Boothbay Harbor’s Sarah J. Gudroe has been focused on fitness for over a decade. She has taught and done personal training at the Y, and works out nearly every day.

A couple of years ago she started using dance games at home on her family's Xbox as part of her fitness routine, such as Dance Dance Revolution and Dance Central.

In 2012, she found Zumba for the Xbox, and was hooked. After playing at home for a while, she discovered Sarah Brewer's classes and started attending.

Three and a half months later, on February 23, 2013, Gudroe was certified to teach Zumba as well. Since then she has also been certified to teach Zumba toning, Zumba gold (low-impact Zumba geared toward beginners, seniors and injured participants) and Zumba Sentao (which is Zumba done with a chair).

In the summer of 2013, a new face moved into town. Gudroe was at McSeagull’s with her husband, Darrell, when she first met Shane “Snookie” Hatcher, who moved here from Florida with his family. Hatcher has a strong background in dance, especially hip-hop, and was immediately interested in Zumba.

Gudroe wasn't even looking for a partner when she met Hatcher, just a pal to dance with. But it soon became apparent to her she had stumbled onto something special.

“I saw something in him,” Gudroe said.

“Yeah, someone to carry your stuff,” replied Hatcher with a smirk.

On October 5, 2013, Hatcher also became certified to teach Zumba, only 2.5 months after he started dancing. Since then, he and Gudroe have been teaching partners, teaching classes six days a week at the Boothbay Harbor Knights of Pythias Hall on Lakeside Drive.

“The Knights of Pythias have been extremely generous allowing us to be here and making space available,” Gudroe said.

“It's great to team teach,” Gudroe said. “During dances we will sometimes do different moves. When that happens, the students know that Shane is doing the high impact moves and I'm doing the low impact. They can follow whoever they want to.”

Sometimes tag-team teaching can get a little wild. During one dance that involved walking back and forth across an area of the room at faster and faster speeds, the two teachers ended up chasing each other back and forth instead of just walking, which created a lot of laughter in class.

Laughter is in abundance in Gudroe and Hatcher's classes. It's not just a group getting together to work out, it's a group of true friends getting together to have fun. This includes often singing along to the music.

During one of their newly crated dances, set to the Rocky Horror Picture Show's “The Time Warp,” the whole class was singing by the end.

When Gudroe and Hatcher want to come up with new dances, they play to their personal strengths. Gudroe learns best by watching videos of the song, while Hatcher learns best by listening repeatedly. Once they both have a dance version in their head, they work through the song together deciding what moves work best.

For Gudroe, her favorite part about Zumba is traveling out of town for training events and seeing all the other instructors she knows.

“It's like a big family reunion every time,” she said.

For Hatcher, his favorite part (besides the bright lime green Zumba clothes), is being in front of people and dancing with them.

“I love the spotlight, and I love making people laugh,” he said. “I enjoy being the comedic relief.”

Currently they teach at the Knights of Pythias Hall. They have Zumba toning classes at 7:30 a.m., followed by Zumba Fitness at 8:15 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Tuesdays they teach Zumba at 10 a.m., and have a “Back and Biceps” class at 5 p.m. Thursdays is Zumba at 10 a.m. and “Leg Day” at 5 p.m. Saturdays is Zumba Fitness at 8:30 a.m., followed by “Chest and Triceps” class at 9:45 a.m.

There are also “Zumba Nights” classes twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays. This schedule is subject to change, and can be found on the “Zumba Fitness with Sarah J” Facebook page (www.facebook.com/groups/447349405344475).

Classes are $5 each, and a winter special is running where you can buy a pass for 12 classes for $50.

Currently, all the money Gudroe and Hatcher earn goes right back into their business, to pay for use of the hall and for their training and travel expenses. Anything extra they usually spend on new Zumba clothes.

Upcoming events include a “Winter Fitball,” a new 12-week weight-loss challenge starting after the holidays that Gudroe plans to open up to the community at large with prizes for first, second and third places, and a “Midnight Madness” black light Zumba party on New Year's Eve taking place from 10 p.m. to midnight.

Just completed was a food drive for the local food bank. Students donated 180 items, and the three top contributors (Kristen Campbell, Maggie Brown and Debbie Butterfield) earned free classes.