What to do if you can't find a class in your Town or Area.

We get lots of emails from people who can't find a class in their town or area. At the moment it would be true to say that there are areas of the country, and parts of large cities, where there are no classes. So some people are going to be disappointed.

Can we reassure you ... we are not hiding anything.

Firstly can we reassure you that we are not holding back. If we know of a class and are allowed to tell people about it, then it goes on Wiggle. So it's no good emailing us to say, for example "I can't find a class in Sunnydale. Do you know of one?" because the answer is always going to be "If we know about it, and are allowed to tell people about it, then it's on Wiggle. Think about it - what would be the point of holding back?

So what can you do?

There are a number of things you can do. Try the following suggestions, they might work...

1) Try a nearby county. The information about classes on Wiggle is divided up into traditional counties. Try looking in a nearby county, especially if you live on the boundary between two or more counties, or in one of the large urban areas like London, Manchester, Birmingham and the like. You might find a class just over the border but quite close. If you want to check what traditional county your city, town or village is in then click on the link below.

2) Try ringing the nearest teacher. Teachers will often know about the other teachers in their area. Not all teachers want to be on Wiggle, and there must be many who haven't found out about us yet. So give your nearest teacher a ring, I'm sure you will find them to be sympathetic.

3) Contact your nearest Adult Education College. Quite a few courses are run from Adult Education Centres but sometimes these are not as well advertised as they could be. If you contact your local College they will be delighted to tell you about their courses. Sometimes bellydance courses at these locations can also be very good value for money as they often offer reductions for unwaged persons, etc.

4) Visit your local library and enquire over the counter. Libraries are an excellent source of information and often have advertisements from lots of local groups. Your local bellydance teacher may have put up a poster, or left information with the librarians.

5) Drop in at your local Community Centre, Church Hall or Village Hall. These places are often used by bellydance teachers as they are often very inexpensive to hire. If there is a class then the likelyhood is that there will be a poster telling you about it. Don't forget to talk to the caretaker - they tend to know about all the events happening in their building.

6) Look in the local papers. Many have a "what's on" section where they describe upcoming events, you might find a class or series of workshops advertised. Also during the summer look out for reports of local village fetes and gala's - nowadays it's quite popular to have bellydancers to add colour and a touch of the exotic to these events. You might find a report that gives you a clue about a local group of dancers.

7) Ask the nearest bellydance teacher if she has students from your area. There may be nothing for it but to travel a bigger distance than you wanted but if there's a bunch of students who travel from your area to the class then you might be able to car share with them.

8) Lastly, just keep browsing back to Wiggle. We started in 1999 with about twenty classes, and now just eight years later we have over six hundred! I get new classes to advertise almost every week, and new teachers every month, eventually there should be a class near you!