What's shaking

Zumba blends Latin dance and aerobics into a hot new workout
By Joseph P. Kahn, Globe Staff January 19, 2008

SALEM - Deb Gillooly led two dozen women through a lively regimen of slide steps, arm pumps, knee bends, pelvic thrusts, and shoulder shrugs, all to the pulsing beat of songs such as Zona Prieta's "Nena Bonita" and Wisin Y Yandel's "Llame Pa' Verte."

"Use your abs!" exhorted Gillooly, though it was hard to identify any muscle group not in use during the nearly nonstop 45-minute workout at Gold's Gym. The smiles - and beads of sweat -

on the women's faces spoke for themselves.

"It's just more fun than other workouts I've done," said Barbara Rafuse, 52, after the session had ended. "At my age, there's less stress on the joints than with something like cardio kickboxing. The music really gets you going, too."

Zumba, combining hip-shaking Latin dance moves with high-energy aerobics, has become one of the hottest workout crazes of recent vintage, spreading northward from South America and Florida to calypso-challenged regions like New England. In the Boston area, where the first training workshop was held in late 2006, nearly 30 clubs and gyms offer Zumba classes. That total could soon increase as more training sessions are scheduled to be offered locally in the next two months.

"Zumba has just exploded around here, mostly due to word of mouth" says Ann Saldi, who oversees training sessions in the New England area. "Everybody wants to dance, even if they think they can't dance. I've never seen anything quite like this."

Terri Comegys, 48, said she'd grown bored with other fitness classes before Zumba came along. "I'm Cuban-American, so I was thrilled to hear about this," she said. 'If you know salsa or Latin dance, it's a phenomenal workout."

Zumba is the brainchild of Colombian fitness trainer Alberto "Beto" Perez, who stumbled upon the dance-and-aerobics formula one day in the mid-1990s. Perez, a charismatic dancer and step-aerobics instructor, had forgotten to bring the music tapes he normally played during workout sessions. Substituting his own salsa and merengue tapes, Perez improvised steps to accompany the new playlist. Zumba - Spanish slang roughly meaning "to move fast and have fun" - quickly became his most popular class and the launching pad for a business that has since gone global.

Perez took his act to Florida in 1999, where it proved to be an instant hit all over again.
"The secret was not having that drill-sergeant mentality behind it that a lot of workout classes have," says Alberto Perlman, CEO of Zumba Fitness Inc. in Miami, which markets Perez's workout tapes and related merchandise. "It was more like, 'Let's have a party!' Going to one of Beto's classes was like going to a Latin nightclub and getting a little wild."

In 2001, Perlman helped Perez launch a company initially built around sales of instructional videos. Four years later, they created a training division to meet the growing demand for Zumba instructors and classes. As their numbers have increased, so have Zumba's visibility and popularity. There are now 10,000 instructors in 30 countries including China and Japan, according to Perlman. DVD sales have soared past the 3 million mark, and the company has expanded its product line to clothing, bracelets, and other accessories.

To get certified in Zumba, instructors pay $200 to $350 for one- and two-day training sessions, a few conducted by Perez himself. For an additional $30 a month, they get their names listed on the Zumba website (zumba.com) and receive the latest CDs and DVDs put out by Perez and his partners.

As appears to be the case with most Zumba instructors, Gillooly has taught a variety of workout regimens - including spinning, pilates, and cardio kickboxing - but has found a passion for Zumba that's unique. These workouts are different, she says, because they're a lot of fun to lead and they appeal to exercise buffs of all ages, from teens to senior citizens.

"No one knows exactly what will happen in any given class," says Gillooly.

The basic workout formula, according to her and other local instructors, consists of 70 percent music and dance steps taken from the Zumba playbook and 30 percent chosen by the class leader.

"Emotion plays a big part," says April Nugent, who teaches Zumba classes at the YMCA in Quincy. "You totally forget where you are for an hour. Nobody feels uncomfortable here. It's the smile on your face and the tilt of your head making these moves that give you the biggest benefits."

Patricia Karina Mendoza, who is from Bolivia and teaches Zumba at five clubs and gyms in the Boston area, says Zumba "makes you feel energetic and sexy." She adds: "It's all about how much energy you put into each step and how much attitude you put in each move."
What about the men?

Gillooly theorizes that guys may feel more comfortable performing booty-shaking dance moves in private, one-on-one sessions and not in predominently female company. "For whatever reason, so far it's a female thing," she says. But if more men tried it, I think they'd like it."
Perlman says his company is "working on" broadening Zumba's appeal to both genders, but he concedes that more than 90 percent of current class members and instructors are women.
One of those women, Nancy Smith, 52, of North Weymouth, took her first Zumba class in Quincy recently. After it ended, Smith compared it favorably to the many other workout regimens she's practiced in the past.

"It's the dance aspect" that makes Zumba so much fun, Smith said. "No machines. You just let yourself go."

Joseph P. Kahn can be reached at jkahn@globe.com.

Celebrities get fit by pole dancing

Apr. 29 - Lindsay Lohan, Kate Hudson and Teri Hatcher are getting in touch with their inner stripper at the 'S Factor' work out.
Hipper than Taebo, sexier than Pilates, the 'S Factor' stripping work out is the hottest new fitness trend in Hollywood. Celebrities are fans of Sheila Kelley's erotic strip pole lessons in Los Angeles, California.
Renae Bunney reports.

