Lara Gothique | Founder, Producer & Choreographer - The Velvet Burlesque™

Who Is the “Boss Lady”?

Right then, let’s get this glitterball rolling  ...

Hello! I’m Lara Gothique - founder, curator, and producer of The Velvet Burlesque™, professional choreographer, performer, teacher, mentor, and the woman also known on stage as Hells Belle.

I founded the business that became The Velvet Burlesque™ on 1st September 1991, turning a lifelong obsession with dance, music, theatre, performance, and all things flamboyant into a professional career that has now spanned 35 years.

Since then, I’ve worked across dance, burlesque, cabaret, circus, vaudeville, variety, live entertainment, show production, choreography, teaching, mentoring, fitness, and performance - in Sheffield, across the UK, and internationally.

Welcome to the world of the Boss Lady!

Founder of The Velvet Burlesque™ - Est. 1991

As the end of my teenage education years loomed, I knew that I didn't want to be forced into a desk job, or, to quote a family friend: "something more suitable for a young lady".

I had always had this wild idea to take the risk and turn my lifelong love for dance, music, theatre, and all things flamboyant into a full-blown business.

My (very prudish) Sixth-Form Headmaster was horrified that I had plans to be an exotic dancer and showgirl, alongside teaching dance and fitness - he sat me down in his office, told me loudly and repeatedly to get a “proper job”, and snorted that my "little, ill-advised venture'" wouldn’t last the year anyhow, and that my reputation as an already serious and established dancer would be in tatters.

WELL ...

On the 1st of September 1991 - I hit the ground running!

Thirty-five years later, I’m still here.

What began with one determined young woman building an unconventional career became The Velvet Burlesque™ -  an independent, multi-award-winning professional burlesque and cabaret production company, and a dance & fitness provider based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.

Over the decades, my work has encompassed professional performance, choreography, dance tuition, performer development, show production, creative direction, workshops, private and corporate entertainment, mentoring, and the creation of independent live productions.

The Velvet Burlesque™ has also played an active part in the evolution of British burlesque and cabaret through performance, teaching, choreography, mentoring, festivals, showcases, and independent live production.

And yes - I am enormously proud of that.

Read the full story - 🔗 35 Years of The Velvet Burlesque™ | Est. 1991]

I’ve travelled across the world and dazzled countless audiences, taught in schools and higher education premises, prisons, and government offices, produced shows and events for royalty, and made speeches in various imposing conference halls.

I've danced (and taken my clothes off!) in clubs, bars, theatres, music halls, tents in deserts, articulated trucks, marquees, hotels, strip clubs, nightclubs, private venues, bingo halls, barns, ballrooms, basements, back gardens, boudoirs, breweries, bathhouses, boats, boxing rings, bus shelters (seriously!), cabaret dens, catwalks, castles, crypts, circus rings, conference centres, converted warehouses, community halls, discos, dining rooms, dodgy hotel rooms, empty swimming pools, festivals, film sets, function rooms, ferries (seasick-hell!), garages, gentlemen’s clubs, grand staircases, gyms, haunted pubs, hotel lobbies, libraries, live music venues, lounges, museums, open fields, opera houses, old cinemas, penthouses, palaces, rehearsal studios, rooftops, roller rinks, shopping centres, speakeasies, stately homes, tattoo parlours, warehouses, wedding venues, wrestling rings, yachts, and once - a moving float in a parade (don’t ask about the wind and the rain that day!).

I've also helped many thousands of glorious humans to shimmy, slut-drop, grapevine, kickbox, bicep curl, and plank their way to confidence, connection, fitness, shows, stages, and a damn good time!

Lara Gothique - Choreographer, Teacher & Mentor:

Dance Is My Magic!

Dance has been part of my life for as long as I can remember.

Choreography and performance are how I tell stories, communicate ideas, create atmosphere, and turn a piece of music into something people can actually feel.

That experience now feeds directly into my work as a professional choreographer, teacher, and mentor.

Through The Velvet Burlesque™ dance classes and workshops, I teach burlesque, cabaret, heels, performance, choreography, musicality, stagecraft, and movement to adults from complete beginners through to experienced performers.

You do not have to arrive confident.

You do not have to have a dance background.

You certainly do not have to look, move, dress, or perform like anybody else.

My job is to help you develop what you have.

For professional and developing performers, I also offer private tuition, act development, mentoring, and bespoke choreography, helping performers work on everything from movement and musicality to structure, character, stage presence, transitions, performance intention, and the overall presentation of an act.

After 35 years, I’m still fascinated by the process of taking an idea that exists only inside somebody’s head and helping turn it into something that works onstage.

