A Beauty is Born: Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty imagine...


A Beauty is Born: Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty

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-Matthew Bourne is in the final stages of rehearsal...

-That's better.

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..of his much-anticipated new dance work, Sleeping Beauty.

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It's due to open here at Sadler's Wells Theatre

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in just a few minutes' time.

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For tonight's Imagine we follow Matthew and his team

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from day one through every stage of the creative process.

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Matthew Bourne made his international reputation

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with a version of Swan Lake in which he amazed us all

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with a male corps de ballet of swans.

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Over the last 25 years, Bourne has choreographed and directed

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over 30 productions, establishing a reputation

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as our most popular and innovative dance maker.

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There's no-one quite like Matthew.

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I mean, he's created dance narratives

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that appeal across all boundaries.

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It's interesting that Matthew, for me,

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has done the three English musicals -

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My Fair Lady, Oliver and, of course, Mary Poppins.

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# Link your elbows, step in time Link your elbows, step in time

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# Never need a reason Never need a rhyme

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# Link your elbows, step in time. #

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The secret of his success

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is the rigour with which he conceives his storytelling

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means there is an extraordinary directness about this work

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which communicates to any audience.

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It's a return to the notion

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of dance as entertainment in the 19th-century sense.

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Before his iconic Swan Lake,

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he choreographed Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker in 1992.

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It introduced a new emphasis on storytelling in dance.

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Sleeping beauty will complete Bourne's trilogy

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of Tchaikovsky's ballets.

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OK, shall we start?

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So, welcome, everyone. Welcome to Sleeping Beauty.

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A new adventure.

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CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

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Before he starts to create the work,

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Matthew gathers his entire team together -

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dancers, technicians and designers - and talks through his ideas.

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The thing that, sort of, drew me to it was the timeline

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because it's really interesting to play with.

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In some of the productions that I've seen,

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the time difference is so far away from us

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that you don't really recognise

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that they've moved forward 100 years in costume design.

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So I've worked out we've to start it in 1890,

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and 1890 is the date of the premiere of Sleeping Beauty the ballet,

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so if there's a 100-year interval -

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which I think that's a really interesting thing to say,

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you know, interval, 100 years, ha, ha, ha,

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I'm sure they'll get a little laugh maybe -

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and then we come back and we're in the present day

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or, like, two years ago.

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Bourne's new production will be another telling of the story

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that stretches back to the 14th century.

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The most recognisable Sleeping Beauty

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is from an Arthurian romance called Perceforest,

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which is so big that it's probably the size of 12 Moby Dicks,

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but anyway, in one scene is pretty much the recognisable fairy tale

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with the spindle, she pricks her finger, she falls asleep,

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but then there are some differences.

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Her father puts her in a tower

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because he's hoping that a god will come,

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but in fact it isn't a god that comes - it's Troilus.

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And I'm afraid that we are then in a scene not suitable for children

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and he does indeed, as it says in this romance, "pluck the fruit".

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Many children have been transfixed

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by the 19th-century version of the story by the Brothers Grimm,

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as well as Walt Disney's 1959 animated film.

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The much-loved ballet version of The Sleeping Beauty

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has been with us now for over 100 years.

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And with each retelling in literature and dance,

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the story is adapted to reflect contemporary sensibilities.

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The morals of the time have become much more important

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since they become established as children's stories.

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You can see it in the films,

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the strain of them trying to be ethnically correct,

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not to cross the feminists, and that started quite a long time ago.

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I mean, the Victorians were very, very involved in that

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and that is part of fairy tales' transformation -

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one can't just throw that out and say we mustn't censor

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because there is no original.

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This is a cauldron, you know?

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All the elements are in there, but they are mixed in a different way

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by every person who comes along.

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And it felt to me that it didn't have a good love story.

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It's basically someone she's never even met,

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so this prince kisses her, she wakes up and she looks at him

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and the next thing you know they're getting married,

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so you don't really feel anything at all, I don't think.

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So we've created this story,

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which is about Aurora being in love with someone

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who then has the problem of trying to stay alive for her when she wakes up.

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And this is where the idea of vampires came into play a little bit.

