I go to a lot of ballet; it’s what I first loved about dance, even before contemporary dance. I like to just watch things! You don’t put synopses in your own programmes at all. I saw her years ago when I was a kid and she’s an amazing stage actress. His daring male-swan reimagining wowed… Matthew has received many awards and honours throughout his career. I might not have said that a few years ago, but yes, I think there is now. No, I don’t think they were more realistic than the classical version. Following his dancing career, Joaquin decided to dedícate himself fully to choreography, and made his debut with the piece ¨Poeta¨ at the Miss Spain Gala in 1999. Tom Clark (Carabosse) in Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty (© Johan Persson) This will be Bourne's 14th Christmas season in a row at Sadler's Wells. I always go back to that book to see what sort of story I’m telling – what have I missed out, what’s the beat I’ve missed out in the story? HANNA WEIBYE: It must be exciting for you that The Car Man (pictured below right) is going to multiplexes as well as arthouse cinemas. Yes, that might come. And the dancers are happy to do it. It’s the favourite of the company to perform, actually, because it’s closer to them as people. Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday! As well as the works of his own company, Matthew has worked on many other projects. Extinction 8. Lots of them message me all the time, I’m constantly giving advice – they’re asking me what kind of college they should go to. That grounding in that sort of entertainment was very important to me. I’m very into that: simple storytelling, communication. Bourne, who was knighted in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to dance, does far more than reinvent well known ballets and operas, of course. It’s confirmed we’re going to do it in Australia next year, which is brilliant! I always go to Pina Bausch. He produced Nutcracker! Matthew danced professionally for 14 years creating many roles in his … It’s been an interesting year for that. It is necessary to note that the present piece is a modern version of the classical ballet. He will be lovingly remembered by his grandchildren Julia, Matthew, Gregory, Jordyn, Grace and Jack. Matthew Bourne: his birthday, what he did before fame, his family life, fun trivia facts, popularity rankings, and more. Any thing that’s a bit supernatural or otherwordly like Dream or The Tempest would be good. ★ ★ ★ ★ Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes is at The Lowry, Salford Quays from 26-30 November 2019. The award culminated in a sold out performance at Sadler’s Wells, London, where his work was critically acclaimed as ‘outstanding’, ‘visually breath-taking’ and ‘spellbindingly beautiful’. Matthew Bourne turned his magic to the much-loved ballet and his bright and brilliant interruption was an instant hit. Car Man was a reaction to some of that, to try and make dance theatre more realistic. My background in entertainment started long before I knew anything about dance. 25 That night, when everyone was asleep, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat and then left. It’s very strict and over the years that discipline has grown and grown – mainly brought in by Etta Murfitt (Associate Director of New Adventures), who’s very strong on all that stuff. Directed by Ross MacGibbon, Matthew Bourne. Isotach 2. It would never happen nowadays in ballet! Choreography / … In August 2011, James was announced as the first winner of the inaugural New Adventures Choreographer Award, receiving in excess of £15,000 to create his own showcase, as well as being mentored by Matthew Bourne. Mathew Bourne used the music of Tchaikovsky but he reordered most of the same music as the original but decided to discarded some, he also used a live orchestra. He has received multiple awards … 1 INTRODUCTION In the twenty first century, over a hundred years after its conception, it is difficult to find a ballet company that has not performed Swan Lake. I’ve always tried to push dance on film myself, although you can feel movie people blank over a little bit when you say there’s no words and no songs, they can’t quite imagine it. It makes it more dramatic if there’s blood. Candela (for Sascha Heeney) 9. His works included Spitfire and The Infernal Galop during the 1980s and Town and Country and Deadly Serious in the early 1990s. And is that important for the storytelling? He has received multiple awards and award nominations, including the Laurence Olivier Award, Tony Award and Drama Desk Award, and he has also received several Honorary Doctorates of Arts from UK universities. Duncan 6. New Adventures was launched in 2002 with co-director Robert Noble. And lots of them are in training. I sometimes forget to mention the people who have disappeared off the scene. That has been a great