Aerobics With Soul®
The African Dance Workout
I needed to lose the weight I had put on during pregnancy, but I got no results and less satisfaction from the dance fitness craze of the eighties. By contrast, I remembered how good and fit African dance made me feel and how natural it was for everyone in the villages to dance.
Looking to my heritage once again, I developed Aerobics With Soul®, the African Workout, in the early ‘80s. I combined the spontaneity, creativity, movement, music and rhythms of Africa with American Fitness Industry guidelines to create an energizing, safe and fun workout.
I produced three Aerobics With Soul® videos: Serengeti, Karibu, and Kilimanjaro (filmed on location in Tanzania). Aerobics With Soul® is also an engaging and lively introduction to African dance and culture.
Maria Nhambu, Fitness Expert
Nhambu has made sharing her love of her native Africa and its culture and rhythms the focus of her life. An internationally known dancer, instructor, entrepreneur, and speaker, Maria Nhambu is the creator of Aerobics With Soul®, a popular workout that ignited America’s passion for using African dance movements as exercise.
Inspired by the traditional East African dances she learned growing up in Africa, Nhambu developed unique and innovative Aerobics With Soul® programs and ran her own fitness studio in Minneapolis teaching classes to adults, children and seniors. Nhambu was ACE (American Council of Exercise) certified and an IDEA presenter.
She created and starred in the award winning Aerobics With Soul® exercise videos. Serengeti is the first level. Karibu, intermediate level, received critical acclaim in Billboard, Video Choice, and Essence, and won first prize in the combination high/low impact aerobics category in the New York City Sports Magazine competition. The video caught fire after ABC’s Good Morning America recommended it to viewers. Kilimanjaro, the advanced level, was filmed on location in Tarangire National Park in Tanzania.
As the creator of Aerobics With Soul®, Nhambu has taught and been a presenter at fitness conferences, educational and cultural conventions, and fitness spas all over the world including presenting with African American Women on Tour (AAWOT) and the National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE).
She has trained Aerobics With Soul® instructors in the United States and worldwide. Since 1996 Nhambu has taught Aerobics With Soul® at Rancho La Puerta, Mexico.
Aerobics With Soul® classes are currently taught in Minneapolis, Minnesota (The Marsh); in Delray Beach and Naples in Florida, and in England.
To learn more visit Aerobics With Soul® on the web!
Nhambu's Aerobics With Soul
by Michael Milgraum
Listen to the beat, listen to the beat.
Feel it in your heart, stomp it with your feet.
Hear the music playing for the melodies are sweet.
Listen to the beat, listen to the beat.
How can I describe it, how to even start
Is that music drumming or the drumming of my heart
Find my true potential, music is a key.
Mind and body dancing, set my spirit free.
Poetry of motion, beauty filled with poise.
Hear the inner music, quell distracting noise.
Living with one purpose, to find harmony,
To be whole and graceful, to be one with me.
Hips in constant motion, swaying to the sound.
Arms are undulating, chin swings up and down.
Skin damp and glowing, sparkling with the light.
Eyes alive and vibrant, joyful and so bright.
Music sings within me, music sings without,
Joins our souls together, conquers fear and doubt.
Dance to my own variation, just unique to me,
Of eternal music in humanity.
Smiling with the song, listen to the beat.
Feel it in your heart, stomp it with your feet.
Hear the music playing for the melodies are sweet.
Listen to the beat, listen to the beat.
(Michael Milgraum was an Aerobics With Soul® student in Montserrat, West Indies.)
In the Press
Boca Raton Magazine: Every day when I recall other times in my life, I say. “That was then; this is now” and the now wants to be the then more often than not. I am happy to report I ran right smack into the then Saturday when I showed up for Maria Nhambu’s Aerobics With Soul class. Read More!
Delray Magazine: Maria Nhambu's improbable journey through life began at an African Orphanage where the other kids ruthlessly called her "Fat Mary." It was hurtful, but she found an unlikley way to cope. Read More!
Nhambu’s Latest Book
In Drum Beats, Heart Beats the author takes us on a safari of her beloved country and we see its wonders through her eyes and her heart.
The first book of the trilogy, Africa’s Child, was released in 2016. The final book of her memoir series—Drum Beats, Heart Beats—reveals more of Nhambu’s life as she searches for her father and was released in 2018. Audiobooks are in production.
