The Compagnia Nazionale di Danza Storica has always endeavored to make the different art forms such as Ballet, the Opera, and Dance interact with one other. To do so, it has staged productions starring its own Corps de Ballet and organized Grand Balls for enthusiasts of the genre. Every dance in the program has been choreographed according to the Handbooks of the great Masters from times past, alternating with arias from the most acclaimed melodramas sung by great tenors and sopranos.

It is a format that goes back to the beginning of the 16th century. Its roots can be found in melodrama, musical “interludes” played between the acts of a play or of a “pastoral drama” (or tragicomedy), during which some characters take part in the dramatic action by singing and playing instruments.

The project known as the COMPAGNIA NAZIONALE DI DANZA STORICA MEETS GREAT OPERA is meant to take the relationship between Dance and Opera to the next
level. Dance and Melodrama are both the protagonists and share the same stage and set decoration. Dances are performed before the Opera, at the close of the Opera and, in some cases, between the acts according to the rules of an entr'acte.

Dance essentially reclaims what used to be its rightful place at the time of court balls, when Italian aristocrats elevated it to an art form as celebrated as a fresco or a Renaissance architectural masterpiece. They wanted only the best for their balls as well as for anything else: Ludovico the Moor, ruler of Milan, had the costumes for his balls designed by no less a personage than Leonardo da Vinci, who also designed stage machines. Lorenzo the Magnificent turned to Brunelleschi for Florence’s famous trionfi, or triumphs, that paraded across the city during Carnival and whose allegorical chariots were inspired by Classical Roman themes. At a later time during Mannerism, Monteverdi composed music for the Gonzaga court.

It is indisputable that Dance was then perceived as a highly prestigious social and cultural event. The COMPAGNIA NAZIONALE DI DANZA STORICA MEETS GREAT OPERA project is designed to help Dance regain a central role again in today’s society. Thanks to this project, the CNDS has already taken major steps forward towards that goal:

• August 2018: LA TRAVIATA AND THE GRAND BALL OF THE 19 TH CENTURY (created by Nino Graziano Luca and Barbara Minghetti) was staged at the Sferisterio Theater in Macerata against the backdrop of Josef Svoboda’s famous mirrors as part of the Official Playbill of the Macerata Opera Festival 2018. The Ball was performed at the close of LA TRAVIATA directed by HENNING BROCKHAUS.
• August 2019: LA BOHÈME AND THE GRAND BALL OF THE 19 TH CENTURY (created by Nino Graziano Luca and Franco Moretti) was featured in the 65th Puccini Festival at the Gran Teatro Puccini in Torre del Lago. The dance preceded LA BOHÈME directed by Alfonso Signorini with ANGELA GHEORGHIU.
• July 2020: MANON LESCAUT AND THE GRAND BALL OF THE 19 TH CENTURY (created by Nino Graziano Luca and Franco Moretti). It will be performed at the Gran Teatro Puccini in Torre del Lago as part of the Official Playbill of the 66th Puccini Festival. It will precede MADAMA BUTTERFLY directed by Manu Lalli and with SHOKO OKADA.

Any performance of the COMPAGNIA NAZIONALE DI DANZA STORICA MEETS GREAT OPERA show features eight to sixteen professional dancers of its corps de ballet-depending on the size of the stage - and also 20 to 100 extras cast as ‘Aristocrats’ dancing on stage and wearing historical costumes. The soundtrack is pre-recorded.

The show pays homage to GREAT OPERA, OPERETTA, DANCE and CINEMA.