Markham Heid is a contributor at TIME. He is the author of The Habit Trap, due out in early 2027. Bethan Mooney for TIME Zumba was born in Colombia in the 1990s, quite by accident. A fitness ...

Before Zumba became a global dance fitness sensation, it was gaining steam in 2001 as a "rhumba-cise" class in Aventura that the women in Alberto Perlman's family could not stop talking about. Perlman ...

Exercisers don't have to swivel their hips and shake their buns to get a good workout, but it sure can be fun. That's why about 30 women gather faithfully once a week at the Washington Sports Club in ...

It’s as if the animated dancers in the movie “Madagascar” meet their wild, hip and funky Latin cousins. It’s Zumba, baby! At lunchtime for 40 minutes each week, a few of the straight-laced downtown ...

What it is: Dance fitness combines choreographed or freeform movement with aerobic exercise, offering both a workout and a ...

In her forties, Michele Perron didn't realize how stiff she had gotten until she went to her first Zumba class. The Zumba approach features dance movements to Latin rhythms, including a lot of hip ...

Head to any step aerobics class and you may feel like the instructor is speaking another language. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. But the good news is that most of the basic aerobic dance steps ...

BELLA VISTA -- Zumba teacher Dina Lombardo says her students often tell her that a 50-minute exercise class goes by too fast -- she tells them that's because Zumba is fun. She teaches four classes a ...

Zumba and salsa are two popular dance forms that promise fitness and fun. While both styles have their own unique moves and rhythms, many wonder which one is better for flexibility. Knowing the ...

Philipps also chats with PEOPLE about being "hot mic'd" for a Zumba class and her biggest fear about trying the dance-focused workout for the first time Zumba; Noam Galai/Getty Busy Philipps chats ...