The Homemakers Magazine

How Did Zumba Come to Be?

You cannot go anywhere these days without seeing signs for Zumba. But what is is and how did it come to be? Most people can guess that it is a form of dance/exercise and that from the name, it probably has a Latin American flair. . Learning a little more about Zumba classes may help you decide if this type of exercise is right for you.

 Beto Perez

Fusing Latin music and dance with a fitness program was the accidental brainchild of celebrity fitness trainer Alberto “Beto” Perez  One day during the mid ’90s he realized he had forgotten to bring along his regular fitness music. He rummaged around in his car and decided to use the music that he found there. Surprisingly, what he had been listening to was the traditional music of South America, Colombia. Using the music as his influence, he added merengue and salsa steps to his workouts that day and his clients loved it. Because this type of music lends itself so well to vigorous movement, he was able to see the phenomenal value of using it for fitness.

Deciding to enhance and improve on this style of routine, Bebo created the workout that is called Zumba. It was a dynamic routine that revolutionized fitness across the nation. Zumba quickly became the most popular class in his facility. Bebo brought his program to the United States in 1999 where entrepreneurs Alberto Aghion and Alberto Perlman got a chance to see the potential of this explosive program, asking Bebo to scale it to the global market. The three made an agreement and Zumba classes were rolled out all over the world.

 Zumba Marketing

Perlman and Aghion marketed Zumba and in 2002 succeeded in signing with a well known infomercial company. The company targeted America for the massive launch of videos to support the Zumba concept, selling hundreds of thousands them helped the campaign gain popularity. This created a huge demand for Zumba instructors, the response was overwhelming. The next logical step was to create a training program to keep up with the demand for instructors. Currently there are more than 2000 certified instructors worldwide.

Kellogg’s teamed up with Zumba in 2003 to target the Hispanic market by developing a fitness campaign. Over time, this campaign spread to 5 additional countries and the relationship between them and Zumba is still going strong.

Several million Special K boxes have featured the Zumba fitness program on a global scale.

In 2004, Latin America and the US Spanish speaking market were targeted with a Spanish language infomercial campaign. People in over 30 nations went wild and purchased several million more DVDs making it a megahit.

 Zumba Spreads

by 2005 there was an outcry for more instructors in America, leading Zumba to create its Educational Division to ensure that quality and integrity would remain industry standards.  Under the combined leadership of Educational Director, Koh Herlong and Vice President, Petra Robinson, the division carries more than 50 years of experience. The two have been influential in the continuing progress of the fitness industry for over 25 years.

These days, the pair includes Zumba as part of their vast expertise and experience. Zumba now is associated with the ACE, IDEA and AFAA.