What happens if you combine an operatic version of the Cardi B song “WAP” with the original, then perform “Habanera,” the famed aria from Bizet’s opera “Carmen,” all back to back? Where might your mind wander if, in the middle of “Je Ne T’aime Pas” from “Marie Galante,” Raheem DeVaughn’s “Anytime,” played? If you’re trembling with suspense, fear not—answers can be found in “Arias of Seduction,” the performance combining opera, burlesque and pole dance created by performer and content creator, Khadija Mbowe.
Officially presented by Operatika, a performance collective founded by Mbowe, “Arias of Seduction” made its world premiere on Sept. 15 in Montreal, Canada, where Mbowe is based. Now, the production—a self-funded project, with its future performances dependent on Kickstarter contributions—is making its United States debut at the VCU Institute for Contemporary Art on Sept. 25, this time as a solo performance that will put Mbowe front and center (their hope is to be able to bring their full cast with them for future performances, once they have the financial backing to compensate performers and pay for necessities like travel and insurance).
Through a combination of vocal and physical feats that Mbowe describes as “Cirque du Soleil meets a night at the strip club, meets a night at the opera,” the show aims to turn the often austere art form of opera on its head (sometimes literally, via an inverted singer on a stripper pole). It explores the theme of desire across different modalities of performance, pairing the beauty and timelessness of beloved arias with a more raw element of physicality. All of the operatic pieces in “Arias of Seduction” performed live center on the themes of desire, seduction, and unrequited love, which serve as a throughline between the recital’s acts…