IU student, wife, Zumba instructor appreciates past, anxious for future

Her alarm sounds.

It is 5:45 a.m., and Liz Whitaker, 29, rolls over in bed and hits snooze. Every five minutes, she falls back asleep for a few more snooze cycles.

Liz sits up and gets out of bed. She has to be at the studio in 15 minutes.

As the instructor for the early morning Zumba class at Windfall Dancers, Inc., she wakes up early Monday through Friday.

She usually runs late Monday.

Liz has not always been a morning person, but her students wanted her to get up to teach the early class, so it has now become part of her daily routine.

When Liz enters the dance studio, it is dark — when she leaves, the sun has started to rise, and the day has begun.

With the sunrise, her life worries have been temporarily lifted through dance.

Liz relies on the class as a way to escape for an hour and be worry free. Even though the class allows Liz to make extra money and is a responsibility, it helps her escape the worries of school, her relationship and her future.

“When I am not in the moment doing it, it is just one more responsibility,“ Liz says. “When I am doing it, I can relax and have fun and let it be a stress relief. I always feel better after I do it.”

While she teaches, she leads the way in the front of the studio. However, her students know the routine by heart through daily practice. Her lessons have rubbed off on her students. Instead of standing on a platform, she dances at the same level as her students and is almost like a fifth student.

She is a perfectionist. Before beginning the Zumba class, she makes sure everything is set up. She aims to arrive 15 minutes early to do so.

She picks the songs during this extra time. She knows what her students like and dislike. They have begun to open up to her.

Her students met her a year and a half ago when she taught a Zumba class at Bloomzum, and they have followed Liz from one studio to the next. She has not only shared her gift and passion of Zumba with them, but has been able to motivate them to develop a healthier relationship with their bodies.

Martina Celerin, one of the four regular students, is a mother with two boys who are still in school.

Like Liz, she needs an early morning exercise because she has to work and has other life responsibilities.

“I used to drive to Ellettsville for a 6 a.m. class,” she says, laughing. “I wanted some form of exercise. For me, it is critical that it is early in the morning.”

Like Liz, Martina uses the Zumba class as a way to get away from the University, where Martina’s husband works, and be in a group in which all the women are going through similar life situations. They are a support system for each other and have formed a bond that is about more than being students in the same exercise class.

“It is a completely different world, removed from my world,” Martina says.

Through Zumba, Liz has inspired Martina to change. Martina has lost 39 pounds and is healthier because of the Zumba exercise class. She is now able to keep up with her two boys.

“It has grown into something absolutely more,” Martina says.

***

Liz is on the edge of a new decade - 30. While she is getting older, the University’s demographics keep her feeling younger. She is in class with other undergraduate women who are a decade younger than her. She is still young at heart.

“I kind of think I will always be a kid,” Liz says. “My dad always says I will never grow up.”

In a middle ground between the world of a student and the world of a married woman with a full-time profession, Liz says she feels stuck.

This makes Liz different. Most of her classmates have never experienced the latter world. They aren’t cultured in it, as their parents support them and pay their expenses. Liz is on her own.

Liz is the oldest in her 6:30 p.m. group study sessions in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation library. Her classmates know she is married and make sure to work around her busy schedule. However, despite the visible age difference, they all are anxious for the future.

She is the default team leader of these meetings.

“They automatically let me take over because I am older and have more experience,” Liz says. “I like it, though, because I have a bit of a control freak personality.”

Her classmates are 10 years younger. Her students are at least 20 years older. She is the oldest student and the youngest teacher. Liz’s husband is five years older than her.  While she doesn’t have any friends in Bloomington her own age, her students are able to relate to her most.

She worries about her students.

They have known from day one that she was here for one purpose — to be a student. But with graduation approaching in May, Liz knows she cannot stay with them.

She wants to find them a replacement instructor before she leaves. Her students are prepared for her departure.

***

Liz is a full-time student. She is studying to be a dietician.

Immediately after high-school graduation, Liz went the typical route to college.

However, after a year of school and working, she decided to save money and wait for the right program. She found that program at IU. She is working less than she has ever worked despite having the Zumba job and working 20 hours a week at a local furniture store.

Balancing her role as a full-time undergraduate and working to help support herself and her husband, Travis, she feels trapped. She is caught between two worlds. One world focuses on her job, while the other world focuses on school.

Her B-plus in organic chemistry last semester ruined her perfect 4.0. She was unable to introduce new Zumba songs that semester as she focused on her schoolwork. It is one of the sacrifices she has had to make because, overall, she views herself as a
student.

“I am one of those people who could probably go to school for the rest of my life and be happy,” she says.

With her success in the classroom, she is happy with life. She views herself as a simple person, one who doesn’t need much to be content.

“My outlook is to be the best that I can be,” Liz says.

However, while she is currently happy, Liz is still waiting for her real life to begin — a life that includes a baby, a steady job and consistency.

It is a standard in society that 30 is a milestone and an age when people have their life in order, Liz says.

Getting married so young, Liz always thought she would conform to the societal standard.

She thinks about leaving Bloomington almost daily and settling in a place with family nearby, a career and a consistent schedule. She goes through phases of being really ready to get out of Bloomington and then shifts to phases in which she doesn’t think about moving at all.

When schoolwork picks up, she rarely thinks about living somewhere else. During breaks or slow times in school, she aspires to be in another city.

Travis, however, is pretty content. While he is excited about the next chapter, his experiences already mirror what he wants to do as his career. In many ways, he is already doing what he wants to do post-graduation, just on a smaller scale.

Liz is not unhappy in her situation now, though. She likes change. A big part of her personality is trying new things.

“I’m just excited about moving on to new situations in my life,” Liz says. “A job that’s actually a career, being a mom, exploring a new city.”

She feels like she is in high school now. She is excited and ready to move on and graduate, yet she still loves the life she leads and being with her friends.

“I feel like I’ve finally gotten the trick of balancing all aspects of my life, so now I’m ready for the challenge of something new,” Liz says.

However, she has her eyes set for the future. She is done with this phase of her life.

She wants to settle in a community with Travis and be able to establish herself.
In this new community, Liz and Travis hope to bring a child to the world. She wants two, and he wants one. Liz feels her biological clock ticking, the desire to have a child.

“I want to have a baby,” she says.

She feels warm and fuzzy when she sees a family with a baby now. She gets excited to reach the point when she gets to start her own family.

Before being a registered dietitian and taking her Registered Dietician exam, Liz must do an internship for a year. After this, she will be 33, and her husband will be 38.

“In terms to be able to have a successful outcome and be able to get pregnant, I don’t think I can push it any further than that to be medically possible to have kids,” she says.

While Bloomington is her home until next May, Liz is ready to no longer be a student, but, rather, a dietician. She is waiting to start the next chapter of her life.