It's not everyday you find yourself in an Egyptian dance class in Cotford St Luke - but it could be every week if you sign up to Shema Raq's dance lessons.

I joined Shema and her class on the evening of Monday March 13 at St Luke's Centre to learn more about the North African dance.

Shema Raqs is an expert in Arabic dance with over 20 years experience. Ms Raqs has travelled the world and even spent 2 years living in the desert with the Bedouin to hone her craft. Now she is studying for a PHD at the University of Bristol , with a focus on the portrayal of Bedouin people in travel writing.

However, a rainy Cotford night threatened to be Shema's toughest challenge yet - teaching me, Mario 'Left-Foot' Laghos, how to dance.

The event was well attended, with around 20 attendees in all. Half were new faces with the rest being regulars. Amanda, one of the regulars, told me she travels from Watchet to attend Shema's sessions - a ringing endorsement.

The smell and smoke of an incense stick washed over the hall, and Arabic music played as people found their seats. Some of the women were wearing exotic sashes and Shema had on an outfit described by one lady as 'foxy.'

After an opening talk by Shema, the men were invited to their feet. There were three of us in total, a band of brothers, a happy few - kindly joined by some of the ladies to make things less awkward. We took our sticks, as was our birthright as men, and began to learn, step by step.

After a few minutes we were performing a routine. There was some side to side two-step, and then a flourish of the stick before it was brought about the head to vanquish a foe. Next the stick was hit against the ground, flipped and rested upon the shoulder.

After around 15 minutes we returned to our seats and the women took to the floor to show us up. The women's dance involved twirls and 100 per cent more shimmying.

Next the men and the women joined to perform as a group. Being at the front I was acutely aware the entire class would see I had lost the rhythm after about 2 beats, kicking my leg out and twirling my stick-sword with abandon.

With the dancing at an end mint tea was served and I sat down to talk with Shema. The 44 year old Oake resident goes by the stage name given to her in Morocco to keep her academic and dancing worlds apart.

She said: "Shema is a stage name. It was given to me in Morocco, it's an Arabic version of my real name, and I’m not going to share that because of being an academic. I'm doing a PHD at the University of Bristol, I also teach marketing at the University of Exeter, I love teaching. 

"I’ve had classes here since last April, obviously with the pandemic everything took a dive, prior to that I was mostly teaching internationally for weekend festivals.

"But that stopped and I decided to come back to teaching weekly classes. It’s been wonderful it really has, we’re building up a nice little community, and starting to think about performing if people want to perform."

Shema had a message for people thinking about giving Egyptian dancing a go: "You’ve got nothing to lose, the classes are slow, we take our time, I make sure everyone is safe. You can be any age any level of fitness or mobility, there’s a lot that we can do even if there’s no lower body mobility, it’s really really flexible. Any concerns come and have a chat."

I asked Shema how she would rate my dancing out of ten, she awarded me full marks. One of Shema's students was less effusive about my performance. 'It's very difficult' she said.

My hour with Shema and her class flew by, and as far as I can divine, a good time was had by all. Between the incense, music, props and dress you could almost be in Egypt - with only the magnolia minimalism of the St Luke's centre, an unfortunate hallmark of 21st century architecture in the public realm - bringing you back to earth.