project. His work in dance only happened by chance, as someone recommended him to Matthew Bourne when Bourne was looking for someone to create the score for his 2000 ballet The Car Man. The same with Angelo, who starts off as the weaker character and becomes the stronger. As a story, I found it curious because there doesn’t seem to be an obvious motive force for what goes on it; the whole, violent spiral seems to kick off just for the slightest of reasons. If we can get our space eventually, I think we’d like to set up our own youth company. Yes, I like the freedom. Companies seem to want plum titles – Cinderella, that sort of thing. I’m a bit bored with Shakespeare at the moment, I feel there’s too much. I’m happy that The Caretaker’s coming back and I saw The Homecoming – I’m a big Pinter fan. And Zizi Strallen (pictured above left), who plays Lana in The Car Man, has a musical theatre background – and she’s just won Outstanding Female Performance at the National Dance Awards for Car Man, which is quite amazing, for someone with a musical theatre background to win that. Obviously you weren’t around then, but were you inspired by that sort of entertainment culture? Acutal swans cannot stand in arabesque or manage groupings as they do in either version. A lot of people thought it was a bit Mills and Boon, but I thought it was a good way of winning people over, very cleverly done, and beautifully done. Matthew makes about 20 specific references to Old Testament prophecy in relationship to Jesus. If there’s going to be a shot, there’s going to be blood. Matthew Bourne, English choreographer, during the rehearsals for the 'The Car Man' (Micha Theiner) (Micha Theiner) Three Mills Studios, tucked away behind the A12 in Bromley-by-Bow, is a … Isopleth 4. He was supported by extended family and numerous friends. The showcase performance was held at Sadler’s Wells on 7th September 2012 in front of a sold out audience. The ones that have happened are the big Tchaikovskys and the ones with the titles. Choreographers are not generally household names, but Matthew Bourne must come close. Choreographers are not generally household names, but Matthew Bourne must come close. Would you say your performers have a house style, a New Adventures style? Collecting over 30 international theatre awards including three Tonys, SWAN LAKE has been acclaimed as a landmark achievement on the international stage. It’s incredibly dated, but it still really got me. Matthew Bourne's contemporary remake of The Nutcracker is returning to Sadler's Wells Theatre to celebrate its 20th anniversary. I also never miss EastEnders or Strictly, ever! Valentine 5. 27 Then the man’s servants came to him and said, ‘You planted good seed in your field. Matthew Bourne’s “Sleeping Beauty” is the last of his trilogy of Tchaikovsky ballets, which took nearly two decades to complete. I used to see it a lot when I first started to enjoy dance at the Opera House; I saw lots of casts, have lots of memories. At the same time as releasing the recording of one of Sir Matthew Bourne’s latest ventures, Romeo + Juliet, his team has also taken the opportunity to release what many will regard as the choreographer’s magnum opus, Swan Lake. Beauty Awakens: Matthew Bourne’s multi-layered revision of a classic Astrid Bernkopf, Middlesex University Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty draws on a variety of intertextual references to create a dark re-reading of the fairy tale and ballet. New Adventures works extremely hard, harder than any other company. It is very dramatic and intense. He left school and went to work at the BBC as a filing clerk then later selling tickets at Keith Prowse Theatre Agents. The kind of pitch you want for your shows – between popular and highbrow – makes me think of the 1930s and '40s British culture scene, when “high” culture outfits would tour and perform in music halls, and going to the ballet, for example, was mass entertainment. I can’t tell them that but everyone knows it already, so I can use it in the story. The point she made, which I really appreciated, was that the choreographers she listed (of whom I was one) are people who are trying to bring the heart to stories, trying to make us feel something, and I think that’s interesting. The piece begins in 1890 and heads through the golden age of the Edwardian era on for another 100 years. But he also seems to be making some implicit references as well. makes Ten years on, Matthew Bourne's 'Nutcracker' (now called 'Nutcracker!') There are too many Hamlets around – although, contradicting myself, I am absolutely thrilled that Glenda Jackson is going to be playing King Lear. Having done Play Without Words on stage I did pitch to do a Film Without Words after that; I would have loved to develop it, but nobody wanted to so it never came about. In Sleeping Beauty, for example, people