IT’S just after 9.30 on a mid-week morning and the gym studio is already packed with women of all shapes and sizes shaking their bootys to the Latin beat. There’s so much laughter and energy in the room that it feels more like a private party than an exercise class.

Welcome to the world of Zumba – the hot new dance craze that is helping people to shimmy their way to fitness.

Celebrity devotees include Sugababes singer Heidi Range, Michelle Obama (pictured below) and Shakira. Even Victoria Beckham, a renowned gym phobe, is said to be a fan.

In a nutshell Zumba is a high energy Latin-inspired dance workout that can help you burn up to 1,000 calories in an hour. And judging by the hordes signing up to join new classes every week, it's good fun too.

It was created by Colombian aerobics instructor Beto Perez when he forgot his regular workout music and had to make up some improvised moves to an old tape of salsa and merengue music he found in his rucksack.

The story goes that he took Zumba to America where he was spotted by two Miami money men who helped him to turn into a world-wide phenomenon. He’s now sold more than 4m DVDs and around 5m people attend classes in 105 different countries every week.

Zumba finally arrived in the UK last year and Carl McCartney, the national group exercise manager for Virgin Active clubs, says they are experiencing unprecedented demand for the class.

“The classes are great fun and members are taught easy to learn steps in a great environment. The routines are designed not only to get the heart rate up, but to ensure an all over workout that members can really enjoy.”

Nadia Flint, who runs the 1st Dance Studio in Poole and has been dancing since she was three, says she has lost half a stone in two weeks since she started teaching Zumba classes.

“It provides a total body workout with a combination of fast and slow rhythms which really helps to tone up your core muscles.

“But you don’t have to be to able to dance as there’s no right or wrong way just as long as you keep moving. And people of all ages love it. I’ve never known anything like it – it’s taken off in the same way that aerobics did in the ’80s. I think it’s the music and the atmosphere that makes it so popular. You don’t feel as though you have done a workout because you are having so much fun.”

I was invited to embrace my inner Latina at the Virgin Active club in Corfe Mullen and although I found it hard to follow some of the routines at first, you soon get into the swing of it all – you can even make some of it up as you go along.

We covered a wide range of dance styles including salsa, merengue, mambo, flamenco, samba, belly dancing, hip hop and tango to name a few. It certainly gets your pulse racing and you can’t help grinning throughout the class, thanks to the energy and enthusiasm of instructor Joni Clowrey.

“It is great for getting the heart rate up for burning calories,” she explains afterwards. “It also increases your strength and flexibility and you can work at whatever level you want so it appeals to a wide range of people – there’s one lady in my class who is 69.”

Zumba devotee Liz Fox, who attends the class every week, adds: “It makes you smile while you workout. I always finish the session feeling in a good mood!”