Stripping Off the Weight

(CBS) Stripping is southern California's latest exercise craze - coming from the strip club to a health club near you.

There is no place that's more of a boys' club than a strip club. But in Los Angeles, stripping's most devoted fan may well be a woman. "These are the most amazing bodies I've ever seen. They are taut, they are tight, they are beautiful," says actress Sheila Kelley. Sheila teaches striptease, but her students are hardly what you'd expect. They're suburban wives and moms, just like her. And they're learning to strip to get into shape. Correspondent Peter Van Sant reports on the latest health craze.

The highlight of Sheila's class is pole dancing. Sheila says these movements are so great for the body that she's turned it into a workout. In fact, stripping is southern California's latest exercise craze - coming from the strip club, to a health club near you. "They don't even know they're working out until two months later when they say, 'I've never had a better body in my life. I'm strong, I'm limber, I feel great,'" says Sheila, who first learned to pole dance while making the movie "Dancing at the Blue Iguana." "I was just stunned by what incredible shape I was in.

I was like a lean, feminine machine." Sheila decided to spread the word, and started a class called "Stripping for the Everyday Woman." Since news of her class got around Los Angeles, she has found pole dancing disciples in the most unexpected places. Artist Ali McCauley and actress Kari McDermott are both recently divorced 30-something moms. Kari discovered the class first, but Ali was shy about joining when she found out that, for the class, she'd need stripping shorts, dancer's g-strings, a push-up bra and six-inch platform heels. "I can leave whenever I want, that's what I was thinking," says Ali, who finally had the courage to sign up.

At first, it seemed like any other exercise class. Then, things got a little unusual. Sheila instructed students on touching their bodies: "Bring your hand onto your body, let it roam, testing where your sexual root power comes from." No men are allowed in the class. In fact, the stripping class wouldn't even let Van Sant inside, and they insisted 48 Hours use an all-woman camera crew. They say only women can truly appreciate the power of the pole dance.

"We do a lot of looking into ourselves, connecting to the power in the room, the feminine power in the room," says Kari, who recently had a pole installed in her own home. As for Ali, pole dancing has left her a changed woman. "It's powerful," she said.

Since 48 Hours last brought you this program, Sheila Kelley has opened a brand new studio in response to the growing demand for her classes - 240 women are currently on the waitlist. Sheila's studio is 2,500 square feet, contains three poles, offers twenty classes, and five teachers - whose ranks Kari McDermott will be joining soon. Sheila's new book, "The S Factor: Stripping for the Everday Woman," will be released in January 2004.

The Hot Way to Stay Fit

Pole dancing is no longer a reserve for professional dancers. Mastering the art of the pole is fast becoming a mainstream exercise regime for women across the world

Toronto: 'Fitness Pole Dancing' is now considered a real workout regime. With music pounding to a steady beat, the sultry sweats of pole dancing are no longer just a sultry expression. Pole dancing has turned into a fully-fledged bonafide fitness trend as more women turn to what is now considered an athletic and artistic form of dance and exercise. For many in the U.S, Canada and in many other countries across the world, floor to ceiling metal poles have replaced stationary bikes and treadmills as an aerobic and anaerobic exercise choice. Krista Knee, co owner of Flirty Girls Fitness in Toronto of Canada, says both of their studios in Toronto and Chicago are booked to capacity going into 2008.

Know your midnight itch, its sexsomnia

Advertising Executive, Joanna Trager, says treadmills and exercise bikes are boring and fitness pole dancing provides a challenging workout. Marketing and Branding Consultant Julie Cassidy agrees that she turned to pole dancing because she was tired of using the gym. Hair Salon Manager Marie Lopez Sweeney says she likes the fitness pole work-out because it's fun and motivates her to exercise. At Flirty Girls Fitness studios in Toronto and Chicago, urban brick and beam design with hardwood floors, chandeliers and pink accented lighting create the upscale environment comfortable for women to spend time in a female-only environment where they can let loose. Toronto Healthcare Executive, Mira Jelic, says the unisex environment appeals because there is no competitive atmosphere.

Michelle Epstein, Flirty Girls co-owner, says pole dancing works out every muscle and improves core stability. Instructor Diana Sutherland, 27, teaches pole fit, pole dancing and pole tricks. She says the pole classes build strength, elongate muscles and give a good cardio work-out. Krista Knee adds that strength is important because pole dancers need to be able to lift their body weight. One of Canada's top trainers to the stars, George Chaker, 34, owner of the Diesel Gym in Toronto, says pole fitness empowers women with self confidence in addition to giving them a good work-out. In Los Angeles, at Absolution Gym in West Hollywood, classes are just as much in demand.

Kathleen Chapman, an instructor with Kelly's S Factor, agrees that women love the empowerment aspect. Kara Kassuba, an L.A. fashion Consultant, says she enjoys the workout but attends the classes in order to raise her confidence. And the trend has even started to leave the gym and make it's way into people's homes. Pole dancing parties are becoming more popular especially in the US and Canada where eight to 10 women attend lessons together at someone's house.

Source: Associated Press