Every Tuesday, hips are swinging, feet are pivoting, and class members are shouting, laughing and spinning to Latin beats. They aren’t on a dance floor at a night club, they are on the aerobics floor at the Verandah Club at the Hilton Anatole. For one exhilarating hour of caloric-burning, heart-racing, muscle-pumping, body-energizing, awe-inspiring movements, class members are burning 500 calories with Zumba!

Zumba is a combination of Latin salsa, cardio workout and interval moves. It is the hottest dance fitness craze and, according to many sources, the most fun workout program around. Participants dance and laugh their way to fitness.

As a Zumba Instructor, Brandi Farris, is trained in the basic steps of salsa, merengue, cumbia, samba and more. “Brandi, who is highly regarded around town, puts her own ‘twist’ on Zumba. It’s Zumba meets MTV dance party,” explains Cara Young, Verandah Club Manager.

According to Zumba.com, Zumba was created when Celebrity fitness trainer, “Beto” Perez, stumbled upon the concept of Latin inspired fitness in his native country of Colombia (South America) in the mid 1990’s. One day, he walked into his class and realized that he had forgotten his aerobics music, and his only option was to grab whatever tapes he had in his car. Beto’s tapes were comprised of the songs that he loved, the traditional Latin salsa and merengue music with which he had been raised. In 1999, after his success in Colombia, Beto brought Zumba to the United States, where he was approached by entrepreneurs Alberto Perlman and Alberto Aghion to create a global company based on the Zumba fitness philosophy. The three young entrepreneurs then set a goal to offer Zumba classes all over the world.

Zumba is offered every Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Verandah Club located at the Hilton Anatole Hotel at 2201 Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, Texas 75207. The class is included with a Verandah Club membership or non-members can purchase a day pass for $16 plus tax.

About the Verandah Club
Verandah Club, is the Hilton Anatole’s newly renovated 80,000-square foot private fitness club, located in the hotel’s beautiful 7-acre park. The Verandah facilities were designed by Precor, the official workout equipment of Hilton Hotels. The $340,000 worth of new equipment includes cardio machines all equipped with LCD TV monitors with clear cable access as well as Icarian strength training equipment. In the updated strength training room, guests also have the option of a complete line of free weight equipment. The Club also features the only Kinesis Movement Training Area in Dallas, combining the benefits of Pilates, Yoga, Core, and extremity strength training with full-movement resistant weights. The Club is open weekdays 5:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. Weekends 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. Corporate memberships are available. More information can be found at www.verandahclub.com or by calling Membership Director Rick Dunnaway at 214.761.7855.