Working out doesn’t always have to be intensive. For many Quinnipiac University students, Zumba is a challenging, yet exciting exercise that includes various styles of dance. 

Fourth-year student, Alyssa Carroll is a Zumba instructor at Quinnipiac. Carroll fell in love with Zumba during her first year at Quinnipiac and has been teaching it since last semester. 

Carroll taught this interactive dance in the previous Recreation and Wellness Center on campus but says she enjoys the new space even more now. 

“I definitely like this space more,” Carroll said. “The biggest reason is there’s a lot of natural light…because in the old rooms, you didn’t really get a lot of natural light, it was a lot of artificial light.”

Carroll mentions Zumba is something for anyone who wants to give it a try. 

“You can come from any background, I don’t have any history of taking dance or anything. I just solely started one day because it looked interesting,” Carroll said. “You don’t have to take it too seriously, you can have a lot of fun. At the end of the day, you’re working out, but it’s not going to make it or break it if you mess up.”

Many students sign up to take Carroll’s classes because they love her energy. Fourth-year student, Melanie Quint says Carroll’s passion shows through her dance moves, and it makes the classes enjoyable. 

“Alyssa’s a really good instructor because she really loves Zumba and you can tell,” Quint said. “She’s just very excited and passionate about it and you can tell she’s happy to be here and so it makes the class so much more fun.” 

Additionally, third-year student Abby Alpert says Carroll makes the classes feel like a safe space to dance which is why she comes back to the sessions. 

“Alyssa is just very good at teaching,” Alpert said. “I am not good at Zumba at all, but I just have this energy and I just think it’s a great way to blow off some steam and release some stress.” 

Carroll adds that her inspiration to become a Zumba instructor was because of her previous Zumba instructor at Quinnipiac. 

Carroll hopes to convey her instructor’s traits through Zumba to the students attending her sessions.

“If I was having a bad day, I’d come to Zumba and she would just be there to really brighten up my day,” Carroll said. “I just wanted to have that be an outlet for other people, so I hope I’m doing that.”

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