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Ara wrote in a letter to a provincial official, which was published by the semiofficial Islamic Students News Agency. “Considering that activities such as Zumba, performance of rhythmic movements and dancing in any form and under any title lacks legal credibility, I request that you issue an order to ban such movements,” Mr.
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The problem: Making “rhythmic movements” or “dancing” is illegal, his letter said. In a letter, the head of the Sports for All Federation, Ali Majd Ara, decided that Zumba wasn’t one of the accepted sports. When the authorities did not react, many other instructors, including Ms.
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Then, in a sequence of events not uncommon in Iran, another Zumba instructor started calling her classes by their real name four years ago. Other names used for the classes have included “body rhythm,” “advanced aerobics” and “Mumba.” “But instead of calling it Zumba, I called it ‘exercise to music’ so no one would notice.” In practice, this means that popular but proscribed activities, including Zumba dancing, are often tolerated if they take place semi-hidden or under a different name. Today, many Iranians shrug off most of these sins, saying it should be up to individuals to decide if they commit any. While prosecutions can result in fines or even caning, they are not common, and on Tuesday, thousands of men and women danced in the streets to celebrate the Iranian national soccer team’s earning of a spot in the World Cup. Sins can undermine families, the cornerstone of life in Iran, so it has been decided that these temptations, and many others, are illegal, as an extra push to make sure they do not happen.īut they do happen, because enforcement can go only so far in a society completely changed over the last 40 years. In their world, things like drinking alcohol, mixing between men and women, and dancing can lead to committing sins. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran’s Shiite Muslim clerics have codified into law hundreds of lifestyle regulations, meant to keep their flock on the right path. “Zumba will not be stopped.”Ĭoming together for fitness dancing is just one of many examples of the tensions between Iran’s changing middle-class society and those ruling the country. Even her mother-in-law called from California to ask if this was the end of Zumba in Iran. Nafisi said, referring to the liquor ban in the country. “It is as if they have legalized alcohol - everyone is talking about it,” Ms. Nafisi’s phone has been buzzing with messages from depressed Zumba aficionados who feared their fitness parties, as some describe the classes, were canceled. 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.Įver since, Ms.