TY - JOUR
T1 - Zumba Instructor Strategies
T2 - Constraining or Liberating for Women Participants?
AU - Nieri, Tanya
AU - Hughes, Elizabeth
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Prior work documents how instructors can make fitness empowering or disempowering for women; it has not addressed instructors of Zumba, advertised to be distinct from other group fitness and of which women report more positive experiences. Drawing on feminist engagements with Bourdieu, this study assesses how Zumba instructor strategies produce a positive experience and whether they constitute a challenge to the social structure that motivates participation in fitness. We find that the strategies, which deviate substantially from those of traditional group fitness instructors, address the perceived shortcomings of group exercise, making for a more positive experience of the activity and reducing certain leisure constraints. However, the strategies do not prompt participants to critically analyze or challenge dominant ideals or the social imperative to exercise. Future research can explore whether these strategies diffuse to other group fitness and impact on dominant gender, body, and fitness ideals and the fitness industry.
AB - Prior work documents how instructors can make fitness empowering or disempowering for women; it has not addressed instructors of Zumba, advertised to be distinct from other group fitness and of which women report more positive experiences. Drawing on feminist engagements with Bourdieu, this study assesses how Zumba instructor strategies produce a positive experience and whether they constitute a challenge to the social structure that motivates participation in fitness. We find that the strategies, which deviate substantially from those of traditional group fitness instructors, address the perceived shortcomings of group exercise, making for a more positive experience of the activity and reducing certain leisure constraints. However, the strategies do not prompt participants to critically analyze or challenge dominant ideals or the social imperative to exercise. Future research can explore whether these strategies diffuse to other group fitness and impact on dominant gender, body, and fitness ideals and the fitness industry.
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U2 - 10.1080/01490400.2021.1881669
DO - 10.1080/01490400.2021.1881669
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85101143518
JO - Leisure Sciences
JF - Leisure Sciences
SN - 0149-0400
ER -