Miami, FL (Petra Robinson) - With Latin dance featured so prominently on reality shows such as 'Dancing with the Stars' and 'So You Think You Can Dance?,'
America is hot to learn the latest moves - not to mention wanting a body as fit as Shakira's. So Miami-based dancer and choreographer Beto Perez has teamed up with entrepreneurs Alberto Perlman and Alberto Aghion to create a Latin dance-inspired fitness workout routine that is setting
America afire: Zumba. And with over 2 million DVDs sold and over 2000 instructors, Zumba is becoming the newest craze.
Zumba combines high energy and motivating music with unique moves and combinations that make it easy for dancers and non-dancers alike to have fun while getting fit. Zumba uses a fusion of Latin and international dance themes (from the Colombian cumbia to merengue, salsa, and calypso) creating a dynamic, exciting, effective fitness system. The routines feature aerobic/fitness interval training with a combination of fast and slow rhythms that tone and sculpt the body.
'We utilize the principles of fitness interval training and resistance training to maximize caloric output, fat burning, and total body toning. It's a way of mixing body sculpting movements with easy-to-follow dance steps,' says creator Beto Perez. 'It's fun and addictive.'
Perez himself is a big part of the Zumba success story. Born in Colombia, South America, Perez went from being homeless to choreographing for pop superstars such as Shakira. He began teaching his unique brand of fitness/dance in Miami fitness clubs, where his charismatic teaching style and sexy moves made him something of a local heartthrob. Now, there are so many women and men (of all shapes and levels of fitness) that crave the Zumba program that Perez created Instructor Training Sessions so that others could teach all across the country.
Zumba is quickly becoming the most popular at-home exercise media in the country. Millions of people from Nashville to Chicago to Denver to Tulsa to Shreveport to Los Angeles are doing Zumba - and everyplace in between!
Perez, Perlman, and the Zumba team have spent a better part of this year touring to enthusiastic crowds of dance and fitness instructors in Orlando, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Dallas, and Chicago, eager to get in on the Zumba craze. Zumba Instructor Intensive Training sessions are being held in Denver, Boston, Winston-Salem, Milwaukee, San Francisco, and Phoenix.
'It's wonderful to see so many people having fun while getting fit,' says Perez. 'I think the terrific Latin rhythms in the program have taken the 'work' out of 'working out.'
For more information, please contact Petra Robinson (Vice President of Fitness Marketing) at 760-458-7144 or visit www.zumba.com.
