Just Another Day of Research/Pilates

I recently realized that I haven't really blogged about any of my specific research. I am sure many of you are wondering, "what is it exactly that you do?" Well, in my efforts to learn about women community leaders here in Cairo, I have many different strategies. But one of the strongest, is simply calling, e-mailing, and stalking the various women that I want to interview. When a new friend told me about a woman who is both a Fitness Entrepreneur and Dance Guru, I thought she would be a perfect addition to my research. What I didn't realize is what I would be signing myself up for to get the interview.

(Pauline calls the studio to try and get an appointment)

Pauline: "Hi, My name is Pauline and I am an American Writer and Fulbright Fellow, and I would like to speak with Ms. Samia" (Note, I have started to call myself a writer, because I have learned that people are skeptical of researchers. I think they think of test tubes and bibliographies and want nothing to do with that. Writers are cool and win Pulitzers and make breaking stories and make people famous. And okay, so maybe I am not quite a Writer with a capital W, maybe just one who writes)

Office Assistant: "Hi, well to be honest, Samia is extremely busy. The best way to get a hold of her is to take one of her classes. Why don't you come in tomorrow morning for the Kujo class."

Pauline: "Okay great, thank you so much. But, what is 'kujo?'

O. Assistant: "Its a high impact class. See you tomorrow!" click

High Impact? What on earth did I get myself into? I am an athletic person, but I certainly have not done any martial arts, and I don't like to make a fool of myself in front of the person I am trying to interview. Normally one tries to present oneself as a professional, cool, calm and respectable individual. Being a sweaty, stumbling, awkwardly high impact fool kinda ruins that image. But, it was my ticket to meeting her, and I was prepared to do anything.

At 9:15 on Monday Morning, I arrive at the studio. I am awkwardly dressed for an interview, because I felt I should look nice for the first impression at least. But now I just feel stupid standing in black pants and a dress shirt in the middle of a fitness center, surrounded by young and middle aged women in spandex ready for their date with high impact. I brought clothes to change into, but didn't have my shoes because I had left them at my gym. (I think I was secretly looking for a reason to sit out and maybe just chat with her afterwards) I was told I could watch the class, and then come back on Thursday for a Pilates class. But I caught my first glimpse of my target, and I was amazed.

Dressed in black and yellow, and as energetic as a bumblebee, Samia was mesmerizing. She led the class in fast past aerobics (okay, so no martial arts)and could probably dance circles around Billy Blanks. I couldn't wait to come back.

This morning, I arrived at the studio at 10:20. I give the front desk my guest pass, stroll into the locker room, and change into my own spandex and white tee-shirt. Again I am confronted with the issue of appearance for interviews. Am I going to interview her whilst doing abdominal crunches? Lunges? I pull my hair up and resign myself to doing my best to impressing her with my attempts at Pilates, and walk into the mirrored studio.

I head towards the back of the room, and pretty soon the place fills up with women. Egyptian and Foreign, these women seem to run the gambit in terms of age and possible flexibility, so my confidence grows that I won't be the only person unable to wrap my leg around my head. Samia is a vision in white, she walks to the front of the room and begins to lead us in breathing and stretching exercises. As I am sure many of you know, Pilates is much harder than it looks. In general, flexibility is much harder than it looks. Maybe thats the definition of grace, making a difficult task seem extremely easy. I was so focused on mimicking Samia's grace and movements that I didn't even realize that when she extended her leg to grab her foot near her shoulder, that I was trying to do the same, trying to stretch my hamstring in a way which I knew I couldn't do. From this method of doing something before you realized if you could succeed or fail, I discovered a few things that I could do. I can stand like a flamingo on one leg with the other pressed against my thigh, and from there I can keep my hands together in prayer on my chest and bend over to touch my remaining foot on the ground. I also learned that I cannot grab my foot and extend my leg at a 170 degree angle. Shocking.

After learning all of this, and in the meanwhile losing any degree of professionalism that I may have had, we finished the class and I changed for our meeting. Maybe it was because she had just taught me, and we had shared that educational bond which is so unique, or maybe because her grace in dance is also present in her conversation, but the interview was fantastic. She was extremely open, frank, and forthcoming with her own story. I learned that she basically introduced Aerobics to Egypt, that she is a successful entrepreneur, teacher, dancer, choreographer, life coach, and wife and mother. She has revolutionized fitness in Egypt, and she has watched the positive transformation of women in fitness from wanting to lose weight, to wanting to be healthy and fit. "Knowing that I have helped these women change their lives, that is what give me strength and energy." No wonder she has so much energy, as she has helped so many women. Maybe some day even I will get my leg up.