Zumba

Zumba is the most widely distributed dance-fitness brand in the world, and the clearest case of a Latin social-dance vocabulary repackaged as group exercise. Alberto 'Beto' Perez, a Cali-born dancer and choreographer, improvised a class in the 1990s using salsa and merengue cassettes he happened to have with him after forgetting his usual aerobics tapes. He moved to Miami in 1999 and in 2001 partnered with Alberto Perlman and Alberto Aghion to establish Zumba Fitness, LLC, selling the format first through direct-response infomercials and then through an instructor licensing network rather than through gym employment. A class is built on four core rhythms — salsa, merengue, cumbia and reggaeton — each reduced to a handful of repeatable steps and cued visually instead of by verbal count, so participants can follow without knowing the dances. Specialised versions cover step, toning, aqua, chair-based work, older adults, children and infants. What Zumba is not is partner dancing: the salsa is solo shine work, the merengue a marching side-to-side, the reggaeton a simplified bounce. Judged as a dance class it is thin; judged as a way of getting millions of adults moving to Latin music every week, it is unmatched.