Jazzercise is a fitness

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

company founded by Judi Sheppard Missett in 1968 and headquartered in Carlsbad,

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. The franchise's name is a

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Early history

Judi Sheppard Missett created Jazzercise in Evanston, Illinois in 1968 as a student at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. She was teaching at a dance studio and noticed her classes had high dropout rates. Realizing students were attending for physical fitness and not for performance, Shepard Missett began to hold "just for fun" classes that began with a jazz warmup. These classes were eventually renamed "Jazzercise". Jazz dance came relatively late into Missett's life—in 1966, just after she graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in theater and dance. She signed up to study with renowned jazz choreographer Gus Giordano at his Evanston studios.

Growth and franchising

Sheppard Missett's family moved to Carlsbad, California, where she taught classes in local rec centers. Jazzercise quickly took off in San Diego and Sheppard Missett trained new instructors herself. Many of those first instructors were in military families, so as they moved around the country, and the world, new populations were continually introduced to the program. Initially using VHS videos, Sheppard Missett was able to train franchisees from a distance and began to sell franchise rights for Jazzercise studios across the country. In addition to the franchised classes, Sheppard Missett produced recorded Jazzercise programs for home use, starting with an LP entitled ''Jazzercise'' in 1981 which was certified gold in 1982. Sheppard Missett produced a second LP in 1982 entitled ''More Jazzercise'' and released her first VHS Jazzercise workout called ''Let's Jazzercise'' a year later.

Jazzercise in popular media

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's live-action movie adaptation of ''

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'', the Grinch's schedule has an hour booked for Jazzercise. In the episode of ''

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'' entitled "Louie Goes Too Far",

Andy Kaufman Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman ( ; January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984) was an American entertainer and performance artist. While often called a "comedian", Kaufman preferred to describe himself instead as a "song and dance man". He has sometimes b ...

(playing Vic Ferrari) suggests to Christopher Lloyd (playing Jim) that he take up Jazzercise as a way of meeting beautiful women. On ''

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'', Bea Arthur (Dorothy) admits taking up Jazzercise in the episodes "The Stan Who Came to Dinner" and "The Audit". In ''

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'', the lead character, Phyllis Nefler, mentions that she hasn't been to Jazzercise in three weeks, after chasing one of her troop members who suddenly runs off during a troop meeting. In the ''

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years a ...

'' episode "Parasite Lost", the parasitic worms are seen jazzercising Fry's muscles. The ''

Flight of the Conchords Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand musical comedy duo formed in Wellington in 1998. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Beginning as a popular live comedy act in the early 2000s, the duo's comed ...

'' episode "New Zealand Town" of their second television series features a song called "Fashion is Danger", which is a parody of 1980s music and style, and contains a reference to Jazzercise. "Jazzercise Instructor" is featured as a job in ''

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''. In the third series of ''

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'', Howard Moon goes to Jazzercise classes. In the ''

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'' episode " Bad Reputation", a tape is found of

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jazzercising to

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's "

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". In the following season's episode "

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is shown teaching a jazzercise class in which

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participates. In the ABC hit show '' The Goldbergs'', Beverly Goldberg is frequently portrayed referencing or stepping to Jazzercise. On the October 9, 2012 episode of ''

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'',

Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted ''The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts ''Th ...

references Jazzercise in his opening monologue. In 2018 alone, Jazzercise has been featured in ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'' magazine and ''

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.'' Featured in fictional Starcourt Mall in season 3 of ''

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'', where

Dustin Henderson '' Stranger Things'' is an American science fiction horror television series created for Netflix by the Duffer Brothers, set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, in the 1980s. The first season, set in November 1983, focuses on the inve ...

and

Steve Harrington Steve Harrington is a character from the Netflix television show ''Stranger Things'', portrayed by Joe Keery. While starting out as a typical unlikable jock, Steve has grown into a more protecting and caring character as the show has progres ...

chase a suspicious looking guy, who turns out to be a Jazzercise instructor. Mentioned in the song "Party with Your Body" by KC & The Sunshine Band. Mentioned in Rick & Morty S06E06 when the dinosaurs present a list of things, humanity has accomplished.

References

External links

Jazzercise official website

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1980s fads and trends Companies based in Carlsbad, California Aerobic exercise Exercise organizations Exercise-related trademarks Franchises

Growth and franchising

Jazzercise in popular media

References

Further reading

External links