Starting from a description of how an historically informed perspective of dance and musical theatre first originated in my artistic development as a dancer, actress and subsequently choreographer and stage director, in this talk I try to define my practical methodology and approach to the historically informed staging of early opera works. Furthermore, I describe how this approach was received, approved or criticised within the frame of actual opera productions in various theatres and festivals, and the challenges in working with contemporary artistic directors and performers, showing photographs from different opera productions.