Alberto "Beto" Pérez (born 15 March 1970), is a Colombian dancer, choreographer, businessman, and Zumba instructor. He created the
exercise
Exercise is a body activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness.
It is performed for various reasons, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardiovascular system, hone athletic ...
Zumba
Zumba is a fitness program that involves cardio and Latin-inspired dance. It was founded by Colombian dancer and choreographer Beto Pérez in 2001, and by 2012, it had 110,000 locations and 12 million people taking classes weekly. Zumba is a ...
in the late 1990s which involves
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
and
aerobic exercise
Aerobic exercise (also known as endurance activities, cardio or cardio-respiratory exercise) is physical exercise of low to high intensity that depends primarily on the aerobic energy-generating process. "Aerobic" is defined as "relating to, inv ...
elements with accompanying music, specifically
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, and associated
martial arts
Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...
moves, squats, lunges, and other aerobic techniques.
Beginnings
Pérez was raised in
Cali, Colombia
Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the secon ...
by a single mother and was working three jobs by age 14 to support his family. His passion was dancing, but he could not afford dance lessons. After he won a national
lambada
Lambada () is a dance from State of Pará, Brazil. The dance became internationally popular in the 1980s, especially in the Philippines, Latin America and Caribbean countries. It has adopted aspects of dances such as forró, salsa, merengue, m ...
contest in Colombia, he was accepted to one of Cali's best academies to study dance while he taught
step aerobics
Step aerobics, also known as bench aerobics and step training, is a form of aerobic exercise that involves stepping on and off a small platform.
Step aerobics was studied by physiologists in the 1980s, and in 1990 it swiftly grew in popularity in ...
in return.
Business
In 1999, Pérez moved to
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
, Florida "in search of the American Dream". Besides teaching aerobics classes, he tried to promote his fitness and dance routines with music at numerous venues. In 2001, Beto asked Williams Island fitness director (Brenda Anderson) to take a chance on promoting his dance routines in a class at the center. In 2003 after his first infomercial and with financial and technical assistance from
Alberto Perlman
Alberto Perlman (born 1977) is a Colombian American businessman and co-founder of Zumba Fitness.Alberto Aghion
Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic ''Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The diminutive forms are ''Albertito'' in Spain or ''Albertico'' in some parts of Latin America, Albertin ...
, workshops resulted that were based on Zumba routines. His routines, initially distributed as DVDs, gained momentum that resulted in an international following.
In 2006 Pérez established Zumba Fitness LLC, an organization that sells Zumba videos and products and charges licensing fees to its network of instructors (ZIN™ – Zumba Instructors' Network). It employs more than 200 employees. Reportedly some 14 million people in more than 160,000 locations in 185 countries are Zumba practitioners and dance and sing to fun music mainly provided by the company.
Zumba Fitness has also released its fashion line of Zumbawear. The company manufactures Zumbawear for age-specific groups, including seniors, mothers and children. Besides the general Zumba Fitness brand, fashion lines include styles for Zumba Toning, Aqua Zumba, Zumba Sentao, Zumba Gold, Zumba Gold-Toning, Zumba Kids and Zumba Kids Jr, Zumba Step and Strong By Zumba. Its instruction programs are popular in community centers, youth activity centers, tourist venues, schools and retirement communities, among other venues.
Personal life
On the eve of March 15, 2020, his 50th birthday, Pérez announced on his Facebook page that his daughter Antonella had been born on January 11, 2020.
Music
Through his Zumba Fitness routines, Pérez promotes music and musical artists associated with Zumba, which positively affects musical success for artists in various Latin music genres. An
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
article states that the Zumba movement has created an international fan base for Latin music, citing acts including
Pitbull
Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...
,
Don Omar
William Omar Landrón Rivera (born February 10, 1978), better known by his stage name Don Omar, is a Puerto Rican reggaeton singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer and actor. On September 1, 2017, he announced that he would retire after a ...
and
Daddy Yankee
Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez (born February 3, 1976), known professionally as Daddy Yankee, is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, composer, and actor. Known as the " King of Reggaetón" by music critics and fans alike, he is the artist who coined ...
. Daddy Yankee's "Limbo" shouts out for Zumba several times in the lyrics. Pitbull, Wyclef Jean and other stars have taken part in Zumba Fitness conventions. Other Zumba fans include
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...
and
Shakira
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the " Queen of Latin Music" and is ...
.
Zumba Fitness has released a series of music albums including '' Zumba Fitness Dance Party'' with music for Zumba classes worldwide. Pérez has collaborated with the Colombian Latin star Mara (full name Mara Prada), with whom he has a hit "Crazy Love" credited to Prada featuring Pérez. Prada, Haitian singer J. Perry and American singer Dahrio Wonder were named Zumba Fitness Emerging Artists. A similar collaboration has developed with the well-established Brazilian star
Claudia Leitte
Cláudia Cristina Leite Inácio (; born 10 July 1980) is a Brazilian singer and television personality. She rose to fame in late 2002 as the lead vocalist of the Axé music group Babado Novo. The group achieved a string of consecutive diamond- ...