Zumba Edinburgh Class

She brought Zumba to Edinburgh. She’s still here every Thursday night.

In 2009, Joanna Weintritt walked into a studio in Edinburgh and taught the city’s first ever Zumba class.

Nobody knew what it was. A handful of people turned up, slightly confused, slightly nervous. By the end of the hour they were sweating, laughing, and asking when the next one was.

Seventeen years later, Joanna is still here. Still teaching. Still getting the same reaction from first-timers.

If you want to experience Zumba in Edinburgh taught by the woman who started it all, you know where to find her.

Every Thursday evening. Fitness Soul, 34 Tennant Street, Leith.

You don’t need to be able to dance.

Genuinely. Not even a little bit.

Joanna has spent seventeen years getting people moving who were absolutely certain they couldn’t. People with two left feet. People who’d never danced outside of a wedding. People who stood at the back for the first three sessions and gradually, without noticing, moved to the middle.

The class isn’t a performance. Nobody is watching you. Nobody cares if you get the steps wrong. Half the time Joanna gets the steps wrong — and she’s the instructor.

What it is, is an hour of music that makes you want to move, in a room full of people who are all there for the same reason. You’ll sweat more than you expect. You’ll laugh more than you expect. And you’ll leave in a considerably better mood than you arrived.

The men come too, by the way. Something about being given permission to move their hips. We’ll leave it at that.

What Zumba class actually looks like

You arrive at the studio on Tennant Street. It’s a proper studio — not a church hall, not a car park, not a gym floor cleared of equipment. Disco lights. A sound system that does the music justice. Enough space to actually move.

The class runs for an hour. Joanna leads from the front. The music is Latin-based — salsa, merengue, cumbia — mixed with whatever else she’s been listening to that week. The moves repeat enough that you pick them up as you go. There’s no instruction booklet. You just follow along and let your body figure it out.

By the end you’ll have done the equivalent of a solid cardio session without once feeling like you were exercising.

Then you go home. You feel good. You come back next Thursday.

That’s it. That’s the whole thing.

What people say

“I was terrified to walk in. I have absolutely no coordination and I told Joanna that upfront. She laughed and said that was fine. Three months later I haven’t missed a Thursday.”

“The best hour of my week. I forget every problem I had when I walked in. The music, the people, Joanna — it’s just joyful.”

“My husband refused to come for six months. I finally dragged him along. He now comes voluntarily. I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

Read 150+ reviews →

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Cardio
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Meet Joanna

Joanna Weintritt has been teaching Zumba longer than almost anyone else in Scotland.

She’s also a personal trainer, pre and post-natal coach, open water swimming coach, and Trigger Point Pilates instructor — but Thursday nights belong to Zumba.

Her philosophy is simple: move your body in a way that makes you want to keep moving it. Everything else follows from there.

“I help women change their minds before they change their bodies.”

 

Practical things

When: 4 times per week

Where: Fitness Soul, 34 Tennant Street, Leith, EH6 5NA 

Who: Anyone over 18. All abilities. No experience needed. Beginners especially welcome. 

What to bring: Water. A small towel. Comfortable clothes you can move in. 

What to wear on your feet: Dance fitness shoes, court shoes or aerobic shoes work best. Running shoes aren’t ideal — too much grip for the twisting movements. If you’re not sure, anything comfortable is fine for your first session. 

Is there a beginner class? No — and you don’t need one. The class is structured so you pick it up as you go.

Zumba is included in the Fitness Soul 21-day trial and all memberships. You can also drop in as a non-member — send us a message to arrange it.