The city's dance world is small and close-knit, so accumulating the contacts required to grow a viable business happened naturally.

The cost of starting was relatively modest. Working from home, there was no office rent to pay, so she had to cover only the company registration and accountancy fees.

'The start-up costs, I guess, were mostly the costumes. You have to have several of those when you're performing. Back then I think it cost about HK$500 to $1,000 for a costume,' she says.

An avid student of dance styles from all over the world, she swiftly diversified from belly dancing into other areas of Middle Eastern and Asian ethnic dance, but there is always a demand for belly dancers in restaurants and at larger functions, where a performance provides an instant touch of the exotic.

More surprisingly, perhaps, is that belly dance classes are enormously popular among Hong Kong women. Recently when the company's new Oasis Dance Centre featured in a documentary about dance in Hong Kong, the TV station was inundated with calls asking for the studio's contact details.

The decision to finally rent premises as a base for the company after 17 years in business was taken opportunistically rather than as part of a business plan, and not at the best possible time. The centre opened on April 1 this year - just as most dance students were cancelling their classes and events managers were cancelling bookings because of Sars. The Anton Street premises previously housed another dance studio and the founder left town, giving Ms Tillyer the option to take over.

She had been teaching, as she continues to do, at the Jean Wong School of Ballet in Central, but had come to value the more relaxed atmosphere of the Wan Chai venue.

'The fixed costs of the business with rent and electricity and so on are about $15,000 per month, although its possible to pay more for publicity and so on,' explains Ms Tillyer. There are no administrative staff. Just covering those modest costs was a challenge during the Sars outbreak, but a quiet period for business gave Ms Tillyer the opportunity to set up the studio in a way that reflected her company's style, and also brought the company's activities under one roof.

Although she says she agonised over changing the name, Oasis Dance Centre ultimately seemed more appropriate, and some modifications to the decor were made in line with the Middle Eastern theme. The company had for some time been involved in introducing dancers to costume-makers and in supplying them with accessories and specially commissioned CDs of dance music. The retail side of the business moved from Ms Tillyer's home into the studio, and she began to organise costume-making workshops with an image consultant who helps assemble outfits.

A programme of workshops has also been organised, taught by the dancers from the network with which she works to supply the talent for corporate events. Classes are now available in flamenco, hula and pilates ballet training.

Belly dancing, however, remains the most popular discipline, and Ms Tillyer is beginning to develop some classes into theme parties. One - 'Cleopatra's Secret' - tacitly acknowledges at least one aspect of belly dancing's appeal and is, she says, 'an exploration into the heart of the seductress'. Men are not invited.

'Having the studio has opened up a lot of possibilities,' says Ms Tillyer, 'but mostly I want to make belly dancing available for Hong Kong people. As a teacher you want to share that. I want to make people feel good about themselves. That's where we're coming from.'