The idea behind Zumba - the new dance craze sweeping Wanganui - is to have fun.
"It's fitness in disguise. You're getting a good workout and having fun at the same time," instructor Ethel Muir said.
Zumba was at the Masters' Games. It is on television and there are at least eight
classes and four instructors in town.
Classes take place at the Glastonbury Dance Studio, Zen Do Kai Hall, Club Fitness Gym, Splash Centre, Curves women's gym and Rock N Roll Club Hall. The sound of wailing Latin music issuing from a public building is a dead giveaway.
Each class takes an hour, there's a warm-up at the start and a warm-down at the end. The music and moves alternate between frenetic and slower.
Zumba is now a trademarked piece of the fitness industry. Instructors are trained and certified and specialties are developing - Zumba for the old, the young, the disabled.
It began in the mid-1990s when Colombian aerobics instructor Alberto Perez forgot to take his usual music to a class. He fished some merengue and salsa music out of his backpack and developed new moves around it.
He took the idea to the United States in 2001, joined up with two others and they created Zumba Fitness, which came to New Zealand in September 2009.
The moves come from merengue, salsa, hip hop, cumbia, belly dancing and reggaeton.
Ms Muir's partner and fellow instructor Rionn Harford is a poster boy for the technique - it got him started on the path to losing 40kg and competing in the IronMaori competition in December.
"He knew he had to do it, but he couldn't quite get started. Zumba helped him get motivated."
Ms Muir works in health and fitness. She is Te Oranganui Iwi Health Authority's nutrition and physical activity co-ordinator.
She said she had never liked aerobics, but saw Zumba on television, liked the music and thought it looked a lot more fun.
With no previous background in dance, she has surprised herself.
"I never thought I would be in front of somebody instructing."
