Dancing can also be a fun way to exercise. This is especially true for those who see exercise as a necessary evil: something they should do, not something they want to do.
A dance-fitness program called Zumba has grown in popularity in recent years. Zumba is said to be one of the fastest-growing group programs in the physical fitness industry today.
Alberto Beto Perez created Zumba in his native Colombia in the nineteen nineties. His dance-fitness program is based on salsa, meringue, and other forms of Latin American music. Mr. Perez brought the program to the United States in two thousand one. Since then it has spread around the world.
The Zumba website says its classes are now offered in more than one hundred thousand gyms, fitness studios and dance clubs around the world. That is up from about two thousand locations in two thousand six. The website also says that more than twelve million people now attend Zumba classes in one hundred twenty-five countries.