Christina Aguilera dazzled the audience with an array of costumes and hits alongside a plethora of backup dancers. (Blair Gable, Sun Media)

OTTAWA - Christina Aguilera does not play small: Not in her vocal gyrations, not in the way she has radically transformed her public image several times over, and not in her latest arena tour, as 7,400 ecstatic and decidedly young fans who turned out to Scotiabank Place found out last night.

The 27-year-old bottle blonde teased the crowd with a bunch of suggestive peek-a-boo screen images before she was rolled out on stage atop a staircase, clad in a white suit and fedora, motionless and posed until she burst into her over-the-top Grammy-winning hit Ain't No Other Man, flanked by eight backup dancers.

Aguilera did some impressive hip-shaking herself before doffing the hat and letting her curls down for the rest of the show, during which she mostly seemed to be having the time of her life.

Voice in top form, elaborate staging -- think 20 musicians and dancers, confetti, fire-jugglers, trapeze artists, fireworks and 10 costume changes for the main attraction -- Aguilera helmed a spectacle befitting a diva such as herself.

The singer drew heavily from her Back to Basics album of last year, evoking a bygone era of glamour and soul as she belted out new hits like Candyman and raunchy burlesque numbers like Nasty, Naughty Boy -- with a local volunteer DJ finding himself hauled up on stage and strapped down at the mercy of a whip-brandishing Aguilera.

Camera flashes popped endlessly as Aguilera, clad at one point in a white dress with a long, flowing skirt, crooned her sultry ballad Understand, later taking to a stool to evoke Oh Mother, a homage to her mom, who pulled the singer and her sister out of their abusive home when they were little.

"I want guys to relax I want you guys to use your imagination," Aguilera told the crowd. "I want you to use tonight as an escape from everything that's been going on in the day."

Aguilera reworked old songs, like the pop hit Come on Over Baby (All I Want is You), from her 1999 self-titled debut, into a snazzy jazz tune. She tarted it up with stripper poles and a bustier for Dirrty from 2002's Stripped and donned a feather boa scaling the octaves for big ballads like Hurt.

It was a lush, just about over-the-top show topping out at just over a tightly-choreographed 90 minutes, with her be-yourself anthem Beautiful and empowerment mantra Fighter closing out the show.

Opening act The Pussycat Dolls, who began 10 years ago as a Los Angeles-based burlesque show -- one that Aguilera herself performed with -- have clearly managed to corner the market on the under-12 set.

Who knew burlesque was for kids?

The flesh-baring, ass-shaking sextet, who have sold six million copies of their 2005 debut album PCD, had Ottawa's littlest girls squealing and clapping along.

The crowd clearly ate up the Dolls' brand of agile eye candy and pop-lite tunes like Don't Cha (as in 'don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?'), Stickwitu and I Don't Need A Man.

All the breast-clutching, pelvic-thrusting and garter belts aside -- not to mention a baffling, hooched-up message of female empowerment aimed at an adoring primary school set -- the Dolls are six wicked dancers, led by powerhouse lead singer Nicole Sherzinger, who put on a tightly-choreographed, fan-friendly performance.