When Bizet met burlesque: My night at the kink opera

Like many of the best things, word of Operotica spread through flushed whisperings and enthusiastic recommendations. After overhearing murmurs here and there, the noise reached a point where everyone I was meeting in East London’s kink scene—the pro-domme; the latex-pilled submissive; the erotic party planner—was saying the same thing: “you have to go see this.” 

At first, I couldn’t quite grasp what I was being told: that in each performance I could expect two queer, kinky opera singers taking their clothes off while belting out Bizet. That the performers are equally likely to brandish roses or strap-ons, and that the standard stage attire is rubber corsets emblazoned with crucifixes. (For their part, Operotica describe their work as “fetish performance through the medium of opera and burlesque”).

When I eventually see the duo in question, it is at a social for the femme-centered erotic party One Night, organised by the fabulous Miss Gold. Operotica’s slot is placed on a bill alongside a cake sitting performance for the ages, and a communal game of spanking spin the bottle. But even an audience bred on spanking and spit play aren’t prepared for the kinky shenanigans about to unfold. 

The entertainers start the performance in tailoring but once they begin to sing, it’s clear their approach is less buttoned-up, more commedia dell’arte. To enthusiastic whoops, they slowly strip off their suits to reveal sex club-ready garb underneath, with each line of their performance dripping in innuendo as they seduce and spank one another on stage—using each other as human furniture and giving the evening’s host, Miss Gold, an impromptu lap dance. Suddenly, we are all converted to the art form—a result of the simple magic of, as the duo’s “themme fatale” Dani explains, seeing “gay shit in opera.”

Blood pour and ball gags

So, how did this delightfully unexpected duo meet? The act, consisting of aforementioned themme fatale Dani Croston and femme fatale Amber Reeves, first crossed paths during an opera course in Italy—with Amber as a teacher, Dani as a student. As Dani tells it, it was a case of friendship at first sight, the recognition that they had each found in the other a kindred spirit in the usually traditional opera world. 

“I saw Amber from afar and then somebody was like, ‘Do you know this girl? You should, she’s kind of alternative, like you are.’ Then I looked her up on Instagram and was like, ‘Woah, she does drag!’,” they explain. On the final night of the course, during a party mixing staff and students, Dani decided to make their approach. “I’d had about a bottle of prosecco at that point, real Dutch courage, so I went up to Amber and was like, ‘Are you gay and [do you] live in East London?’” Amber’s response was swift: “How did you know?!”

Soon after, Amber and Dani met up on home soil in London and became fast friends. Marketed as ‘alternative’ singers within the world of opera, and nourished by their own experiences in the queer and kink scenes, they quickly began to ideate the bones of what would become Operotica. “We actually have no idea, really, how it started,” admits Amber. “But before we knew it we were talking about what our performances would be—like, ‘Then you would be a chair…’” 

Thankfully, Dani has some documentation of their initial brainstorming. “I have the original notes on my iPad, they’re fucking ridiculous,” they laugh. Drilling off these early outlines, they provide a glimpse into the sense of play which would shape what Operotica would become. “We sing while performing a specific kink. List of kinks: shibari, wax play, impact play, human furniture, blood pour, ball gags…,” they read from the notes, unable to keep a straight face.

Subversive self-representation

Since those initial sessions—and accompanying hilarity—just a year and a half ago, the performance partners have continued to push and develop their act in typically eclectic fashion, working out a style of performance which can be as intimate as it is bawdy. “Me and Amber have had to get to know each other, navigate a friendship, and then also build a business together, all within a short period of time, because we met in August 2024,” Dani recalls. 

While undertaking their friendship crash course, the duo have cropped up everywhere on the alternative queer and kink scene: from the black-tie dyke party Dapper, to legendary sex party Torture Garden. Equally, they’ve also appeared on London’s cabaret and burlesque circuit, performed in front of the capital’s goth population at cult alternative party Antichrist, and even appeared in latex nuns’ habits for their self-produced, kinky music video for the 13th Century Christian hymn “Stabat Matar.” 

Experienced in the business of iconoclasm, part of Operotica’s appeal is its healthy disregard for the status quo within the gatekept world of classical music—something which initially raised some eyebrows. “As a classical musician, you get so much drilled into your head about exactly who you have to be. It doesn’t happen anymore but, at first, other singers were like, ‘Oh, are you not worried about how this might impact your employment prospects?’. One of my [vocal] coaches thought I might not be taken seriously,” explains Amber. Thankfully, however, these negative repercussions never materialized. “I have not had any backlash on that front. It’s literally never happened,” she explains. 

The response from audiences has been one of delight—particularly from queer spectators unused to seeing themselves represented within current operatic traditions (though both Dani and Amber assure me that upon a not-so-close-reading, one can discover that many operatic texts are queerer than one might assume). After a performance, someone came up to us and said, “I didn't know whether to be turned on, laugh or cry,” recalls Amber. “That summed it up, because typically, we try for all three.” Dani concurs: “And our performances always end up being some variety of funny, because we are sexy clowns.”

Alongside sexuality, humor plays a powerful role in deconstructing the perceived barriers to entry surrounding opera, and opening up the artform to a broader demographic. “Having humor in opera takes the sense of austereness out of it. It can really just make you feel closer to the performance,” Amber adds. “I think even the fact of treating kink with humor also means that people feel like that's more accessible as well.” 

Every aspect of Operotica’s stage craft, as well as their costuming, is an opportunity for self-representation and subversion—plus strong references to the kink scene which has shaped both performers. “It’s great to be able to be able to represent ourselves as we are,” Amber says. “We got new custom jackets commissioned for our performances, and mine has the word ‘daddy’ on the back.” As Dani emphasizes, these aren’t just clothes—but ways for the duo to boldly wear their identities—if not on their sleeves, then on their backs. “These jackets are really important to us. Amber’s is gold and covered in lots of pearly stuff, whereas mine is covered in harder things: metal, chains, political pins. It’s very representative of how we present in the kink scene,” they add.

Ultimately, the act is also a way for Dani and Amber to celebrate their own individuality and bring a level of authenticity to a performance style they love, breathing new life into opera for a new generation. Drawing on the duo’s own experiences of kink, queerness, and gender, they’re able to craft characters which express their authentic identities—rather than feeling like they should conform to traditionalist, cis-normative roles.

As the duo succinctly sum it up, Operotica have carved out a space for themselves that is rarely provided to performers within mainstream institutions. “Opera can feel a bit like expensive karaoke sometimes,” says Amber. “To actually [be] in the driver’s seat… able to represent [ourselves] and creat[e] narratives and ideas that we both feel seen in just feels great.” It’s this unique approach—which values their individual talents, and aims to spread the tradition of opera by any (kinky) means possible—which makes the Operotica formula so seductive. 

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