Having Fun With It: Women's Experience of Zumba Fitness

• In Event: 336 - Section on Body and Embodiment Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 03. Bodies in Motion

Abstract

Addressing the feminist debate about the merits of group fitness for women, this study explored women’s subjective experience of Zumba, a new and popular form of group fitness. We interviewed 41 racially/ethnically diverse adult women from the Los Angeles/Inland Empire (California) area who had taken Zumba in the previous year. The women reported positive experiences of Zumba, contrasting it with other exercise, which they characterized as boring, stressful, painful, lonely, and/or atomistic, and with other dancing, which they characterized as more restrictive. They perceived Zumba to prioritize fun over work and process over outcomes; value individual autonomy and personalization rather than strict conformity; and engage the participant as more than just a body to be shaped. The women, thus, subjectively experienced Zumba to be less oppressive than other exercise.

Authors

• Tanya A. Nieri, University of California-Riverside

• Elizabeth Hughes, University of California-Riverside