days, I never think, 'Oh God, I don't want to go to Zumba.' "It's just a different version of teaching," she says. "I'm not an expert. I'm just at the front of the room, leading the party." Published: Thu, Aug 11, 2011