know that true love’s kiss wakes her up. Matthew Bourne, in full Sir Matthew Bourne, (born January 13, 1960, Hackney, London, England), British choreographer and dancer noted for his uniquely updated interpretations of traditional ballet repertoire. by Matthew Bourne Thursday, 22 March 2018. I watched War and Peace. Matthew also works to support the wider dance industry and to help boost its future. Matthew Bourne, creator I had daydreamed through many performances of Swan Lake , thinking the dancing tutus only ever conveyed one aspect of swans: their beauty gliding on water. He has also worked on TV productions of his stage shows including Swan Lake which was a 1996 Emmy nomination and Sleeping Beauty that was broadcast on the BBC in Christmas 2013. Both of those genres are about giving, the whole style is about performing out all the time. I enjoy watching things like that, partly because I think “Oh, I could never do that.” You admire things that aren’t your strong point, whereas it’s harder for me to watch a story piece. I loved theatre and movies and that’s what I knew of entertainment. The sort of plots I like working with are really simple plots and fairy tales that everyone has a little bit of knowledge of, so you can then play with that knowledge. Special bond: Adam Cooper and Scott Ambler as Swan and Prince in Bourne's Swan Lake. They surprise themselves – for instance, Lana, the main female character, hadn’t realised how much she wants to get out of this place. Four of Matthew Bourne’s amazing ballets are now available to stream. Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake is a contemporary ballet based on the Russian romantic work Swan Lake, from which it takes the music by Tchaikovsky and the broad outline of the plot. 10 Questions for Choreographer Matthew Bourne |, Dancemakers can be afraid of the obvious sometimes, 3D Dance looks Skywards with Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, Matthew Bourne's The Car Man, Sadler's Wells, Lord of the Flies, Matthew Bourne's New Adventures, Sadler's Wells, Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, Sadler's Wells - vivid, enchanting, Cinderella, Sadler's Wells review - Matthew Bourne puts Cinderella through the Blitz, The Royal Ballet - variations on a comeback, The Seven Deadly Sins, Opera North online review - viscerally thrilling, The Royal Ballet: Live, Within the Golden Hour review - stunning, joyous dance, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Sadler's Wells review - onward and upward, The Royal Ballet: Back on Stage review - fireworks in the Garden, Michael Clark: Cosmic Dancer, Barbican Art Gallery review - mould-breaker, ground-shaker, theartsdesk in Hamburg: Ghost Light - a ballet in the time of corona, 'She was Paris': RIP Zizi Jeanmaire (1924-2020), Dancing at Dusk: A Moment with Pina Bausch’s 'The Rite of Spring' review - an explosive African rite, 'If they had been any closer my face would have misted up': filming 'Men at the Barre'. We get most of our performers now from either ballet or musical theatre, very few from contemporary. But luckily for Korean audiences, the LG Arts Center will present the "Matthew Bourne Collection" on Naver TV every Friday and Saturday throughout March. Does it say Sir Matthew Bourne now on the door of his office-cum-dressing room at Sadler’s Wells, I wonder? Matthew is genuinely a nice chap with a real sense of composure and a likeability factor that is reflected in his attitude to his dancers, he views them all as family. These include choreography for classic musicals such as Cameron Mackintosh’s Oliver! Matthew Bourne has an incredible talent for turning an age old and traditional story, such as Swan Lake, and thrusting it beak first into the 21st century. I did the same with Strapless (pictured right): I just waited to see if the piece could tell me the story. His company is one of the UK's busiest and most successful dance troupes.All of this might give Bourne grounds for complacency, if not arrogance, but the affable London native shows no signs of either when we meet at Sadler’s Wells for a chat about storytelling, Shakespeare, and dance on the big screen. Bond: Adam Cooper and Scott Ambler as Swan and Prince in Bourne 's rendering is known! Ago, but Matthew Bourne ; an interview with choreographer Matthew Bourne ’ s we. Is necessary to note that the present piece is a modern interpretation of … of! A kid and she ’ s Dream is appealing, lots of characters... Infernal Galop during the 1980s and Town and Country and has exported British dance around the globe have that... For over 30 years creating musicals, opera, films and theatre: they took me to see plays! Would be good been acclaimed as a filing clerk then later selling at... He then went on to dance, old school, like watching a Victorian actress on,. 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