Matthew

Bourne

Lilly Reeves, Jess Reeve, Constance Power

A bit About Matthew Bourne

He was born in Walthamstow, East London in 1960
In 1982 he enrolled on the BA Dance Theatre degree at Laban Centre,

studying in Ballet and Contemporary Dance

During his final year in 1986 he danced with Labans Transitions Dance

Company where he went on tour with them

After graduation in 1987 he became artistic director for his first dance

company Adventures In Motion Pictures

In 2002 Bourne formed his latest company, New Adventures
New Adventures became well known for their productions such as Play

Without Words which premiered in 2002 and went on to win best

entertainment and choreography at the Olivier awards that year.
Other popular productions from New Adventures include Swan Lake,

Nutcracker and The Car Man

Matthew Bournes Swan Lake

Matthew Bourne is known for his updated interpretations of

traditional ballets
Matthew Bournes Swan Lake is a contemporary based ballet
First staged at Sadlers Wells Theatre London 5th November 1995
The Ballet is known for replacing its female swans with a male

chorus
Instead of pretty tutus and romance its masculine and menacing

with its male ensemble

Movements often used inverted bent knees, relaxed wrists, hyper

extended backs and chests, arms pushed back to act as wings

Original Tchaikovsky music used

Swan Lake
Storyline

An evil sorcerer (Rothbart)

has turned a group of girls
into swans and their
parents tears have
formed a lake (this is Swan
Lake)

Swan Lake
Storyline

A prince (who has just turned 21

and has to be married soon) finds
the lake, learns about the spell
from the Swan Queen (Odette)
and tries to break the spell (the
spell can only be broken if a man
vows his undying love to her).

Swan Lake
Storyline

The sorcerer tries to stop

him and trick him. They
battle. In the end the
prince vows his love to
the Swan Queen (Odette)
and he breaks the curse.

Matthew Bournes Revival

Matthews rival has a similar

storyline and goes along
the same pathway as the
original swan lake does

Matthew Bournes Revival

However it has replaced

the female corps de
ballet (group ensemble)
with an all male cast.

Matthew Bournes Revival

casting a male dancer as the role of
Odette (Swan Queen) was decided
because a male swan has a lot
strength and an enormous wingspan
which suggests the muscular body of
a male dancer more so than a
ballerina in her white tutu

Has The costuming changed?

The costuming has changed significantly

To start...
The cast is male
So tutus and pretty pointe shoes are not worn
Instead, feather knee length pants are worn with a black

beak painted onto the forehead, the chest is bare to

exaggerate the muscle definition and make them seem
more bird like with theyre huge arms which are seen as
wings.

Original
Costuming...

Matthews
Costuming...

The Dance Style

The dance style in Matthews Swan lake is

very contemporary based with the extract of

classical ballet. He has included a lot of
inverted knees and hyper extended backs and
arms to show the long wings and neck of a
swan.
Where as in the original ballet, the swans

movements included a lot of wafting of the

arms up and down to show the wings flapping
and the more graceful side.

The Cygnets Dance

The cygnets dance in swan lake (dance of the
little swans) is danced by 4 dancers. The
dance is shown in act 2 of the ballet just after
the swan queens solos and is done to show
the maturity between baby swans and big
swans.
Matthews version of the cygnet dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_EOiXgVGh
s
Original version of the cygnet dance

Dance History Presentation

Referencing
A bit about Matthew Bourne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Bourne

Matthew Bournes Swan Lake

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Bourne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Lake_(Bourne)

Matthew Bournes Revival

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Lake_(Bourne)