Bee Henry is a long way from home, but in The Natural State, she’s found a place for her passion.
Now a Cherokee Village resident, Henry is a United Kingdom native who is a Zumba and aerobics instructor at Clary Fitness in Ash Flat. She moved to Arkansas about three months ago with her husband, James Henderson, who works in community development in the village.
While attending a Yoga in the Park session a couple of months back, which Henry learned about through a local advertisement, she met Clary Fitness owners Pat and Wayne Clary and learned of an opportunity to bring her 30 years of fitness experience to Ash Flat.
“I am happy to be a member of the staff there,” Henry said. “They’ve got a nice little team, and I can’t see any reason why I won’t be there for a good while.”
Henry, who was born and raised in the London, England, borough of Hackney and came to Cherokee Village by way of New York, said a passion for fitness has always been with her. That passion grew when she became a prison officer, an interest that blossomed when she watched the television show Police Woman, starring American actress Angie Dickinson, and which also interested Henry for other reasons.
“This is going to sound very bizarre: I liked the uniform,” she said. “Then I made some inquiries. I thought about police, and I thought about security-type jobs.”
Henry said she enjoyed utilizing fitness education in her prison-service career.
“I can’t remember not being very, very keen in the way of sports and activity,” she said. “When I was at school, I wanted to be an American policewoman who took fitness classes. I thought, ‘That’s going to be me.’ I never did become an American policewoman. I became a prison officer, and in the prison service, I qualified there to become a PE teacher.”
Being a prison officer for 10 years was similar to instructing physical education in schools, she said. Henry had to know the rules and regulations of sports such as basketball, gymnastics and badminton, even if she didn’t care for the activity.
“You’re not going to love every aspect of that. Other things you’re going to absolutely love,” she said. “I can’t stand football — you call it soccer — I can’t quite get my head around that. It’s huge back home. It’s one of the things that was very, very big and that as a prison officer
I needed to referee. Not a favorite, but I still know the rules of soccer.”
Prison was also an environment where Henry would build relationships with inmates through physical education.
“We don’t walk around with guns,” she said. “Back in the day then, you almost had a relationship with your customers, in that you would engage in their day-to-day activities, as well as supervise them and have a laugh with them. I’m sure the relationship with the officers and the inmates is quite different now. It used to be a lot about rehabilitation then.”
Through her work in the prison service, Henry became certified in the physical education of prison-service officers, exercise set to music, nutrition and weight management, treatment and management of football injuries, and more.
When she left the prison service, Henry specialized in weight-training and instructing fitness courses, which she really enjoyed, she said.
“I really, really wanted to [lead] classes, because I think that’s where I shone the most,” she said.
Henry, who grew up active in sports such as netball — which is similar to basketball — running and long jump, said the feeling of performing in a sporting event is similar to that of leading a fitness class.
“When I’m in front of the class and [leading] the Zumba or aerobics, it’s like you’re on your own little stage,” she said. “It can really very much be whatever you want it to be, depending on how crazy and fun you are. And I think I’m slightly crazy and a lot of fun.”
Being active improves every aspect of one’s life, Henry said.
“It’s good for everything; it really, really is,” she said. “When you do take on board any aspect of fitness, whether it’s going for a walk in the country, whether it’s going to a class, you feel different. You feel good about yourself. You’re usually doing it with like-minded people, so that’s a very positive vibe going on right there.”
Though diet and exercise are keys to healthy living, one doesn’t have to overwork his body to stay fit, Henry said.
“It doesn’t mean you have to run marathons or anything like that,” she said. “Just maybe do something a couple of times a week. Whether it’s something solitary like walking the dog or going for a bike ride, or being involved in one of Bee’s classes, you’re ahead of most people, sadly.”
Moving to New York City presented many culture shocks for Henry, who said the city was “flavored culturally” but wasn’t somewhere she could see herself long term.
“It was very dynamic. It was very, very fast,” she said. “You could be very, very lonely in a place like New York if you don’t know people. It’s a very, very big place. I had slowed down the way I moved and talked to people — still crazy in classes. I thought, ‘Wow, this is great; this is fun but not sustainable. I’m not going to do this forever always.’”
Just in time for Independence Day, Henry and Henderson moved to Cherokee Village to be closer to Henderson’s parents, Marian and Oral Henderson, who retired in the city.
“Arkansas is nice. It’s sleepy, certainly in the area in Arkansas where I live,” she said. “I don’t know what anything is like in Arkansas, yet, apart from the little area where I live in Cherokee Village and where I work in Ash Flat. It’s very quiet, very pretty. I like the Southern slowness and the politeness — ‘Yes, ma’am’ — I really do like that very, very much. They’ll call you ‘Mrs. Bee.’ I like that. So far, so good.”
Henry said her aerobics class is when she “comes alive,” and that Zumba is flavored and fast. Her classes of nine to 13 participants don’t often realize how hard Henry is working them because they’re enjoying the class so much, she said.
“I try and make people feel really, really comfortable to be in my class,” she said. “A lot of people stress, ‘Oh, I’m not going to be able to keep up. I’m not coordinated. When everyone goes one way, I’m going the other way.’ In Bee’s class, that’s fine. There’s no such thing as a mistake as long as we’re still moving and enjoying. You’ve got to have fun.”
Pat Clary, co-owner of Clary Fitness, said that she appreciates Henry’s rich background as a fitness instructor.
“I could tell by the way she performed the yoga moves [at the park] that she was an accomplished athlete,” Clary said.
Outside of fitness, Henry enjoys traveling and socializing. Her daughter Leagha lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Henry’s
son, David, lives outside of Oxfordshire, England; and her daughter Dannielle lives on the outskirts of London.
Like fashion, things change as one grows older, Henry said, adding that she works hard to keep her body in the best shape to lead others to be their best selves as well.
“When you’re at my stage in life and you’re able to choose what you want to do — which is a very nice place to be — you choose what you love and what you can give the best of to get the most out of your people — the people who are attending [classes],” she said.
Staff writer Syd Hayman can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or shayman@arkansasonline.com.