Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zumba Dance Fitness
September 14, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Zumba: it sounds fun all on its own, but what exactly is it? Zumba is the dance craze sweeping athletic clubs and small studios, gaining millions of followers with the catch phrase, ‘Ditch the Workout, Join the Party!’ But where exactly did Zumba come from? And just how do you ‘Zumba?’
Zumba Fitness is a Latin-inspired dance-fitness program that blends exciting international music and easy to perform steps and moves. Since 2001, it has become a largely successful dance program worldwide with a following of 12 million people from 125 countries taking classes once a week in over 110,000 locations. The music you hear when you ‘Zumba’ is commonly mambo, merengue, flamenco, cumbia, chachacha, salsa, samba, hip hop music, reggaeton, tango, belly dancing, soca, bhangra, and axé music. And how do you Zumba to the music? Commonly, you’ll use samba, merengue, hip-hop, martial arts, Bollywood, belly dance and salsa moves, along with some good squats and lunges.
How did Zumba come about, you might ask? Well, we’ve all seen those aerobic videos from the 80s and 90s with steps and moves set to music. Why, oh why, did no one think of combining a dance that was actually fun to do with some of those great fat-burning and sculpting moves, where you weren’t counting reps over the music? Someone finally did, and it was all a complete accident. One day in the mid-90s, fitness instructor Alberto “Beto” Perez from Cali, Colombia hurried off to teach his aerobics class. Unfortunately, he’d forgotten his aerobics music. He improvised instead with a mix of music from tapes he had in his backpack, which included salsa and merengue. Instead of counting reps, they danced and stepped to the music. His class loved it! In 2001, Beto introduced this class to people in Miami, Florida and met entrepreneurs Alberto Perlman and Alberto Aghion through a student. The ‘three Albertos’ created a business called “Zumba Fitness.” They first introduced Zumba through DVDs and infomercials. Soon enough, enough people saw Zumba through these mediums, and wanted to create classes. In just four more years, Zumba Fitness created the Zumba Academy to license Zumba Instructors to teach. Then, around 2008 came the apparel – dubbed Zumbawear – CDs, accesories, and DVD series. In 2010, Zumba became the first branded fitness program to launch a video game on the Xbox, Wii, and PS3.
Today, there are six types of Zumba classes, offering programs for everyone from beginners, target calorie burners, those seeking strength training, circuit-workouts, classes for kids aged 5-12, and seniors. There’s even a Zumba class in the pool, coined “Aqua Zumba,” commonly called the Zumba “pool party!” No matter your age, your level of strength, or your level of experience, Zumba can certainly be for everyone. Research indicates that workouts similar to Zumba can improve cardio-pulmonary endurance. Just ask Zumba’s 12 million fans: Zumba is a fun way to work out, and you’ll reap the benefits of aerobic exercise while dancing your heart away!
