Jazzercise is a fitness franchise company founded by Judi Sheppard Missett in 1968 and headquartered in

Carlsbad Carlsbad may refer to: *Carlsbad, California, United States *Carlsbad, New Mexico, United States *Carlsbad, Texas, United States *Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary (; german: Karlsbad, formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. The franchise's name is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words

Early history

Judi Sheppard Missett created Jazzercise in Evanston, Illinois in 1968 as a student at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Chart ...

. She was teaching at a dance studio and noticed her classes had high dropout rates. Realizing students were attending for physical fitness and not for performance, Shepard Missett began to hold "just for fun" classes that began with a jazz warmup. These classes were eventually renamed "Jazzercise". Jazz dance came relatively late into Missett's life—in 1966, just after she graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in theater and dance. She signed up to study with renowned jazz choreographer Gus Giordano at his Evanston studios.

Growth and franchising

Sheppard Missett's family moved to Carlsbad, California, where she taught classes in local rec centers. Jazzercise quickly took off in San Diego and Sheppard Missett trained new instructors herself. Many of those first instructors were in military families, so as they moved around the country, and the world, new populations were continually introduced to the program. Initially using VHS videos, Sheppard Missett was able to train franchisees from a distance and began to sell franchise rights for Jazzercise studios across the country. In addition to the franchised classes, Sheppard Missett produced recorded Jazzercise programs for home use, starting with an LP entitled ''Jazzercise'' in 1981 which was certified gold in 1982. Sheppard Missett produced a second LP in 1982 entitled ''More Jazzercise'' and released her first VHS Jazzercise workout called ''Let's Jazzercise'' a year later.

Jazzercise in popular media

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of ''The Twilight Zone''. He ...

's live-action movie adaptation of '' How the Grinch Stole Christmas'', the Grinch's schedule has an hour booked for Jazzercise. In the episode of ''

Taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...

'' entitled "Louie Goes Too Far",

Andy Kaufman Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman ( ; January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984) was an American entertainer and performance artist. While often called a "comedian", Kaufman preferred to describe himself instead as a "song and dance man". He has sometimes b ...

(playing Vic Ferrari) suggests to Christopher Lloyd (playing Jim) that he take up Jazzercise as a way of meeting beautiful women. On ''

The Golden Girls ''The Golden Girls'' is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Bea Arthur, Betty W ...

'', Bea Arthur (Dorothy) admits taking up Jazzercise in the episodes "The Stan Who Came to Dinner" and "The Audit". In ''

Troop Beverly Hills ''Troop Beverly Hills'' is a 1989 American comedy film. It is produced by the Weintraub Entertainment Group and directed by Jeff Kanew, starring Shelley Long, Craig T. Nelson, Betty Thomas, Mary Gross, Stephanie Beacham and introducing Jenn ...

'', the lead character, Phyllis Nefler, mentions that she hasn't been to Jazzercise in three weeks, after chasing one of her troop members who suddenly runs off during a troop meeting. In the '' Futurama'' episode "Parasite Lost", the parasitic worms are seen jazzercising Fry's muscles. The ''

Flight of the Conchords Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand musical comedy duo formed in Wellington in 1998. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Beginning as a popular live comedy act in the early 2000s, the duo's com ...

'' episode "New Zealand Town" of their second television series features a song called "Fashion is Danger", which is a parody of 1980s music and style, and contains a reference to Jazzercise. "Jazzercise Instructor" is featured as a job in ''

The Sims 2 ''The Sims 2'' is a 2004 strategic life simulation video game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. It is the second major title in ''The Sims'' series, and is the sequel to ''The Sims.'' The game was released for Microsoft Windo ...

''. In the third series of ''

The Mighty Boosh The Mighty Boosh is a British comedy troupe featuring comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. Developed from three stage shows and a six-episode radio series, it has since spanned a total of 20 television episodes for BBC Three which a ...

'', Howard Moon goes to Jazzercise classes. In the ''

Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...

'' episode " Bad Reputation", a tape is found of

Sue Sylvester Susan "Sue" Rodham Sylvester is a fictional character of the Fox musical comedy-drama series, ''Glee''. The character is portrayed by actress Jane Lynch, and appears in ''Glee'' from its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009, through t ...

jazzercising to

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...

's "

Physical Physical may refer to: *Physical examination In a physical examination, medical examination, or clinical examination, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a medical condition. It generally cons ...

". In the following season's episode " Sexy", Holly Holliday is shown teaching a jazzercise class in which

Will Schuester William Michael Schuester, often referred to as Mr. Schue, is a fictional teacher character and one of the two main protagonists from the Fox musical comedy-drama series ''Glee'', alongside his student Rachel Berry. He has appeared in ''Glee'' ...

participates. In the ABC hit show '' The Goldbergs'', Beverly Goldberg is frequently portrayed referencing or stepping to Jazzercise. On the October 9, 2012 episode of ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form fr ...

'',

Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted '' The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts '' ...

references Jazzercise in his opening monologue. In 2018 alone, Jazzercise has been featured in ''

People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of proper ...

'' magazine and '' Harper's Bazaar.'' Featured in fictional Starcourt Mall in season 3 of ''

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by the Duffer Brothers, who also serve as showrunners and are executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. Produced by Monkey Massacre Pr ...

'', where Dustin Henderson and Steve Harrington chase a suspicious looking guy, who turns out to be a Jazzercise instructor. Mentioned in the song "Party with Your Body" by KC & The Sunshine Band. Mentioned in Rick & Morty S06E06 when the dinosaurs present a list of things, humanity has accomplished.

References

External links

Jazzercise official website

Instagram

Facebook
1980s fads and trends Companies based in Carlsbad, California Aerobic exercise Exercise organizations Exercise-related trademarks Franchises

Growth and franchising

Jazzercise in popular media

References

Further reading

External links