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This came through True Blood, actually, from watching True Blood

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about that whole community of vampires and stuff,

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so that, sort of, brought that idea into play

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of turning the Lilac Fairy into Count Lilac,

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who is sort of a vampiric fairy

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and can, sort of, give Leo the gift of being alive when she wakes up.

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Basically, it's a fairy story, yeah?

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And we don't have to explain everything,

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so spells and magic and things.

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'I think that what he does very well

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'is he understands what the emotional centre of the story is.'

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I think he's very clever at cutting his cloth to fit

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and one of the pleasures of going to see his Tchaikovsky dance works

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is seeing the way that he's got round

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the inherent problems of the music and the score.

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The music for this production is being pre-recorded

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and the orchestra gathers at AIR Studios to perform

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one of Tchaikovsky's most rewarding scores.

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'Today's the first day of the orchestral recording for Sleeping Beauty.'

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And it's the first time I've had the chance to hear our version,

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which is a little different here and there,

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some edits and some reorderings

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and some little cuts here and there,

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so it's the first time I'll be able to hear it as I want it.

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So can we just cover a couple of little transition points?

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Before two, before figure two...

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'This process has been a difficult one for Brett, the conductor, and I'

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in some ways because it's not choreographed yet,

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but what we do have is a sense of the plot and the action.

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There's head scratching going on, which is never good sign.

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'Brett and myself have had several meetings

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'where we've gone through with him on the piano.'

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I think for Brett it's more important, rather than just,

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"Oh, this tempo, a little faster, little slower,"

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he wants to know what the action's going to be so he can interpret,

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he wants to know what the ideas for the piece are

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so he's got a clear idea of the story now

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and what we're trying to say with each section of music,

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cos sometimes it's quite different

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from what goes on in the classical ballet.

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Uniquely, Tchaikovsky worked in parallel

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with the original choreographer, Marius Petipa,

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to create a ballet in which the music was written

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with the action in mind.

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100 years ago, this was a radical idea.

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It's so satisfying dancing

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when the music and the choreography works together as one.

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Lots of people think of Sleeping Beauty

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being a piece that belongs in a museum.

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Now, I see it that you only put special things in a museum

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and I see it as a positive that it's a piece to be treasured

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and I think you have to really dance it with that respect,

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which is, you know, our respect to Petipa

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for producing such a masterpiece.

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Some of the music we use for the action it was written for,

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but the action will be different.

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You know, I'm not going to suddenly

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put Aurora dancing to a Carabosse theme, you know?

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It's not going to work that way,

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so I try to be true to the music as much as possible

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but with an open mind.

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So, you know, it's starting to shape itself in my way now

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rather than Petipa's.

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I've got to that point now where I've watched so many versions of the ballet

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from different companies and different eras and different times,

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so it is very much embedded in my mind with the music

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and I feel I've got to that stage now where I mustn't watch it any more

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because I have to start imagining the music in a different way.

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I read you saying, "I believe you can be cured by music.

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"When I was ill, if I put on my favourite music it would make me better."

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Yes, absolutely loved music. Interestingly, not classical music.

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I wasn't brought up in a house that listened to classical music at all.

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We loved musical theatre, pop music, I guess,

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but mainly musical theatre, and right from the very earliest stage,

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four or five, I was wanting to put on a show

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and get other people to get involved in it

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and I would go and see a movie,

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usually a Disney movie or something like that,

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or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or something like that,

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one of those kinds of movies that was out when I was growing up,

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and then I'd want to recreate it when I got home

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and I was always...the star.

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I was always Dick Van Dyke, it always seemed to me,

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around that time, doing Mary Poppins and various films I'd seen.

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I mean, when did you first encounter your great idol, Fred?

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I think my parents were both big Fred Astaire fans

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and they would make me sit down and watch his movies, I think,

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on TV, when they were on TV.

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I do find a connection with him, in some ways.

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If you think of the way Fred introduced dancing into a film,

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it would start with walking and it seemed a very natural to people.

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It's that classic thing that people say if they don't like musicals,

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as soon as they start to burst into song

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they find it uncomfortable and awkward

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and they don't know why they're doing it

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and I think he was very clever at that with the dancing.

