Matthew Bourne Quotes

Author Image

Matthew Bourne

Profession : Dancer

Birth : January 13, 1960

My company is known for being funny as well as moving. You get a bit of everything in these shows. I think people know they're going to have a surprising experience.

Matthew Bourne

People know that they're going to see something which is entertaining but challenging as well because of the form it's in. It's dance theatre and it requires you to use your imagination - it's not straight forward.

Matthew Bourne

I saw the Nutcracker to be a dummy as I thought of its mouth moving like a nutcracker - and also find them pretty scary as they almost have a life of their own.

Matthew Bourne

The reason I think the shows I do are successful with a wider public is because they tap into something that's beyond dance and is about being told a story. That's what people want.

Matthew Bourne

With my work, it's not possible to just cast a production and leave it. I have to nurture the group of dancers to make it happen.

Matthew Bourne

People get excited about things like 'Swan Lake' because they generate a personal involvement. If you set up the story properly, audiences respond to the ambiguity. People ask, 'What exactly is happening in Act Four?' and I never say. I can't put it into words, but they've got a feeling about it, and that's good enough.

Matthew Bourne

People strangely revere dance. They see it as another world, and dancers are somehow mysterious - just because they don't speak.

Matthew Bourne

When it comes down to it, it's giving people a good night out in a basic way and I think my company guarantees that. There's always something new and something to excite us and surprise us, and that's why people come back, I hope.

Matthew Bourne

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. I wondered what it would be like to use male dancers and bring out swans' aggressive, muscular side.

Matthew Bourne

I've always been excited by the strangeness of ballet, but I can't bear it when people just come forward and do a turn in the air for no reason.

Matthew Bourne

Sometimes you don't know what you've got until you put it in front of an audience - and the enthusiasm for the show from the audience has been just incredible.

Matthew Bourne

Fred Astaire is my real idol.

Matthew Bourne

My parents were an ordinary East End family and very supportive - they would have supported me no matter what I wanted to do.

Matthew Bourne

I'm not completely trained in any one area - I'm not a tap person or a ballet person. I don't have a big back-up of steps; I can't just fall back on what I know.

Matthew Bourne

I'm a believer in presenting something that is worth paying to see. I've always felt lucky in that the work that pleases me pleases other people as well.

Matthew Bourne

With any project there's one or two things that you really want to do and that's going to crack it.

Matthew Bourne

It's one of the things that looks good written down, but the reality is that you think about the pieces you're doing and try to bear in mind everyone in the audience.

Matthew Bourne

A lot of the people who have come to know the company in the last few years will not have seen this piece.

Matthew Bourne

It's one of my strongest dance pieces - having just done Play Without Words which was veering away from a lot of dance - I thought it would be nice to go back to something with almost the most dance I'd done.

Matthew Bourne

I'm very conscious that I want the dance audience to respond and respect what I'm doing, so I'm always very true to the music and I honour the music in the way I see it - I don't mess around with the music.

Matthew Bourne