The Summer Pleasures of 1818 in Lucca

A Weekend dedicated to dance in 1818 in Lucca, Tuscany. 

On Friday 24th August 2018, from 9pm to 11pm, there will be a run-through of the choreography for the Grand Ball, in Palazzo Tucci in Lucca, in costumes from 1805 to 1818, held by Maestro Donald Francis from L'Atelier de Danse in Florence.

On Saturday 25th August 2018, from 6pm till 1am, there will be a Grand Napoleonic Ball with the theme "Midsummer Nights", in ball costumes from 1805 till 1818 and neoclassic faeries and elves. It will be held in Villa Rossi and its park, with Dance Master, Maestro Donald Francis and Orchestra Conductor, Maestro Valentino Zangara. There will be rides in a tethered Mongolfier Hot-Air Balloon on the lawn in front of the Villa, a fully staged performance of Mozart's Bastiano and Bastiana and a Napoleonic Buffet Froid all evening. The Villa will be lit only by real candles and there will be a full moon.

On Sunday 26th August there will be another Ball in the Royal Casino in Bagni di Lucca with the same Dance Master and Conductor. The costumes are 1805 to 1818 and the Ball is dedicated to the bicentenary of Percy Bysshe Shelley and his wife Mary staying in Bagni for the summer. Mary had just published "Frankenstein" and Percy decided to translate Plato's "Symposium", a discourse on Love and Eros.