Get ready to Zumba!

A Zumba class at Dalplex.

On Wednesday, September 8, a whole lotta shakin’ will be going on at Dalhousie University’s Wickwire Field as hundreds of first-year Dal students attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the World’s Largest Zumba Class.

The concept for the event blossomed during planning sessions for Dalhousie’s Orientation Week events. Staff from Dalhousie’s Department of Athletics and Recreational Services hoped to include an event in the schedule that incorporated physical activity and encouraged the students to be active, but in a fun and exciting way.

“The original suggestion was to try a huge group fitness class on the soccer field but we needed to come up with an activity that anyone could participate in, regardless of their fitness level or previous aerobics experience," sats Shawn Fraser, a senior manager with Dalhousie’s Department of Athletics and Recreational Services. "The Zumba classes we ran at Dalplex last year proved to be very popular with students and the choreography is fun and simple to learn. It seemed like a perfect fit.”

Zumba is a dance fitness program that was created by dancer and choreographer Alberto "Beto" Perez in Columbia during the 1990s. The program combines Latin and international music with dance in an effort to make exercise fun. Zumba classes are offered through licensed instructors in more than 60,000 fitness centre locations in 105 countries with more than 7.5 million participants.

Zumba is one of the most popular group fitness classes at Dal.

Dalplex began offering Zumba classes in the fall of 2009 and they quickly became one of the most popular group fitness offerings at the facility. The average weekly attendance in a Zumba class was more than double that of any other fitness class, with an estimated attendance of 348 participants on one particular day, a Dalplex record.

Hannah Dahn, Dalhousie Student Union’s Vice President of Student Life, is eagerly anticipating Wednesday’s event. “It’s common knowledge that when people head off to university, they often gain weight in their first year, usually because they aren’t eating as well or aren’t being as physically active as they used to be,” says Ms. Dahn. “We loved the idea of a large group activity that would encourage the students to get moving even before classes started.”

Once the large Zumba class concept began to take shape, Ms. Dahn realized that given the number of anticipated students participating, that this might be an opportunity to make history. She investigated with Guinness World Records and discovered that there was in fact an existing Largest Zumba Class World Record of 250 participants and determined that Dalhousie’s students could probably break it.

“We had no idea how much work would have to go in to organizing a Guinness Record Breaking event when we first came up with the idea,” admits Ms. Dahn. “But we have received a lot of support from the community and from the Department of Athletics and Recreational Services and we are excited to see it all unfold. We hope to have at least 500 students participate, so it should be quite a site to see out on the field.”

Beginning at 12 p.m., participants will assemble at Wickwire Field and will be placed into groups of 50 for ease of counting. The record-breaking attempt is scheduled to begin at 12:25 p.m. and the class must last a minimum of 30 minutes in order to qualify.

LINKS: Dalhousie Student Union | Department of Athletics and Recreational Services