Any cook could tell you that throwing every spice in the pot will result in something nobody wants to eat. In the world of workout fads, though, this approach has proved quite popular. Take Zumba, the latest workout movement to sweep the nation, and our wallets. A combination of hip-hop dancing, samba, salsa, merengue, mambo, tango, cumbia, flamenco, chachacha, reggaeton, belly dancing, martial arts, Bollywood moves and something called soca, it manages to be less interesting than any of those things on their own — but a lot more lucrative.
2010’s video game “Zumba Fitness” brought the trend out of gym classes and into our living rooms, and was a surprise hit. Selling 4.51 million units, it came out of nowhere to destroy much of its workout-game competition. Its sequel, fresh out of the gates, is already following in the tradition of its predecessor: flying off the shelves despite being more expensive than superior products.
