Zumba Fitness - Dance For Charity

A "Zumba Fitness - Dance For Charity" event will be held on November 7 at HGH Convention Centre, Sentul, Kuala Lumpur to help raise funds for charity. Proceeds from the sale of tickets will be channeled to Kiwanis Club of Bangsar, Kiwanis Club of Bukit Bandaraya and Hospis Malaysia. Zumba instructor and license holder, Jason Ooi says he expects more than 3000 participants to attend this two-hour dance fitness programme which will kick off at 11.00 am. Tickets are sold at RM18 each. For more information, call 013-3672001, 016-6839666 or 016-9042008 or visit www.zumbaforcharity.blogspot.com.

Zumba is a fitness programme that has become a worldwide craze. The fitness programme combines Latin rhythm with cardiovascular exercises to create an aerobics routine that is fun and easy to follow. Participants often comment that it is so much fun that they don't think of it as a workout. There are presently more than 20,000 Zumba trained instructors in over 35 countries, and millions of Zumba DVDs have been sold worldwide. Zumba enthusiasts all over the world are discovering the joy of dancing and the benefits to their health all at the same time.

Colombian fitness trainer Beto Perez stumbled upon the concept of Latin-inspired fitness in his native country of Colombia in the mid-1990s. He introduced a fitness programme which he called Zumba and which soon became very popular in his class. The word Zumba is Spanish slang for "to move fast and have fun". The fun workout comprises of approximately 70% Latin dances (eg cha cha cha, samba, mambo) and 30% of other dances from around the world (eg flamenco, calypso, hip hop). Zumba utilizes the principles of fitness interval training and resistance training to maximize caloric output, fat burning and total body burning.