When I was 16 years old – around 1986 - I was teaching aerobics classes in Cali, Colombia, but I danced for fun with my friends. One day I forgot my music for the class and the only music I had with me was a tape of Latin music that I had recorded from the radio. I said to my students: “I’ve prepared this class for a long time”, but it wasn’t true. If I’d told them I’d forgotten my music, my boss would have killed me. I improvised for one hour and what I remember is the people’s smiles and their sweat. For me, the most important thing was that it felt like the class lasted 20 minutes. In that moment, I said, “Wow, I want to do this for the rest of my life”. This was the beginning of Zumba.
In 2000, I moved to Miami. I slept two nights in a park, but I wanted someone to give me an opportunity. I didn’t want to work in valet parking or cleaning plates. Eventually someone gave me a chance – a fitness manager in a wealthy area. My audition was with one person and I had to teach her, but during the audition, people started coming into the room because they thought it was a class. At the end, some people clapped and said, “Wow, this person is great”, so they hired me. Later on, one of my students told me his 25-year-old son wanted to meet me and do business. The week before though, I had a 50-year-old guy with $1 million also saying he wanted to do business with me. It was a tough decision between a 50-year-old guy with a lot of money and experience, or a 25-year-old guy with no money and no experience. I went with the 25-year-old and it was the best decision I’ve made. He is still my business partner.
We started with nothing and we filmed a class on the beach. He went to a fitness company in Ohio and told them he had the new Billy Blanks (creator of Tae Bo) of the aerobics world. They asked if I spoke English, but I didn’t. I said: “Don’t worry. Tell them I speak English.” So my partner set up a meeting and they came to my class. I had asked him to teach me how to say “Nice to meet you. Sorry, I need to go.” So after the class, I shook their hands, said my lines and I escaped. They thought I was so busy, but I was just sitting in my car waiting.
I’m a survivor. I lived alone when I was 15 years old. I didn’t have the option to lose. But my mum always says: “Don’t forget where you come from.” When I was on the front page of the Miami Herald for the first time, my mum said: “OK good. Did you eat your broccoli today?” She likes to be healthy.
For years, many people have thought “no pain, no gain”, but not for me. If you don’t smile, you don’t gain. If you’re not happy, you don’t gain. I have tried all my life to have fun. When you smile, your endorphins activate, your heart pumps more and you burn more calories. When you smile, something positive happens in your body. I never created Zumba to lose weight, but for people to have fun. It just happens that it’s also effective for your mind and your health.
Some people love to dance, some love to run, some love yoga. Everyone needs to find the discipline they like, but the most important thing is to move your body, to have passion and perseverance. Try to think more about being healthy and less about beauty. Find something you like, have fun and smile.
Beto Perez is a Colombian choreographer and the creator of Zumba fitness programmes. Next year he will be a judge on Dancing with the Stars in Colombia.
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
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Read more from Johann Chacko
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Profile of Whizkey
Date founded: 04 November 2017
Founders: Abdulaziz AlBlooshi and Harsh Hirani
Based: Dubai, UAE
Number of employees: 10
Sector: AI, software
Cashflow: Dh2.5 Million
Funding stage: Series A
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
How to donate
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
