Who invented zumba

People [were] happy. People sweating," says Perez. The class was only about 20 minutes but by the end of it Perez says he knew that teaching fitness to dance music was his calling. I want to do this for the rest of my life. It's amazing,'" recalls Perez. Fitness gurus who turned a workout passion into a business empire. Tony Robbins reveals 3 tips that helped make him a megamillionaire. Skip Navigation. VIDEO How an improvised dance class led the year-old founder of Zumba to launch a multimillion-dollar business.

He simply forgot his aerobics class music tapes at home, and because he had no time to return home to collect them, he made an executive decision to be innovative and use his salsa and merengue tapes that he had with him, instead.

Instead of following the same choreography and rep-counting of his typical aerobics classes, he decided to improvise by presenting a type of aerobics class that mixed in high-energy dance moves — perhaps the kind of dance moves he would have used when listening to his favorite Salsa and Merengue music. He found that his students absolutely loved the new workout and were having fun.

In fact, they wanted more — and so the idea of Zumba was born. You might be wondering how one class could inspire a worldwide fitness phenomenon. His first accidental class of Zumba although he had not named the exercise class as yet did not go unnoticed. So many people absolutely loved the class that word got out. Alberto Perez had never been particularly rich or financially comfortable in his life.

Just like many others, he had it in his mind to find a way to live the great American Dream, and with his new form of exercise class, there was an opportunity for him. In , Perez moved to Miami in search of a new life with bigger and better opportunities.

His first act of business was to start teaching his aerobic dance class in his new neighborhood. The first fitness center he approached was the Williams Island Fitness Center, where he got the director, Brenda Anderson, to agree to promote his aerobic dance routine. It went well, but Perez wanted more. He then reached out to Alberto Perlman and Alberto Aghion , for financial and technical assistance with boosting his aerobic dance classes to greater success.

In they formed a trio that set out to make their new dance class better known — and it really worked. It demonstrates or sounds like the fun, high-energy, fitness class that it is linked to. It was in , with Aghion and Perlman, that Perez released his very first televised infomercial on Zumba. Once the infomercial was out there, many workshops resulted — all of which were based on Zumba routines. The workshops were taught by means of DVDs, which the trio sold, and soon the international following was booming.

Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile. Log out. US Markets Loading H M S In the news. Vivian Giang. It all started when an aerobics instructor forgot his music at home In , soon-to-be Zumba founder Alberto Perlman heard about Beto's classes from his mother. After his visit to the class, year-old Perlman was convinced he needed to "take this to more people.

The founders knew Zumba was going to be big when they kept getting phone calls in the middle of the night. Perlman, Aghion and Perez decided to turn every instructor into an entrepreneur. Zumba is different than any other fitness program because most people don't take it for the fitness benefits.

Zumba clothing has become a statement that says "I don't have to hide like everyone else. The founders believe there's a big business in music. Zumba is trying to win over kids as well. For a long time, big chains didn't want Zumba classes in their gyms, but now they're all contacting Perlman. Perlman expects Zumba to reach 25 million students within the next few years.