DRESSED in a sequin gown, gloves and a feather headdress, Helena Hunter looked like a creature from a bygone age.

Cars beeped as the performance artist danced in the freezing cold on Southend seafront this month. "Other passers-by either gave her a bemused look or did their best to ignore her.

Helena put herself through this ordeal for her latest project in which she is exploring the history of Southend showgirls.

She says: “I got a lot of funny looks when I became a Southend showgirl for a night.

One guy on a scooter even stopped and asked what I was doing and whether it was being filmed for You’ve Been Framed!”

Helena’s performance as a showgirl was captured on camera as part of the project.

She says: “I wanted to embody the spectacle of the showgirl. I hired a costume from Leigh and watched some showgirl moves on YouTube ten minutes before I went out.

“The film shows me trying to do the moves and failing, which is a theme in my work. I wanted to show the myth of the beautiful showgirl and the reality behind it.”

Helena is currently artist in residence at Metal as part of the Time and Space Residencies at Chalkwell Hall. She happened upon the idea of the Southend showgirl after spending time in the town.

“I walked around Southend and ended up along the seafront out of season and I was drawn to Adventure Island and the bright lights of the arcades,” she says.

“I happened upon the Kursaal which I did not even know existed and went inside.

“The lady there gave me a tour and told me about the showgirls who lived and worked there.

“I grew up in Scarborough and my grandmother, on my father’s side, was a showgirl in Blackpool, so I have always had a fascination with them.”

Helena wants to unearth the truth behind these mysterious women.

She says: “People usually know about the showgirls in Paris, Las Vegas and New York, but I am interested in the less well-known showgirls in Southend.

“We know there were showgirls working in Southend in the Forties and Fifties and up to Seventies.

They were very popular and a source of entertainment at the time at the Cliffs Pavilion and Palace Theatre.”

How did people feel about these women?

“There is the myth of showgirl as a shimmering creature who embodied female sexuality. However, I can’t generalise about how people would have felt about them at the time,” she says.

“They were interesting women who earned their own money and had financial autonomy. As part of the project I want to speak to people who have stories about Southend showgirls or who maybe had a family member who was one.”

Helena, who is from Yorkshire but now lives in London, will be in Southend throughout February and March.

If you have any information about Southend showgirls, email helena@helenahunter.net.