We're chair burlesque dancers and had a midnight burlesque-athon in our pyjamas

These were the scenes as dancers from all over Lancashire came together for an all-night 'burlesque-athon' - in their pyjamas!

Around 30 chair burlesque dancers gathered in the Freckleton Memorial Hall for six hours of non-stop dancing, between 10pm and 4am on Saturday night - and say the ‘sexy’ exercise class makes them feel ‘empowered’.

Burlesque Chair Dance (BCD) groups from Blackpool, Freckleton, Poulton, Thornton Cleveley's, Preston, Leyland and Chorley all took part - and danced in their night-wear, which seemed fitting for the all-night fitness class.

Jan Bradley, from Cleveleys, said: “It's night time, so we wanted to make it fun. Obviously we should be sleeping at this point, so [pyjamas] was a really good theme. I would imagine we're not going to get in till gone five, so yeah I think it will be go to bed and just recover and actually just let our legs sort of ache, because they will ache tomorrow after all this hard work.”

Chris Auger, 50, who takes adult ballet classes as well as burlesque, said: “There isn't anyone in the UK who hasn't been affected and needs support from Mind UK at some point, and it's an amazingly fun way to raise money, so I can lose a night's sleep to raise some money. It's such an empowering activity, especially for females, it's about building body confidence. I just really enjoy dancing with the girls.”

Donna Haughan, a chair-burlesque dance instructor describes it as a ‘sexy, ladies-only workout’ which is all about having fun, getting fit, and building confidence. The event took place on Saturday, March 15, and raised over £8,000 for mental health charity Mind.

To find a class near you visit https://www.burlesquechairdance.uk/

Watch the video above.