And I still get ridiculously excited when somebody suddenly 'gets' a piece of choreography. That click - that spark - that understanding. Perfection!

Whether you're a total beginner or someone with a back catalogue of jazz hands, you’re welcome. Just bring your sparkle (real or metaphorical), or if you've lost it - I'll help you find it again!

🔗 Burlesque, Heels & Cabaret Dance Classes

🔗 Private Tuition, Act Development, Mentoring & Bespoke Choreography

Producer & Curator of The Velvet Burlesque™

Performing is only one part of my world.

Behind the curtain, I am the Founder, Curator & Producer of The Velvet Burlesque™, creating and producing professional burlesque, cabaret, circus, variety, and live entertainment.

Over the years, that has meant developing concepts, curating casts, booking artists, creating choreography, directing performances, planning shows, placating worried insurance companies that no-one is actually going to set themselves on fire, solving logistical nightmares, wrangling website builds, booking flights, trains and hotels, liaising with venues, Health & Safety Representatives and performers, managing productions, assembling a wonderful show crew, and dealing with approximately seventeen unexpected problems five minutes before the audience walks through the doors.

Show business ...!

The Velvet Burlesque™ has worked with an incredible, ever-changing cast of professional performers and speciality artists from across the UK and internationally, spanning burlesque, cabaret, dance, circus, comedy, magic, drag, sideshow, vaudeville, and variety.

Alongside our own independent productions, I work across private and corporate entertainment, bespoke events, creative direction, entertainment curation, performance coaching, choreography, and show production consultancy.

After more than three and a half decades in live entertainment, I know that what an audience sees onstage is only the final few percent of the actual workload it takes to make it happen.

The real magic is woven from everything chaotic that comes before it.

Come and experience it for yourself.

🔗 The Velvet Burlesque™ Shows & Events

If you’ve got a crazy idea, or want something beautifully bespoke for your event, just ask! I’m always up for creating something new and unforgettable.

🔗 Corporate & Private Entertainment

Meet "Hells Belle" - Burlesque Performer Lara Gothique

When I step onstage, Lara Gothique becomes “Hells Belle” - my formidable Showgirl Glamazon alter ego.

Think old-school showgirl glamour colliding with gothic ferocity, theatricality, elaborate costuming, a commanding stage presence, and some incredibly fast nipple tassels.

Then add a touch of danger ... this bitch bites if you pull her tail.

Subtle she is not.

The name itself is a nod to one of my favourite bands, AC/DC, and their wonderfully thunderous track "Hells Bells". It seemed appropriate.

As Hells Belle, I’ve performed internationally and throughout the UK across an eclectic mixture of stages, productions, clubs, events, and very unusual locations.

My performance history has included classic and neo-burlesque, exotic dance, go-go performance, cabaret, gothic and dark fantasy productions, horror, fetish, historical themes, theatrical events, and some decidedly less conventional adventures involving horses (not that kind of adventure!) and motorbikes. Because, apparently, simply walking onto a stage was never complicated enough.

Hells Belle – Performance Reviews

Over the years, Hells Belle has attracted some wonderfully memorable descriptions:

“An hourglass figure, with the sand in all the right places.” - Mister Meredith

“A Victorian Gothic masterpiece ...” - 21st Century Burlesque

“The fastest tassels in the North!” - Feline Productions

“Her onstage persona is large, vibrant, and confident... there ain’t nothing like a pro.” - Alison J Carr, Artist and PhD Researcher

I’m not particularly interested in disappearing quietly into the scenery. I want performance to make an audience feel something.

Joy. Surprise. Excitement. Amusement. Awe.

Or perhaps just the sudden urge to go home, put on far too much eyeliner, and some fishnet stockings.

That works too.

Awards & Professional Recognition

Thirty-five years of work across performance, teaching, choreography, production, and live entertainment has also brought some rather lovely recognition.

Awards and accolades connected with my work and The Velvet Burlesque™ include:

• Top 5 Best British Burlesque Performer – Hells Belle / Lara Gothique – The Burlesque Awards
• Best British Burlesque Troupe – The Burlesque Awards
• Best Burlesque Dance Tuition Business – Fitness & Nutrition Awards
• Burlesque Dance Tuition Business of the Year – Corporate LiveWire Global Awards
• Adult Entertainment Specialists of the Year – Central England Prestige Awards
• Burlesque Group of the Year – Yorkshire Prestige Awards 2026/27
• Best Pilates Studio in Sheffield – Distinguished Teaching

Awards are lovely - and I am genuinely proud of every one of them - but for me, longevity matters too. I started doing this professionally in 1991.

