Posted: Jun. 17, 2012 | 2:04 a.m.

Chances are, everyone in the Las Vegas Valley knows someone who is taking Zumba fitness classes. At the Zumba.com website, 554 classes are listed within 25 miles of Las Vegas. Classes are offered at fitness and athletic clubs, gyms, YMCAs, senior centers, Strip hotels, schools, dance studios and even Opportunity Village.

Zumba is the current big thing in fitness. In the mid-1990s, a Colombian named Alberto "Beto" Perez forgot his aerobics music when scheduled to teach an aerobics class. He improvised using his personal collection of Latin music and found his class had new energy. An idea was born.

Zumba came to the United States in 2001. Fitness classes with a party atmosphere and lots of rhythmic Latin music have since spread to 110,000 locations in 125 countries. DVDs are available, as is Zumbawear and even a Zumba-branded video game.

According to Bret Fitzgerald, vice president of corporate communications for Las Vegas Fitness Clubs, Zumba classes are the most popular classes his organization offers. One student noted that some classes are so crowded, participants are urged to arrive a half-hour early to "get a good spot."

Although most Zumba classes in the Las Vegas Valley follow the basic fitness format, an instructor can be licensed in eight different levels of classes, including classes geared specifically to the active older adult, classes for children ages 4 to 12 and even water-based workouts using the Zumba formula.

Local entertainer Elisa Fiorillo, currently on tour as a backup singer with Prince, says Zumba classes are the only workouts she enjoys. Fiorillo was on a seven-day-a-week Zumba schedule before going on tour.

"I'm happy when I'm in class. I get lost in the music," she says. "Also, the more I can develop my lung capacity, the better I can sing and move onstage."

The teacher who first sold Fiorillo on Zumba fitness is 74-year-old Ginny Jones, almost a legend at the Las Vegas Athletic Clubs, having taught for them since 1984. Jones is a former ballet student, skater with the Ice Capades and the "Lido" shows in Paris and Las Vegas, a dancer in Las Vegas shows such as "Viva Les Girls" at the former Dunes and an aerobics teacher.

Jones typically teaches eight classes a day at the Green Valley Las Vegas Athletic Club. Her schedule recently was affected by a tendon issue. "Such a bother," says the tiny blonde, still retaining a hint of her British accent. "I teach a number of different classes, but Zumba fitness is by far the most popular. We typically have classes of 60 to 70 people."

Originally posted here:
Zumba Beat Helps Keep Residents Fit