A mum-of-two who was battling severe postnatal anxiety turned to Burlesque dancing as an escape.
Now Laura Gooding - as her alter ego Rosie May Riot - is opening her own show in Edinburgh next month.
Just four years ago Laura, 41, was struggling to come to terms with mental ill health following the birth of her son Kurt, now nine, and six-year-old daughter Geneva.
After Laura and husband Steve, 43, welcomed their first child she developed post natal anxiety.
She explained: “I had a real fear. I was afraid to leave him. Kurt would be lying in his cot and I would be checking he was still alive. I was afraid he would die.
“After Geneva was born my anxiety went into health anxiety. I would worry I would die and leave them and that got really severe.”
Laura went along to the Juno Perinatal Mental Health Support group which was founded seven years ago in Edinburgh by a group of mums who all have personal experience of perinatal mental health difficulties.
But while she was there she spotted an advert for Burlesque Chair Dancing classes in the same building.
Laura said: “A friend of mine asked if I fancied doing it and I said ‘yes’.
“I had loved Burlesque for years and had seen a lot of different shows but I never thought it was something I could do. I didn’t think I would ever have the guts to try it myself.
“I ended up going to the Burlesque class, came out of it and went to the perinatal support group.
“Going to the two together I started to recover quite quickly.
“At Burlesque I noticed body positivity. People who went were all different ages, shapes and sizes and for someone who had two children and was not feeling great it was exactly what I needed at the time to see my body was ok; that every body is beautiful in its own way and that there was no rush to achieve that perfect postnatal figure.
“It taught me to look at myself a different way and that every body could be sexy.”
After a couple of years doing chair Burlesque Laura started to take workshops with established Burlesque performers and as she gained more confidence through what she had learned she decided she wanted to perform herself.
She began to write to producers asking for a slot in their shows and she got many rejections as her name was unknown on the scene but eventually some producers took a gamble on her at auditions.
During lockdown she organised her own first show as a fundraiser online for Juno and as theatres began to turn the lights on again Laura decided to pull together a live event at the Camden Fringe in London.
She said: “It was brilliant, nerve racking and scary, but it was a success.”
She wasn’t tempted to take a show to Edinburgh Fringe but had guest slots in other shows during the Festival.
However, she has decided the time is now right to bring her particular brand of Burlesque, Riot Reveals, to the capital on October 1 in the Voodoo Rooms.
She said: “It will not be a stereotypical Burlesque show, there is a lot of comedy in it, and it is an inclusive show with performers of all ages and genders.”
And Laura admitted: “I had given up work when I was pregnant. When I found Burlesque I found myself again. I didn’t realise how important that was until I found Burlesque.”
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