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Matthew Bourne is a choreographer.
Bourne as a dancer
Matthew was born on 13 January 1960 in London. At the age of five or six he staged his first production. In 1982 he enrolled at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance, where he was awarded a BA. For the next year he danced with the Laban Centre's Transitions Dance Company. As a founder member of Lea Anderson's Featherstonehaughs he created many roles within the company. Outside the field of dance he has made dances for actors including Sir Nigel Hawthorne, Dawn French and Jonathan Pryce (Oliver! in 1994). His final performance as a dancer was in January 1999 on Broadway. Since then he has been a director/choreographer.
Bourne as a choreographer
Bourne's first professional stage production was Overlap Lovers. An Intrigue in Three Parts in 1987. Apart from a gap in 1993 he has choreographed musicals and ballets every year. His work was featured in the film Billy Elliot in 2000, showing the older Billy (played by Adam Cooper) starring in Bourne's production of Swan Lake. As a result, the Swan Lake sequence has probably been seen by more people than anything else he has done.
His first major brush with controversy was Swan Lake in 1995, where the story was entirely re-written and the role of the swans taken by men. The music by Tchaikovsky remained intact. This has been revived every year since then, but he no longer directs it. It is not a gay ballet, but there is a homoerotic undercurrent. Teenagers who would otherwise have resented being taken to an annual visit to a ballet became enthusiastic, writing about it in school magazines. Some critics have reviewed the show harshly, saying the traditional plot has become absurd and that many scenes seem to lack motivation. Others have praised it heavily, including comments such as: "See it or live to regret it." (The London Independent) and "Matthew Bourne's 'Swan Lake' is a fabulous entertainment, a riveting work of psychological and sexual intrigue, a choreographic triumph and a brilliant restaging of a ballet classic." (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) Similar criticism (and praise) greeted Nutcracker! in 2002.
The Car Man (a version of Carmen) was produced in 2000 and toured in 2001 and 2002. He produced Play Without Words in 2002 and 2003. In 2004 he was awarded an OBE and in February 2005 won an Olivier Award for his choreography in the stage production of Mary Poppins. He revamped his 1994 production of Highland Fling for a UK and Asian tour in 2005. His latest work is a ballet adaption of Edward Scissorhands which is currently completing its first world tour.
His book Matthew Bourne and His Adventures in Motion Pictures appeared in 2004.
External links
- Matthew Bourne and New Adventures information site
- BBC profile of Matthew Bourne
- BBC interview with Matthew Bourne
Choreographers | 1960 births | Living people | Officers of the Order of the British Empire
"Matthew Bourne"