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It was a way in for a lot of people.

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So I spent quite a few years trying to get close to this world.

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In my early teen years it was going into the West End

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and going to opening nights and meeting people,

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however briefly, to ask for their autograph.

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And I did this for several years with a friend of mine from school.

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We used to go up after school on the 38 bus into the West End

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and go to all of the opening nights, several nights a week,

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and weekends were...

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Saturdays were stage door days or hotels

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and it was a way of getting close, and the dance thing,

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although it was there very early on in my love of Astaire

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and movie musicals and things, you know,

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I didn't discover ballet or contemporary dance until late teens,

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after I'd left school,

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and it took me until the age of 22 to get to the point

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where I thought I should go and study dance specifically.

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With three years at the Laban Institute under his belt,

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and after a few minor pieces,

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Bourne made a work that became his first popular success.

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Spitfire, which contains all his hallmarks.

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It was my first little "hit",

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if you see it that way.

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It's based on something most people wouldn't know that well,

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this supposedly famous Pas De Quatre -

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the four top ballerinas of the 19th century.

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I decided to mix this

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with catalogues of men

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posing in underwear,

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arms round each other, like they're in the pub or something.

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Or on the golf course, but wearing underwear...

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and being chummy with each other. I always thought it was very funny.

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MUSIC: "Don Quixote-Pas De Deux" by Minkus

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I never knew such a whacky combination in my life.

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It's so often the case with the great choreographers

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you can sort of see the different layers they put together.

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But how do they think of connecting

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underwear, Romantic ballet

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and music, which isn't Romantic ballet music...

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it's Imperial Russian 19th-century ballet music.

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How did he put these three together? I don't know. It makes me laugh.

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The christening of Bourne's Sleeping Beauty, appropriately enough,

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is in a North London chapel.

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What I really want to do is have lots of material to play with.

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So we can then change it, look at it, and see what we can add into it.

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What works, what doesn't work.

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It's difficult not to make it twee.

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It can't be twee. It has to be more earthy than that.

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Otherwise, especially with the music, as well,

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the combination of the two won't give us the love story we want.

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If I can put it to you on day one, just get moving together...

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and let's just try and find something.

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I think that's the idea, really.

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At this, the earliest stage of creation,

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Matthew oversees the dancers improvising

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and developing movement at their own pace.

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He's working with three couples.

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All of whom will be dancing the leading roles

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of Carabosse, the wicked fairy,

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and Aurora, the Sleeping Beauty herself.

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Ben, you could end with your head

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on her back,

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before you do those things, maybe.

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Make contact.

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'It's the beginning of the process,

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'so I've been concentrating

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'on specific material for

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'the leading characters.'

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You can let yourself go a little more there.

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You could really go, and he has to catch you there.

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It's great to have this time -

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to have the time to do it ahead of time,

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without the full company around...

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is sort of golden time, in a way.

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Much better, yeah.

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The dancers explore small, gestural moves

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that will evolve slowly over the coming weeks.

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When I went in to look at you...

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Matthew uses everyday, natural movement in his work...

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not technical ballet steps,

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which makes a story more realistic

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and more accessible.

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We could go straight onto the knee.

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That last position, where you're face to face,

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it feels again you could be

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a little bit more falling, before he catches you.

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It's like the millionth touch that you break again.

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Associate director Etta Murfitt

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has been with the company

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for 21 years.

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We tend to look for dancers

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who aren't afraid of...

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acting on top of the movement we've given them.

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You'd be surprised,

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when you walk into an audition,

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you ask dancers to do movement, they can do it perfectly,

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but when you ask them to invest it with a little bit of character,

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they can't do that.

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There are some dancers who just aren't interested.

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It's like casting a play.

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Rather than, when you're working with a dance company,

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where all the dancers tend to look the same...

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each production we do, we have a big pool of dancers,

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and we choose the right dancers for the parts.

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So...

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it's not about how good they are, dance-wise,

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it's about how good they are performance-wise,

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and how they'll fit into the part they're playing.

