 "Zumba: Beto Perez's accidental discovery")
It is not uncommon to hear people describing Zumba as a 'craze' or 'epidemic'. Beto Perez, the founder of this dance-exercise who was in Mumbai recently, says it is popular because it is “different, effective, infectious and easy-to-follow.” Of course, it also helps that celebrities including Shakira, Jackie Chan and Emma Watson have taken lessons. There are even reportedly “kosher” Zumba classes, where Orthodox Jewish women can sway their hips in a females-only setting. The widespread interest has allowed 45-year-old Perez to develop the seemingly fun workout into a full-fledged programme and franchise over the years.
The muscular Perez took a crash session in the city to certify more than 500 instructors, while 1,200 people swarmed the hall of a five-star hotel for a masterclass later on February 1. The effort is part of his plan to take the concept to more countries. Zumba has already expanded to 180 nations with some 200,000 locations offering the programme.
About 561,000 classes were conducted per week in 2014, an increase of 25% over 2012, he notes. He also plans to launch a TV show with Bollywood channel Zoom in mid-February, which will urge viewers to match steps to Latin American and Hindi tunes.
The routine works on a physical and emotional level, says the founder, observing that people often smile as they exercise. The atmosphere, he says, is judgement-free with no pressure to perfect the moves and because Zumba is repetitive, participants come away feeling successful. At the same time, Perez's trainers ensure the class is activating every part—from arms and core, to hips and feet—until the heart rate increases, calorie burn is boosted and more muscles are engaged. The focus is on maximising motion by fully extending arms and shaking the whole body. Usually one feels sweat building by the fourth or fifth minute.
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Zumba developed almost by accident when at the age of 16, Perez was working as an aerobics instructor in his hometown of Cali, Colombia. He says he walked in one day without the right music and had to manage instead with personal cassette tapes from his backpack, which included traditional salsa and merengue tunes. This improvised class soon became popular, Perez recalls, with participants vowing to bring friends along. The American dream soon drew him to Miami in 1999 even though he barely spoke any English. Perhaps for this reason, his dance-exercise relies more on non-verbal cueing when teaching, so people pay attention to movement instead of verbal commands.
“At my very first ‘audition’ at a fitness centre in South Florida, I had to convince the manager there to let me show her what I could do because I couldn’t explain it well,” he recounts. “Once I started showing her what zumba class was like, people in the gym began standing around the room, smiling, and I knew right there that I was going to do something special.” The form initially found favour mainly with the Latin American community.
Entrepreneurs Alberto Perlman and Alberto Aghion approached him in 2001 and the Zumba brand began developing. Perlman’s mother, it turns out, had been taking zumba classes in Miami and before that in Colombia.
The instructor has since created new specialty programmes, including workouts for active older adults and children and Zumba in the water, called Aqua Zumba.
Local fitness instructor and Zumba practitioner Sucheta Pal, who brought Perez down for the classes, also joined him in conducting the sessions. Back home in Colombia, Perez says he has included a Hindi track ‘Chittiyan Kalaiyan’ into his personal workout. He refers to Zumba sessions as ‘dance fitness parties,’ not entirely unexpected from someone who ends most sentences with an exclamation point. His team will also be working with musicians and producers in India to create music for its routines.