I’m still creating.

Still producing.

Still choreographing.

Still teaching.

Still mentoring.

Still performing.

Still learning.

And very definitely not finished.

35 Years in Dance, Burlesque, Cabaret & Live Entertainment

Thirty-five years gives you quite a lot of stories.

It also gives you perspective.

I’ve watched dance, entertainment, burlesque, cabaret, fitness, marketing, audiences, technology, and the wider industry change enormously since I started my business.

I started this business in an era of VHS tapes, paper flyers/posters, and word-of-mouth. Now I’m juggling SEO algorithms, livestreams, and sodding Instagram Reels.

If the stage teaches you anything, it’s that you have to adapt - constantly.

Trends shift, tech evolves, clients and audience habits change, and while you don’t need to sell your soul to every new craze, you do need to keep moving whenever the spotlight does.

Throughout all of it, the fundamentals of my work have remained remarkably consistent: creativity, professionalism, individuality, independence, inclusion, and a genuine love of live performance.

The Velvet Burlesque™ has never been about chasing whatever happens to be fashionable this week.

It has evolved because I’ve evolved.

Thirty-five years of doing this professionally means I have made mistakes, learned some very hard lessons, taken ridiculously stressful risks, made money, lost money (did I mention the white hair too ...?!), watched trends, performers and shows arrive and disappear, worked with an extraordinary range of people, and accumulated the sort of practical knowledge you only get by actually doing the job.

Again.

And again.

And again.

That experience now informs everything I do – whether I’m producing a major show, mentoring a performer, choreographing an act, teaching somebody attending their very first dance class, or advising on a professional event.

🔗 35 Years – The Velvet Burlesque™ Est. 1991

Inclusive Dance & Performance Tuition

One thing I have always cared deeply about is making movement accessible.

The Velvet Burlesque™ dance classes and workshops welcome adults of different ages, genders, body types, backgrounds, experience levels, and physical abilities.

I’ve taught complete beginners who arrived absolutely convinced they couldn’t dance, experienced dancers wanting a completely different challenge, performers developing professional skills, people returning to movement after years away, and people who had shut down and lost themselves through trauma - slowly rediscovering their confidence, their bodies, and a little bit of themselves again.

I’ve also worked with people requiring adaptations for disability, mobility, sensory needs, injury, and other individual circumstances.

Nobody needs to arrive looking like a dancer.

Nobody needs to prove they belong.

And nervous newcomers are very welcome.

You might arrive hiding at the back.

Give me time.

I’ll have you taking up space.

Fitness, Yoga, Pilates & Personal Training

My professional work isn't confined to the stage.

I’ve also been a qualified fitness teacher and personal trainer since 1991, with more than three and a half decades of professional teaching experience across exercise, movement, strength, mobility, rehabilitation-focused fitness, Yoga, and Pilates-based training.

I’ve been helping people squat, crunch, bench press, plank, sweat, and swear through workouts since shoulder pads were still a thing.

I don’t just care about how you move. I care about why you move, and how you feel while doing it.

My approach has always been about the individual rather than forcing every body through exactly the same programme.

I work with people across a broad spectrum of ages, abilities, fitness levels, and movement experience, offering adaptations and individual support where appropriate.

My teaching focuses on intelligent, effective movement: building strength, maintaining mobility and flexibility, improving body awareness and posture, and helping people feel more confident in their own bodies.

Because movement should work for your body, not punish it for failing to resemble somebody else’s.

Bodies are wonderfully individual.

They have histories. Injuries. Limitations. Strengths. Wobbly bits. Stubborn bits. Bits that make alarming noises for absolutely no apparent reason.

I’m interested in working with the body you actually have – not some imaginary “perfect” one you think you ought to have.

Move it.

Strengthen it.

Look after it.

And, ideally, have a bloody good laugh while you’re doing it.

(Unless you count those bloody awful Bulgarian Split Squats. Nobody is laughing then.)

🔗 Yoga & Pilates-Based Fitness Classes

Everyone Is Welcome - Always

(Unless you're a “Mean Girl”... definitely no Mean Girls allowed!)

My classes and workshops are open to everyone (aged 18+ for dance) – all genders, ethnicities, body types, backgrounds, abilities, experience levels, and energy levels.

The Velvet Burlesque™ isn’t just about movement. It’s about community, support, laughter, connection, and having somewhere you can walk through the door exactly as you are.

No cliques.

No judgement.

No expectation that you need to look, move, dress, or behave like everybody else.

And yes, we are very good at welcoming nervous newbies.

Come in nervous.

Come in awkward.

Just come in.