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I think the best Bourne dancers are dancers who have

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all the advantage that dance training gives you,

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in terms of coordination, physical skill, timing, musicality.

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But who you don't immediately say

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when you see them on stage, "That is a dancer."

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The ideal person is somebody who

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can dance, they can act,

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their stage manners are intelligent.

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But they're not people who

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you can musically classify

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as a dancer, as opposed to an actor.

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Matthew records sections on his digital camera...

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as a moving sketchbook

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to help him select the dance phrases

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which he'll then develop.

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What these things are good for me for

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is to try and find a language for the characters.

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That may mean sometimes

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seeing something that I don't like, as well as something I do,

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and picking out the elements that feel right.

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And I don't really know till I see it.

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I'm nervous about it in some ways

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cos I want it to be good.

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It's a good thing to be nervous about.

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Not being nervous about, "Oh, it's a big, new production,

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"and what is everyone going to think?"

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I just want to make it as good as it can be.

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That's my main aim at the moment.

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I feel good about it. I wouldn't say "confident", I feel "good".

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I sense in your work that you love storytelling.

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Yes, I think I'm conscious

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of working in a medium which to many people

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is a little difficult.

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Or they think it is.

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The task I set myself, usually,

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is I imagine a person sitting there who knows nothing...

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and the curtain goes up and I have to start telling them a story.

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Whether they know this piece really well,

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and enjoy all the differences

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that I'm doing with it,

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or they've never seen it before, never seen a dance piece...

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I try and make it on that level as well,

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so it's very clear storytelling.

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MUSIC: "Ice Dance" by Danny Elfman

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Matthew is as much a director as he is a choreographer.

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He never pretends he's the greatest choreographer in the world.

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Telling stories, actually,

0:20:440:20:46

I think intrigues him far more

0:20:460:20:48

than the steps he employs.

0:20:480:20:50

He will never take a story at face value.

0:20:520:20:54

He will find a way of...

0:20:540:20:56

intriguing you.

0:20:560:20:58

It was wonderful that Play Without Words

0:21:000:21:03

was one of his pieces,

0:21:030:21:05

because that's what he does.

0:21:050:21:07

He stages plays without words.

0:21:070:21:09

The original story of Sleeping Beauty,

0:21:160:21:19

especially if you go back, even pre-Grimms...

0:21:190:21:22

is quite...frightening.

0:21:220:21:25

Yes, there's a second plot

0:21:250:21:28

that I'm not actually touching on... THEY LAUGH

0:21:280:21:31

..you'll be pleased to hear. Once she gets the kiss and wakes up,

0:21:310:21:34

she goes off and has this terrible life afterwards

0:21:340:21:37

where her husband, the prince, goes off to war,

0:21:370:21:39

and she has a mother-in-law from hell...

0:21:390:21:41

who wants to eat her children.

0:21:410:21:43

People are surprised this is part of the story, but it is.

0:21:430:21:46

That's why no-one ever does it, hardly.

0:21:460:21:48

There is a strong symbolic component to fairytales.

0:21:520:21:56

The patent action is not what's actually going on underneath.

0:21:560:21:59

I've always thought

0:22:010:22:03

that the 18th-century fairytale

0:22:030:22:05

was a contempt to contain

0:22:050:22:07

these superstitious beliefs that one could be cursed,

0:22:070:22:11

one could be raped in one's sleep...

0:22:110:22:13

and turn it into something

0:22:130:22:15

no longer threatening.

0:22:150:22:17

What we're seeing in Sleeping Beauty

0:22:170:22:19

is the transformation

0:22:190:22:21

of quite deep fears about cursing

0:22:210:22:24

into...

0:22:240:22:26

Christmas entertainment.

0:22:260:22:27

I think that's civilising.

0:22:290:22:31

Once the workshop period ends,

0:22:340:22:36

the production moves to an East London film studio...

0:22:360:22:39

where Matthew starts to work with the whole cast.

0:22:390:22:42

OK, so...

0:22:420:22:45

tennis people...

0:22:450:22:46

He uses the video clips made during the workshops

0:22:460:22:49

to communicate his ideas to a larger group of dancers.

0:22:490:22:53

I think the easiest way's to get it back closer to what it was.

