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6. THE ROLE OF THE CHOREOGRAPHERBourne has had an extensive and variedcareer as a choreographer working indance, theatre and film. The focus of thissection is to outline the varied projects hehas been involved with and primarily tooutline his choreographic characteristics,his influences and movement style, sothat students can draw connections withBourne’s generic qualities and the specificstyle of Swan Lake.Matthew BourneDirector/ChoreographerBourne is widely hailedas the UK’s mostpopular and successfulChoreographer/Director.He is the creator of theworld’s longest runningballet production, afive-time Olivier Awardwinner, and the onlyBritish director to have won the Tony Award for both BestChoreographer and Best Director of a Musical.Bourne started training to be a dancer at the comparativelylate age of 22. He studied Dance Theatre andChoreography at The Laban Centre graduating in 1985but spending a further year with the college’s performancecompany Transitions. Matthew danced professionally for 14years creating many roles in his own work. In 1999 he gavehis final performance playing The Private Secretary in theBroadway production of Swan Lake.Bourne was the Artistic Director of his first company,Adventures in Motion Pictures (AMP), from 1987 until2002. During those 15 years AMP became the UK’smost innovative and popular dance/theatre companycreating an enormous new audience for dance with itsgroundbreaking work both at home and internationally.Works created for AMP include Overlap Lovers,Spitfire, Buck and Wing, The Infernal Galop, Townand Country (Olivier nomination), Deadly Serious, ThePercys of Fitzrovia, Nutcracker! (Olivier nomination),Highland Fling, Swan Lake (numerous internationalawards including two Tonys, Drama Desk, OuterCritics’ Circle, Astaire Award, Olivier Award, SouthBank Show Award, Time Out Award, LA Critics’ Circle,MEN Award, Dramalogue Award), Cinderella (OlivierAward, LA Critics Award) and The Car Man (EveningStandard Theatre Award, Manchester Evening NewsAward, Olivier nomination). Bourne and AMP enjoyeda long relationship with audiences in Los Angeles andin particular the Ahmanson Theatre which housed theinternational première of Swan Lake in 1997. AMP’sproductions have also played throughout the world,including seasons in New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong,Moscow and throughout Europe, Australia and the USA.In 2002 Bourne, along with Co-Director Robert Noble,launched his current company, New Adventures,with two highly successful productions. Play WithoutWords premiered as part of the National Theatre’sTransformation Season and went on to win BestEntertainment at that year’s Olivier Awards. It thenembarked on a world tour and premiered in NewYork, Los Angeles and Moscow in 2005. Bourne’s newproduction of Nutcracker! also premiered at Sadler’sWells in 2002 and became an instant popular hit withaudiences and critics, returning the following year fora second sell-out season. It became the first ballet tobe screened by BBC1 in over 20 years and then alsoembarked on a world tour. In 2012 it celebrated its 20thBirthday with its longest ever UK Tour.Next came New Adventures’ acclaimed revival of one ofBourne’s most popular works, the “romantic wee ballet”Highland Fling at Sadler’s Wells and on tour throughoutthe UK and Japan.A new production was added to the repertory ofthe company in 2005 with the creation of EdwardScissorhands, based on Tim Burton’s classic movie. Thisplayed for 11 weeks at Sadler’s Wells prior to a UK tourwhich was followed by a visit to the Far East and a longtour of the United States in 2006/7 during which it won theDrama Desk Award for “Best Entertainment”. In 2008 it wasthe first dance production by a British Company to play theSydney Opera House for a sell-out three week season.MATTHEW BOURNE’S SWAN LAKE RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS 20