Sacha's regular bellydance students, Carsamba, wanted to do something to help women affected by domestic violence during this crisis as the numbers have drastically increased.

So we are pledging to Step Up this January to raise funds for Refuge with a bellydancing Shimmy Challenge.

This incredible virtual challenge is bringing people together from all walks of life, doing what they love and pushing themselves to raise £156 each to help fund three nights in a Refuge shelter for a woman escaping domestic abuse.

Here’s why Refuge matters to us. One woman in four will experience domestic abuse at some point in her lifetime and two women are killed each week in England and Wales by a current or former partner. Refuge supports around 6,500 women and children on any given day who are escaping emotional, physical, financial or sexual abuse.

By kindly sponsoring us today you are helping to save and change the lives of thousands of women and children who have taken their first brave steps out of unimaginable situations. Thank you.

So what's the challenge? We thought what better way than to show our support with a sponsored shimmy to raise vital funds to help Refuge support as many women as they can. Not only will we be shimmying for as long as we can within our regular hour-long class but we wanted to open it up to others to join us too. We will aim to have as many people shimmying for as long as they can during the course of an hour - if you're not familiar with how much effort it takes to shimmy, you feel the burn after just a couple of minutes, so this is a feat of endurance and stamina.

Donate to participate in the live class via Zoom (suggested minimum donation for the class is £5 per person), or if you don't want to put on a hip belt but wish to support those shimmying then please show your support with a donation. You can join the team to actively fundraise for this challenge as well.

If you're joining in, Sacha will guide you through a warm up and cool down and teach basic technique of the shimmies we will be doing and you can join in for as long as you can.

There will be 3 opportunities to participate in a live class:

Monday 25th January, 7pm-8pm

Wednesday 27th January, 7:30-8:30pm

Thursday 28th January, 11am

And a weekday during the day time to be confirmed.

Indicate in the comments or email sacha on sachabellydance@yahoo.co.uk if you'd like to participate in one of the classes after making your donation.

Thank you so much for your support!