0:22:550:22:58

Maybe with a little view on, "Are we doing too many things?"

0:22:580:23:03

It looks weird cos Pia's dancing with a rose in her hand.

0:23:030:23:07

THEY LAUGH

0:23:070:23:09

I think the important thing about it is...

0:23:090:23:12

it looks athletic.

0:23:120:23:14

If it's a move that doesn't look like it's a tennis move,

0:23:140:23:17

it's a little odd for a while.

0:23:170:23:20

It's more or less there, I think.

0:23:200:23:23

Just need to look at it and see if there's one or two moments

0:23:230:23:27

we need to refine a little bit.

0:23:270:23:29

I've got the most complicated racquet choreography.

0:23:340:23:37

Hannah is dancing the leading role of Aurora.

0:23:430:23:46

It's the second time I've been part of a creation.

0:23:490:23:52

I was in the creative process for Edward Scissorhands,

0:23:520:23:55

so it was a similar process,

0:23:550:23:57

but this is slightly more classic

0:23:570:24:00

in its orientation.

0:24:000:24:01

'We have quite a lot of material that we did in the workshops,

0:24:040:24:08

'so four of us individually made up four phrases

0:24:080:24:11

'to create a tennis quartet.'

0:24:110:24:13

Then you go this way.

0:24:130:24:15

It was really fun to come up with ideas, just strolling along

0:24:180:24:22

in the park, playing tennis,

0:24:220:24:23

and what you can do with a tennis racquet...

0:24:230:24:26

and just being creative.

0:24:260:24:29

I like the madness of it... MALE DANCER LAUGHS

0:24:290:24:31

..and the more you do it, the more dangerous you can get with it,

0:24:310:24:34

with the racquets and things.

0:24:340:24:36

I absolutely love telling a story,

0:24:360:24:39

and this seems to be a perfect combination

0:24:390:24:41

of dancing and acting and storytelling through movement.

0:24:410:24:45

It's a really rare thing to be able to do all that all at the same time.

0:24:450:24:50

If you want to try it, I'll count you the four in,

0:24:520:24:54

and then we're off.

0:24:540:24:56

Then after four eights, this one starts, yeah?

0:24:560:25:00

Be careful, though, with those racquets. Thanks.

0:25:000:25:04

Two, three, four...

0:25:040:25:08

and a one and a two

0:25:080:25:10

and a three and a four,

0:25:100:25:12

and a five and a six

0:25:120:25:14

and a seven and a eight,

0:25:140:25:16

and a one, two and a three and a four,

0:25:160:25:20

and a five and a six and a seven and a eight,

0:25:200:25:24

and a one and two and a three and four,

0:25:240:25:28

and a five, six and a seven and a eight,

0:25:280:25:32

and a one, then two,

0:25:320:25:34

and a three and four,

0:25:340:25:36

and a five and a six and seven and a eight...

0:25:360:25:40

and...one. Good.

0:25:400:25:43

Two and a three and four

0:25:430:25:45

and a five and a six

0:25:450:25:47

and a seven and a eight

0:25:470:25:49

and a one...

0:25:490:25:51

If you look at the company and the dancers,

0:25:510:25:53

there's such a vary of training...

0:25:530:25:56

there's a lot of people who have trained in musical theatre,

0:25:560:26:01

and there's a few people who are classically trained.

0:26:010:26:04

I think his work does require...

0:26:050:26:08

kind of mediums of the two.

0:26:080:26:10

One, two, three, four, five, six...

0:26:130:26:17

I'm playing Tantrum Fairy,

0:26:170:26:19

which is the fairy of temperament.

0:26:190:26:21

And Lilac Fairy...or Count Lilac.

0:26:210:26:25

And then I'm covering the part of Autumn-ness,

0:26:250:26:28

which is as another fairy.

0:26:280:26:30

The casting of male dancers in roles

0:26:320:26:35

traditionally played by women

0:26:350:26:36

is one of Bourne's favourite theatrical devices.

0:26:360:26:40

30 years ago, there was a slight embarrassment about male dancers.

0:26:420:26:45

Yes, Nijinsky. Yes, Nureyev.

