BoomerGirl.com

Zumba is a fitness class with multiple personalities.

One minute you're writhing around like a sensual belly dancer. Next, you're turning your hips to the rousing Latin beats. And just as quickly, the music changes and you're now a cowboy, riding an invisible horse and shaking your fist in the air.

"Pull the reins, you're on the horse," instructor Bessie Neshan shouts from the front of a Westwood studio.

"Heeeeeeee-haw," howls the class of about 40 women as they gallop in place.

Zumba, which is Spanish slang for "fast," is a fitness program that combines high-energy music with movements borrowed from dances such as merengue, salsa, calypso, reggaeton, samba, cumbia, flamenco and belly dancing.

Colombian dancer and fitness trainer Alberto "Beto" Perez came up with the concept in the 1990s, when he forgot his music for an aerobics class one day and decided to use salsa and merengue tapes from his car. He had to improvise a whole class using this new music, and Zumba was born.

Zumba was introduced to the United States in the late 1990s, and it has been steadily drawing more interest. Neshan, a certified personal trainer, group instructor and lifestyle fitness coach, has been teaching Zumba for about five years. After working as a Zumba instructor at nearby gyms, she started teaching Zumba classes independently last year.

Neshan has taught different kinds of aerobic exercises before, including kickboxing and hip-hop. But she claims Zumba is her favorite, because of its combination of interval training and use of the cardio and muscular systems. It is low-impact yet high-intensity. It also targets the stomach and hips like no other, she added.

"I quit all my other classes," Neshan said. "My body has changed dramatically with Zumba."

Neshan has dozens of like-minded Zumba fans in her Westwood classes. One recent morning, dozens of women fought the morning rain to arrive at the studio by 9:15. With music by the likes of Juanes, Shakira and Ricky Martin thumping around them, the women energetically stomped and shimmied through the 60-minute routine.

"It's so much fun you don't realize that you're exercising," said Marie Carr, a Pilates instructor. "It's really having a good time."

"It's one big dance party," added Lori Roses.

For a first-time Zumba participant, some of the footwork can be difficult to follow, and some of the hip-swinging can feel a bit awkward. And chances are you're probably going to wake up with a sore bum the next morning.

But it's all worth it, according to the women in Neshan's class. They're so enthusiastic about the fitness class that several have become Zumba instructors themselves. And as an aerobic exercise that can burn as many as 800 calories an hour, Zumba helped reshape their bodies, many women claimed.

Many women said they also appreciate what Zumba does for them emotionally. For some, the class provides a community of strong, supportive females.

"You know how you go to the gym and everyone looks the same and it's like a beauty contest?" said Bettyann Niece. "This is more like an embrace of women."

For others, it's a 60-minute routine that helps them de-stress and face the day.

"Leave your cell phone in the car, leave your life at home, and give yourself that hour," said Lisa Stabile. "Because once you do it, you're ready to take on the rest of the day — and the world, for that matter."