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Zumba Fitness is a Latin-inspired dance-fitness program that blends red-hot international music, created by Grammy Award-winning producers, and contagious steps to form a “fitness-party” that’s downright addictive.
Zumba combines traditional Latin dance styles, including salsa, mambo, cha-cha, cumbia and merengue, as well as hip-hop and belly dancing moves, depending on the instructor's preferences. Some classes also utilize traditional group fitness moves, such as pushups, bicep curls, crunches and hi-low aerobics combinations. By focusing on interval training, classes seek to burn calories without exhausting participants with a constant high-impact pace.
The number of calories burned during the class depends on the intensity of each instructor, as well as the size and fitness level of the participant.
Zumba in general, is about 70% Latin and the other 30% is whatever you want. Although there are many more dance variations and steps to Zumba®, below you will find the basic Zumba® genres and their brief information.
The Dominican Republic is usually credited as the origin of Merengue although Haiti and Santo Domingo fall in that category as well. It is faster pace rhythm. Common instruments are congo drums, accordion, and guiro. The most common move for the Merengue is the "basic march".
Salsa is a blend of many Caribbean cultures and strongly influenced by Cuba, but made popular in New York and Florida as it is known today. Salsa had a very distinct beat and is usually a faster tempo.
The Cumbia is known as a rhythm from Columbia, South America, but holds influences from Africa and Europe. Cumbia is often associated with a tropical or creole flavor to the music.
Reggaeton has Jamaican influences and was made popular in Puerto Rico and Panama. The music contains a heavy bass drum beat, with a primary instrument being a Reggae style drum. The most common move is the "ZUMBA hit" otherwise known as "crumping".
Currently known as the rhythm from Andalusia in southern Spain with influences from Gypsy, Muslim and Jewish cultures. Flamenco is known for the sounds of handclapping, finger snapping, tongue clicking, knuckle gashing, etc... In ZUMBA, some of the moves are related to the "picking of the grapes" for wine production. Much attitude is projected in the upper body movements.
Samba originates in Brazil. Samba is known for its sexy hip moving moves. It was and is danced as a festival dance during the street festivals and celebrations. In the US, it was first time introduced in a Broadway play called "Street Carnival" in the late 1920’s. The festive style and mood of the dance has kept it alive and popular to this day. Samba is a fun dance that fits most of today's popular music.
Pop music (a term that originally derives from an abbreviation of "popular") is a genre of popular music which originated in the 1950s, deriving from rock and roll. Pop music, as a genre, is very eclectic, often borrowing elements from other styles throughout its course such as urban, dance, rock, Latin and country, yet there are core elements which define it.
Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata (which is between Argentina and Uruguay), and spread to the rest of the world soon after. There are many tango dance styles, including Argentine tango, Uruguayan tango, Ballroom tango (American and International styles), Finnish tango, and vintage tangos.
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic subculture that originated in African-American and Hispanic-American communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. Hip-hop lovers can pump up their joy while playing its music during Zumba classes, Yo!
In Zumba, you have complete freedom to choose any type of music you want to groove on to. Apart from the other types mentioned above, belly-dance is quite common in Zumba classes. While, there is a complete freedom, some people love to move on with African music or music having African influence.
Zumba has spread to at least 105 countries world-wide and people from their countries tend to play local music for Zumba classes. Like in Germany, Brazil, Serbia and Romania, local music is quite popular in Zumba classes.
Bollywood, even though it belongs to India, has covered millions of fans around the world. Typical Bollywood music and local Bhangra dance is quite common in Zumba classes because of their thrilling rhythm and soothing music.
