Belly dancing, it would appear, did not take off at all in Moneygall, Co Offaly. In fact that ancient art fell on its face when it was offered as a skill to local women. And so courses in that alluring art will not be on offer this autumn at Busherstown Creative Arts Centre.
The director of the centre, Dublin-born Prue Rudd, has decided not to offer that course again for a few more years.
Few things fail for Prue and her family who run the centre, which is on the road between Roscrea and Nenagh on a peninsula of Offaly which runs into Tipperary.
Over 25 years ago she and her husband, David, an advertising executive, left Dublin with the aim of rearing their children in a rural environment.
According to Prue, they spent the end of the 1970s pig farming on a small acreage, living in a large rambling house and having children and raising them.
Then in the 1980s disaster struck - the bottom fell out of the pig market nationally, through over-production and poor returns from the international markets.
"We were frantic and we borrowed from banks, just to pay for the feed for the pigs. The price of pig feed started to soar and we were in serious trouble," she said during the week.
At that stage, Prue decided to use her cooking skills to try and create a natural product from their pigs, and she and her family began to make the Rudd range of speciality pork products.
These included gammons, back rashers, sausages, black and white puddings and streaky bacon with low salt content, and all of them guaranteed antibiotic-free and hormone-free.
The family had to work hard from their own kitchen to produce to the highest quality but eventually their work was rewarded with a series of awards.
The Rudds range of product is sold in supermarket chains, speciality shops and restaurants and the processing is now carried out in a dedicated factory premises employing 11 people. Five years ago, when the pork business was more or less up and running, Prue decided to convert a stable block at the back of the house into a creative centre.
There she began running a wide variety of courses in what she hoped would be interesting subjects, mainly artistic but also practical and educational. Enter the belly dancing classes.
"Most people are too busy now to get away for a week so I run day courses in subjects which would not normally be covered by the vocational colleges," she said.
"It seems to work and there are a growing number of people from all over the country coming here to take part, even though I am sorry to say men seem to want to attend only business-orientated classes or courses," she said.
The autumn schedule this year includes many painting classes and cooking classes but there are also day courses on homeopathy and a Feng Shui workshop.
Feng Shui is a Chinese belief that the way one's home is decorated or the way even the furniture is arranged can be essential to peace and harmony in the home. For instance, the Chinese will never sleep opposite a mirror as it reflects energy and distorts good sleeping patterns.
Whether Feng Shui will catch on in Moneygall is another matter but those who want to consider it can book for the course by calling 0505-45206.