"The salseros will tell you that Zumba is not Latin dancing," Martino-Giosa says. There's still disagreement over whether Zumba is really Latin dance. When you're mixing the two, that's just funny.ĭarlin Garcia, salsa dancer and instructor You're taking a salsa step and in the middle of it you jump into a jumping jack. Each class uses salsa, cumbia, bachata, and other Latin and international rhythms. Fast forward to today, and Zumba has certified instructors in more than 125 countries around the world. So he reached into his backpack and pulled out tapes of salsa and merengue. Back in the '90s in Colombia, dancer and choreographer Alberto Perez was teaching an aerobics class and he forgot his regular music. The story of Zumba begins with an accident that seems too good to be true.
"You'll see people mouthing words to the song and afterward they'll come to me and say, 'Damarus, what does that mean?'" "I love how all these different cultures are embracing the Latin culture now because of Zumba," Diaz says. Zumba enthusiast Damarus Diaz is Puerto Rican, and she likes the way Zumba has brought Latin rhythms and steps to the rest of the world. Now, some Latin dancers are trying to make more of a distinction between their art - and what happens in a Zumba class. For many students - who show up in spandex to body-roll, fist-pump and booty-shake - it's their first taste of Latin music and dance steps. You can buy Zumba CDs, a Zumba video game and Zumba clothes. Zumba isn't just a fitness craze it's an international business with more than 12 million enthusiasts in its classes. Zumba dance classes are all the rage, but some critics say the fitness craze shouldn't be considered Latin dance.