Many students have experienced the stress and frustration that comes with working, keeping up with classes and making the grade, or a combination of the two.

Zumba is a popular form of exercise that can help erase school stress. Zumba combines simple dance with aerobics to create a one-of-a-kind total body workout to popular and upbeat songs.

“It’s great for stress relief. It’s exercise in disguise, and it’s fun for [students] to come workout with friends,” Kristen Nesvacil, assistant director for fitness, said.

On Wednesday, Sept. 7, Campus Recreation will host Redbird Fit Fest, a large Zumba group class, on the sport courts in the Student Fitness Center from 5 to 6:30 p.m. free of cost for all students, members and non-members. 

Daily Vidette Archive Photo Tiffanie Brown, ISU graduate, instructs students how to exercise doing Zumba at last year’s Redbird Fit Fest. This year’s event will be held in the new Student Fitness Center.

In the past, Zumba classes have taken place in the smaller rooms at the old Student Recreation Building and for the past two years, Redbird Fit Fest has taken place in Redbird Arena. However, since the new Student Fitness Center is open, students will be having fun while exercising in the new facility.

According to Dawn Sanner, executive director of Campus Recreation and the Student Fitness Center, last year’s event drew in about 100 people.

With the new facility now available for use, Sanner expects to top that attendance number this year.

“We’re hoping that since we already have a number of people coming through that those individuals are going to take advantage of Fit Fest on the sport courts,” Sanner said.

Though Campus Recreation is hoping for a large, energetic crowd, students heading to the Student Fitness Center to have a typical workout on Wednesday don’t need to worry about crowding issues.

“We could accommodate close to 700 people in there, which we’re not going to get so it’s not going to interrupt our normal flow of traffic,” Sanner said.