A burlesque dancer from Rochester has overcome body-confidence issues to take international stages by storm.

Gemma White, 37, took up the hobby just four years ago, but says she instantly knew it was her "career calling in life" and set about forging a career from the discipline.

After befriending a group of like minded burlesque artists Gemma started attending classes in London and landed her first ever gig at 34, in the prestigious Bar Freedom club in Soho.

Gemma says creating an alter-ego helped her overcome insecurities, and she is now known by many as her stage name, Miss Carmen Aurora, “The Sing and Fling Showgirl from The South East of England”.

She's now renowned internationally, and has continued to perform during the pandemic as the Headlining Act at her monthly Resident Virtual Shows, The After Dark Cabaret & Burlesque.

Gemma says she had to initially battle anxieties at the mere thought of taking her clothes off on stage in front of an audience, she says her persona allowed to overcome stage fright jitters, and is now more confident than ever being a "shapely plus size".

"At the start of my career in this industry, it was very hard," said Gemma. "I would always be a little frightened before I went out on stage.

"However, as time has gone on, I have become much more confident, due to the creation of my character, it has become much less scary."

"Behind all of the elaborately glamorous costumes and skimpy ensembles, I haven’t always been this confident. I believe every person has their own body hang-ups. These days we are told to fit into and conform to a certain ‘criteria’ I believe every ‘body’ is a beautiful one."

And she says the confidence instilled by burlesque dancing has allowed her to 'take ownership' of her body and "put the mental demons to bed".

She added: "With four years of successful performing and a break out in Europe, I have kind of let go of the character, my insecurities and embraced who I am as a beautiful curvy woman. I guess I could say Burlesque has come very naturally to me - it's not for everybody, you have to be relatively fit at lugging all of your expensive costumes around from venue to venue and the industry can be fierce, but with the right attitude you can go far."

Fans can watch Miss Carmen Aurora at The After Dark Cabaret & Burlesque for the Brighton Fringe, from June 11-12.

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