Zumba foun
finds success dancing
to his own beat
for your
health
By Christina Guerrero
IT’S HARD TO believe that Zumba, a multi-million-dollar dance ;tness program, was created by happenstance. But when then-aerobics
instructor Alberto “Beto” Perez forgot his
music for an aerobics class he was teaching in
Colombia in the 1990s, he had to improvise
with his personal mixtapes.
“;ough it was a happy accident, it makes
sense that I merged my two passions of teach-
ing aerobics and dancing without even real-
izing it,” Perez tells ;e Connection. “;ose
tapes were comprised of the songs I loved
best: an array of traditional salsa and meren-
gue. I improvised an entire class utilizing
nontraditional aerobics music, and from this
the Zumba Fitness party was born.”
Today, Zumba Fitness, the largest dance-
;tness company in the world, is known for
the Zumba program, a blend of easy-to-
follow dance routines set to upbeat interna-
tional rhythms that aim for a total-body
workout that tones and sculpts while burning
fat. Zumba is taught in 200,000 locations in
186 countries, and 25 million copies of
Zumba Fitness DVDs have been sold since
2001. Zumba Fitness has created more than
600 original Zumba songs and launched an
apparel line in 2008, and the Zumba video
game franchise has sold more than 10 million
units globally.
“I did not know Zumba Fitness would
change so many lives the way it has: 15 million people taking our classes every single
week and counting,” says Perez, now the chief
creative o;cer.
Perez grew up dancing to Latin
music, but American dance was
what he really loved.
“The moment
Company: Zumba Fitness
Founders: Alberto “Beto” Perez,
Alberto Perlman, Alberto Aghion
Number of employees: 210
Address: 800 Silks Run, Ste. 2310,
Hallandale Beach, FL 33009
Phone: (954) 526-7979
Website: zumba.com
Items at Costco: Zumba Tone Up
Pro DVD System; Zumba Incredible Results
Deluxe DVD System
Comment about Costco: “We first
launched product sales with Costco in July
2013 with fantastic results. Costco has been
very supportive and obviously has a huge
membership of Zumba fans who love to
dance and stay in shape!”—Beto Perez
I watched Grease, my passion for dance
awakened,” he says. “As a teenager, I
choreographed my first dance to
‘Holiday’ from Madonna.”
Perez moved to Miami in 1999 to
pursue a career with his dance-;tness
program. In 2001, one of his students
convinced her son, Alberto Perlman,
“It feels so good to know that we are
changing the way people live by encouraging
them to live healthier and ;tter lives. ;at, to
me, is success.” C
210
3
e
me, is success.” C
Comment about Costco: “We first
very supportive and obviously has a huge
z
supplier profile
JANUARY 2016 ;e Costco Connection 55
P
H
OTO
S
C
OU
R
TE
S
Y
OF
Z
U
MB
A
In our digital editions
Click here to see a clip of how
Zumba makes you move.
(See page 14 for details.)
Beto Perez
der
