I have been attending Yoli's Fitness, formerly known as Zumba Fitness, for a little bit over a year…read morenow. The place has expanded since it's humble beginnings last year, and has quickly become perhaps one of the best local Zumba Studios in Downey, save for those found in gyms.
It should be noted that this is, bar none, the most economically available Zumba fitness program. Prices seem to increase or decrease depending on the demand for classes, but the average never exceeds $5 dollars per class. At it's lowest, classes have been offered for just $3. For those pursuing more than one visit, there are week long memberships that are currently $20 per week. New features added this year are membership packages that recently finished a two month promotion: An unlimited Zumba pass (that is, all four classes can be attended and only count as taking up one class) can be bought for $60 dollars (previously $50), with unlimited health supplements also provided for $20 dollars more. Finally, "Zumbatons" are promoted during certain months for the more hard-core dancers, typically priced at $10-15. "Zumbatons" are three hour marathon sessions that include all current dance instructors.
This location also offers health supplements in the form of meal replacements and energy kickers (known as "margaritas") through Herbalife Nutrition. The pricing for these drinks range from $1 to $3, and are dependent on it's nutritional content. That is, meal supplements will usually cost more than an energy kicker. In my opinion, these drinks vary in their effectiveness but are, nevertheless, convenient if you forget to bring something to hydrate yourself with.
The staff is generally understanding, supportive and helpful: they treat regulars with respect and kindness. It helps to establish good rapport with them, though, as previously mentioned in other reviews, the staff does indeed speak more Spanish than they do English (although they do and will try their best to communicate with English speakers). While children are welcome and are generally supervised by non-dancing staff, there are no accommodations for children. For the most part, however, there are many different age groups within these children, enough so that they generally get along well. Also, they are rarely a distraction.
The two longest running instructors, Yolanda and Lupita, are geared towards aerobic and improvised dance routines to a distinctly Mexican Pop background. However, recent classes have had them expanding into American Pop, World Music, Reggaeton, Reggae, Classic Mexican Pop, and Hip-Hop. One complaint I do have about their selection is that they overdo it with Pitbull songs, but that's just my personal opinion. Lupita is also much more geared towards "sexy" and "femme" dancing, which is a little uncomfortable to dance to if you are one of the few males, as I am. However, she is much more aerobic than Yolanda, and her classes are typically much more high-impact. Routines are largely kept the same for long periods of time, but they do choreograph and incorporate new songs over time. I highly recommend beginning with Yolanda first, and then taking on Lupita when you begin to feel Yolanda's songs becoming easier to dance to. This is because Lupita generally does not go over dance steps, while Yolanda does. All and all, Lupita is a much more advanced class than Yolanda's in terms of aerobic level and dance routine complexity.
I mentioned that there are normally three instructors. However, this is not always the case. There is a bit of an on-going curse for the third instructor, as there have been four in total, all leaving for different reasons. The current third instructor, Yael, is definitely for more advanced dancers, although, if you are confident or conditioned enough, I highly suggest taking his class to both improve and expand your overall fitness level. Yael is a talented male dancer that is on par with what you would expect to see in a standard gym Zumba Class: his steps are fast-paced, his pace is high impact, and he incorporates muscle conditioning. However, he has some of the best music of the three, and is a fun instructor due to his sheer variety of music that ranges from World Music to Bachata to Merengue to Cumbia along with his creative dance interpretation of certain songs. Only for the truly hard-core.
Finally, a word of advice: once you start, stick with it. If you can't dance, you eventually will begin to dance very well over time. If you want to lose weight or look good, you need to begin a routine and be consistent about it. I understand that we all have different body types and fitness levels, but you should begin with at least shooting for three times a week and gradually moving up so that it becomes at least five days a week. I know that sounds like a lot, but an hour of Zumba every day for five days will get you the best results: going for two hours will make it go even faster if you can make the push.
Good luck.