We’ll take it from there.

Behind the Boss Lady - Wellies, Animals & Swamp-Witchery

So that's Lara Gothique, the producer, choreographer, teacher, mentor, and performer.

What happens when the lashes come off?

I become a welly-wearing hermit.

Away from show business, I live in a gloriously rural part of North Sheffield with my husband - affectionately known as The Viking - a rather talented landscape gardener, and an ever-changing collection of animals.

There are Great Danes.

Quite a few Great Danes, in fact.

There are cats.
Lots of cats.
Some are pampered house cats, while others are feral rescues that have apparently circulated my address through some sort of underground feline WhatsApp group advertising a 24-hour buffet.

There have also been poultry, goats, horses, reptiles, and enough animal-related chaos over the years to make the whole place resemble a slightly gothic version of Noah’s Ark.

I’m a total nature-lover at heart. Give me the sound of birds and other wildlife over traffic any day. That’s where I find my peace, and where I remind myself that the woman who makes the magic also needs time to recharge - whispering choreography to the trees, while the wind decides if my fringe is coming along for the ride too.

That said, while I may be a rural hermit in my downtime, make no mistake - I rarely sit still!

As my close friends will tell you, I always have at least 37 swirling brain tabs open, usually involving several new pieces of choreography, evolving show concepts, a huge admin to-do list (because self-employment and owning a business = no end to the bloody admin!), and random business ideas I decide to start Googling and planning at 4am when the insomnia inspiration hits.

And, of course, there’s the last-minute online panic shop for a crucial prop replacement needed for this weekend’s event because, naturally, the original one fell apart dramatically at the end of the last show’s pack-down.

Glitter explosion included.

Part Uber-Entrepreneur.

Part Glamazon.

Part Swamp-Witch.

It works.

The Woman Behind the Showgirl

Of course, 35 years of life and business haven't consisted entirely of rhinestones and applause.

Life has occasionally knocked me spectacularly off my feet, and building an independent business across three and a half decades has required far more than costumes, confidence, and a good show face.

What a lot of people don’t see beyond the glitter and the (bloody good) eyebrow is what it has sometimes taken to build this life and business.

I’ve danced through some very (very) dark days, and thankfully still found some light on the other side.

I live with various frustrating and painful chronic health conditions. I’ve faced some terrible personal losses, including six devastating miscarriages. I’ve survived domestic violence, rape, and death threats.

They haunt me.

They shook me.

They shaped me.

But they also made me fiercer, more focused, and even more determined to carve out joy, connection, and meaning wherever I can.

They’re part of why I’m so fiercely independent.

Why I care so much about creating spaces where people can walk through the door exactly as they are.

Why I know that confidence doesn't mean never feeling vulnerable, and strength doesn't mean never getting knocked down.

And why one particular phrase crops up again and again in my teaching: Trust The Process!

When I say it, I mean it.

Progress isn't always linear.

Confidence isn't permanent.

Sometimes you fly.

Sometimes you wobble.

Sometimes life knocks you flat on your arse.

Sometimes you need to stay down there, fester for a while, swear a bit (well, a lot, in my case), then pick yourself up piece by piece and start again.

But you keep moving.

Trust The Process.

Always.

So, Who Is Lara Gothique?

That all depends on the day.

Lara Gothique.

Hells Belle.

Boss Lady.

Founder, Curator & Producer of The Velvet Burlesque™.

Choreographer.

Performer.

Teacher.

Mentor.

Showgirl.

Professional problem-solver.

Swamp-Witch.

Occasionally slightly feral.

Formidable.

I’ve spent 35 years building a career around the things I genuinely love: dance, music, theatre, performance, creativity, teaching, people, and the strange magic that happens when an idea becomes something real.

Self-employment can be a very lonely place.

Behind every show, class, workshop, performance, new idea, difficult decision, success, disaster, and bit of magic, there has ultimately been me - winging it, figuring it out, making it happen, and carrying on.

I’ve worked really bloody hard.

I’ve taken ridiculous risks.

And somewhere along the way, that teenage “little, ill-advised venture” became a life’s work.

The Velvet Burlesque™ - Est. 1991.

Still independent.

Still evolving.

Still creating.

Still here.

And there is plenty more to come.

So that’s me - proud businesswoman, consummate performer, passionate teacher, experienced mentor, professional idiot, and the kind of woman you can ask to milk a goat if you need her to (honestly!).

Come along sometime.

We’ll make some magic together.

L.x.

Boss Lady - Lara Gothique

Founder, Curator, Choreographer, Performer, Swamp-Witch, and Slightly Feral Producer of The Velvet Burlesque™

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