Sporting fiery red hair, black fishnets and a feathery corset, burlesque performer Kiki Kisses isn’t shy of attention. She’s confident, funny and outgoing, but she's also a mum of three from South Gloucestershire who's trying to balance family life with a bold midlife career change.
Kiki happens to be the alter ego of Laura McGlinchey, a full-time burlesque performer and teacher in the south west. Ahead of World Burlesque Day on April 26, Laura spoke to Bristol Live about her passion for dancing and the unexpected benefits it's had for both her and her students.
Up until her thirties, burlesque wasn't something Laura had much experience in, though dance, in one form or another, had always been a part of her life until she suffered a life-changing incident. She said: "I started like most people going to ballet classes aged three, but I carried on and trained professionally until my mid-20s when I got a back injury.
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“I wanted to perform, and there was no other alternative for me at that time, so I just cut myself off from it completely. It was a really difficult time. I retrained and worked in the NHS for 15 years. But there's just something about dance, it pulls you back.”
A few years ago, while looking for classes that she would be able to participate in, Laura noticed an email about burlesque pop up in her inbox. She said: “I didn't know much about it, but it was always very intriguing. So I looked deeper into it and just grew to love it, it’s such an exhilarating art form, and it's so empowering.”
Part of what drew Laura to burlesque, and why she says the students in her classes get so much out of it, is its accessibility. She explained that joining a class doesn’t require participants to have perfect gym-honed bodies, the flexibility of a gymnast or flawless coordination.
She said: "You don't need loads of dance training, it's an expressive art. You can work it around your strengths to show yourself off.
"We work on fitness and strength, but we're also working on our self-confidence. People don't have to turn up in their underwear and their nipple tassels; we just wear our normal gym clothes.
“You’re not going to walk into my class, and it's going to be a load of young model types. I'm an average-size 14 middle-aged woman who's got three children. I don't have the perfect body, but it's my perfect body, and it's done me pretty well over the last forty years.
“The oldest I've had in my class for 76, and the youngest goes down to 18. We've got people with hip replacements and people with MS. I always make sure anyone with injuries or health conditions is working within their limits because they're not going to enjoy it if they can't do half of it.”
Many people would consider burlesque just another word for stripping, but Laura says that couldn't be further from the truth. She said: "That's such a massive misconception. I don't strip for someone else; I'm in control. So if I don't want to take it off, I'm not going to. It's an empowering feeling.
"There's burlesque where you don't take off their clothes at all. And then there are some forms that are genuinely associated with the striptease element, but it's always the artist that controls what they take off."
A pandemic career change
Teaching three times a week, as well as a monthly Sunday slot, workshops and performing, burlesque is now Laura's full-time job, a career change she made during the pandemic when she realised he job in the NHS "just wasn't conducive with family life anymore."
However, shortly after she handed in her notice at work, the UK went back into lockdown. Undeterred, Laura planned to start teaching on May 20 2021, just a few days after indoor mixing was about to be permitted. She said: "I did all my training and all my research during the pandemic, I had the hall booked and 30 people attending. I was just praying that Boris wasn't going to say 'no.'
"But it all worked out, and we've built this community of ladies that come to my class; they're just the most amazing people.
"People thinking about coming often say, 'I'm not very confident' or 'I'm not very sexy'. They start off at the back, and then gradually, they get further forward. You can see their confidence growing every week."
Laura says that burlesque has also improved her own mindset considerably. She said: “I suffered really badly with anxiety and depression after having my children. And that's not down to them; they're wonderful; it was down to myself and the pressures that I put on myself.
“There are a lot of pressures, especially on working mums, that you're not good enough.
“I found that really tough; I always felt really guilty. And then, on top of that, you feel guilty if you do want to take time for yourself. But you can't really look after anyone else unless you look after yourself.
“I found that when I got back to dance, it became an outlet. I can lose myself in what I'm doing and just be a woman and not think about anything else, even if it's for five minutes”
“It's like an alter ego, but it is still part of you. I can't walk around performing all day long because my kids would think I'm crazy, and in Tesco, it’s just not appropriate.
“But with burlesque, you can let that side out of you for an hour or so. You can wear crazy outfits; you can do crazy makeup; you can take your clothes off, or you can keep them on. And you see people's that side of people's personalities coming out in their performances it's just so wonderful.”
"I taught my mum to twerk!"
Laura says the positive impact burlesque has had on her has been felt by those around her, including her family, all of whom she says have been supportive. She said: "When I first started my classes, my mum used to come, and I taught her how to twerk; it was brilliant!
"My parents have always helped me with my dancing. I mean, they spent a lot of money on me in my youth! They said since I've been back dancing that I've got a sparkle back in my eyes.
"My husband has always been supportive, even though I ruined his favourite tie using it as a prop. I think all my family's seen the difference in me. I'm a nicer person to live with; I'm not snappy, and I'm not having panic attacks in the middle of the night. It's just completely bought me back to who I am.
"I think for so long, I tried to curb that because I was so heartbroken about what had happened with my injury. But I think this is where I'm supposed to be. I'm 40 in a couple of weeks, and I've never, ever thought I would be a professional performer at this age. But here we are."
And what do her three children think about their mum being a burlesque dancer? Laura said: "I don't hide it from them. And they love it; I did ask my 11-year-old the other day you proud of me? He was like ‘a little bit.’"
More information about Laura's classes can be found on her Instagram and website, where she's offering a free online taster class via Zoom on April 26, World Burlesque Day.
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