GLENDALE — It's 5:30 in the morning and a fairly significant group of ladies is ready to dance.

With as much vigor as they can muster before the sun comes up, the women exercise together at least three times a week in a somewhat stale cultural hall at the neighborhood's decades old LDS stake center.

Another two days each week, dozens of women gather in Kearns for a similar workout, incorporating fast-paced music and hip-hop-like dance moves in high calorie-burning exercise. So many are benefiting from the classes that there's even talk of expanding to the Draper, Magna and Bountiful areas.

"There's just an amazing sense of energy that you get from working out with these people," said Sinai Misinale Pauni, who started leading her friends in Zumba classes after she lost 80 pounds participating in the popular, Latin-inspired fitness craze at her local rec center.

Pauni, a 37-year-old Polynesian woman, has defied her own genetics and has kept the weight off for more than two years. She's also become a certified Zumba instructor along the way, to give her followers a tried and true work out — all free of charge.

The gesture is done largely out of the immense pride Pauni feels for her people, many of whom don't necessarily feel comfortable going to a gym, she said. A lot of the participants in her classes also have various health issues due to carrying around extra weight.

"It's our culture to focus on families, and people tend to let themselves go," Pauni said. "They all have their own individual story. Some are dealing with high blood pressure, some have high cholesterol and are taking medication. A lot suffer with gout. And for some, it affects their self-esteem."

Nearly 79 percent of Utah's native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are overweight or obese, according to a 2010 report released by the Utah Department of Health's Center for Multicultural Health. Less than 17 percent of the minority population report being sufficiently physically active, and while incidence of death from stroke or heart disease is low, a large number suffer with diabetes.

Word of the Zumba classes has spread like wildfire through the close-knit Polynesian communities in northern Utah, where Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders make up only 1 percent of the total population.

Some days the dance floor is overflowing with exuberance, which is one of the things that keeps Pauni going. She loves to see the participants succeed and have fun doing something that is good for them.

"Day after day, I see their dedication and it is motivating to everyone. It helps them to look good and feel better," Pauni said. "It helps me, too. I feel better than I did in high school."

Pauni's Early Morning Zumba (EMZ) crew, which began with just a handful or participants in August 2010, has grown to include more than 50 women each morning. It's a remarkable accomplishment for such a grass roots operation, said Greg Reid, public relations manager for Intermountain Healthcare's SelectHealth.

Related:

Do you Zumba?

I finally made it to the wildly popular Zumba class at Silver Mountain Sports Club in Park City. After weeks of peering into a room full of sweaty but smiling ladies shaking and gyrating to pumping music, I decided it was high time to join the dance party.

Earlier this year, Reid and his colleagues awarded the EMZ group with a $2,500 grant "to help them accomplish what they set out to do … ultimately helping more people become more healthy."

"This was a group that was doing so much good on their own and they had an obvious need to expand and get even more people involved," Reid said. "It's not just sisters and mothers out there exercising together, you've got members of the extended family and community participating. It has a deeper connection than just exercise."

EMZ was one of 25 individual or small nonprofit organizations, selected from a pool of more than 300, that applied to receive money this year from SelectHealth. Pauni said most of the $2,500 went toward certifying additional instructors, which provides some relief for her, as she doesn't love being in the spotlight all the time.

"We want to promote healthy activities as a company and we want to recognize various groups for providing a valuable human service to the community," Reid said, adding that SelectHealth also helped one small community install a drinking fountain at a local park. "These are organizations where $2,500 really means something," he said.

Requirements of the grants dictate that the funds can't be spent on paying debts or salaries, but rather to accomplish goals. Applications for the 2012 round of grants are now available online, at www.select25.org.

Pauni, who is more than modest about her huge accomplishment, credits dozens of her peers with helping her to help others drop the pounds and lead healthier lifestyles.

"Exercise is helping them," Pauni said, adding that her classes are for anybody and everybody. She doesn't charge anything for attendance because she said it precludes people from participation, as gym memberships and class fees "can get expensive and be a drain."

Sometimes, child care is even provided at the church, as lifestyles are being transformed.

"It's so fascinating to see so many come out each morning," Pauni said. "There's just something about looking out over this group of people who are doing what they can to make their lives better."

The EMZ class meets at 5:30 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, at 943 W. 1100 South, in Salt Lake City.

Email: wleonard@ksl.com

Related topics