Iranians defiantly shaking hips after Zumba class ruled illegal

TEHRAN, Iran — To those Iranians shaking their hips and backsides to Latin American music during Zumba exercise classes, Iran’s Muslim clerics — and a U.S. company — have the same message: Stop it. It’s illegal.

The country’s Zumba fans, however, are refusing to back down.

“It’s fun. It’s positive,” said Sunny Nafisi, 33, a Zumba instructor who works in a Tehran gym.

An edict issued this month by the head of the Sports for All Federation, a government institution promoting sports and a healthy lifestyle, effectively banned Zumba classes for being contrary to Islamic precepts. The problem: Making “rhythmic movements,” or “dancing,” is illegal.

Popular but proscribed activities, including Zumba dancing, are often tolerated if they take place semihidden or under a different name.

“I taught Zumba for years here,” Nafisi said. “But instead of calling it Zumba, I called it ‘exercise to music’ so no one would notice.”

Then another Zumba instructor started calling her classes by their real name. When authorities did not react, many other instructors swiftly followed.

Until this month. For Nafisi, Iran’s clerics were not the only ones opposing her. So, too, was the legal department of Zumba Fitness, the U.S. company behind the fitness craze, which revoked her instructor permit last year.

Nafisi received a letter saying that only if she moved to a different country would she get her instructor’s permit back.

Nafisi will go ahead with her scheduled Zumba classes anyway.

“I have 40 students — they want to work out,” she said. “I’ll just rename the class.”