0:26:450:26:47

But they're still unexpected figures.

0:26:470:26:51

Actually, your dance is populated by men...

0:26:510:26:54

and in all kinds of different guises.

0:26:540:26:58

I think the reason I like to create roles for men, specifically,

0:26:590:27:04

is because it's something I can identify with more, I guess.

0:27:040:27:08

I'm calling upon myself...

0:27:080:27:11

I suppose, different from other choreographers

0:27:110:27:14

where it's much more specifically about the movement.

0:27:140:27:16

For me, it's about trying to get inside the characters and feel them myself,

0:27:160:27:20

and characters that I can identify with,

0:27:200:27:23

as I would if I was writing a play or directing a movie or something.

0:27:230:27:28

# La-la-la-la-la

0:27:380:27:42

# La-la-la-la-la-la-la

0:27:420:27:45

# La-la-la-la-la

0:27:450:27:49

# La-la-la-la-la-la-la. #

0:27:490:27:52

I remember being so amazed going to see Dorian Gray, which is dark

0:27:560:27:59

and much more overtly gay.

0:27:590:28:02

He wasn't doing it for political reasons, that to him is just the nature of the story.

0:28:030:28:07

He wanted to bring out the darker side of the Wilde story

0:28:070:28:10

than you find in other treatments.

0:28:100:28:13

CAMERA CLICKS

0:28:130:28:15

'When we first did Swan Lake, we had people walking out and we had complaints.

0:28:310:28:35

'You know, when the prince and the swan dance together,

0:28:350:28:37

'we had quite a lot of men walking out.'

0:28:370:28:39

Partly, I think, it wasn't what they expected.

0:28:390:28:42

They expected the classical version, so there was that element as well.

0:28:420:28:45

'But there are a lot of people who couldn't handle the male swans

0:28:450:28:48

'and the men dancing together in that way.'

0:28:480:28:50

MUSIC CONTINUES

0:28:500:28:52

The height of the physical relationship is the swan

0:29:040:29:08

wrapping his wings around the prince.

0:29:080:29:10

I mean, it doesn't really go further than that. It's very affectionate, very loving, really.

0:29:100:29:15

'I wasn't ready for him to do Swan Lake,

0:29:190:29:22

'and it was amazing that he could bring that off.'

0:29:220:29:24

But with Sleeping Beauty, you are tackling a work of...

0:29:240:29:27

It's boring to say classical perfection, but it is.

0:29:270:29:30

It's the most detailed dance score of the 19th century

0:29:300:29:36

and one that's most complex and lavish in its idea of dance theatre.

0:29:360:29:41

'How is Matthew going to choreograph that?

0:29:420:29:44

'You can you hear pointe work on that music,

0:29:440:29:47

'so I'm curious as to what the hell he's going to do with that.'

0:29:470:29:50

One, two, three, three, two, three.

0:29:500:29:52

Three, two, three, four, two, three...

0:29:520:29:54

So what are you looking for here?

0:29:540:29:56

Well, this is Act II.

0:29:560:29:58

-The garden scene?

-The garden scene, exactly.

0:29:580:30:01

We're just finishing off the waltz, the big waltz.

0:30:010:30:04

Erm, basically, what we've done,

0:30:040:30:06

we've blocked out a lot of movement, which takes a while,

0:30:060:30:11

and then just sort of built the scenes in and around it.

0:30:110:30:15

The other great confusion that goes on is they're all doing more than

0:30:150:30:20

one part, you know, so there's that to deal with as well at the moment.

0:30:200:30:23

Yeah, a lot of learning.

0:30:230:30:25

One, two, three, two, two, three...

0:30:250:30:28

I mean, for me, this is the most frustrating...

0:30:280:30:31

I don't have much patience.

0:30:310:30:33

It doesn't come across to them that I don't have much patience,

0:30:330:30:37

I don't think, but I just want to get it done.

0:30:370:30:39

I want it to be finished so I can work on it.

0:30:390:30:42

You want to get through the plotting of it, the creation,

0:30:420:30:46

so you can then start to refine it and do the things you want to do?

0:30:460:30:50

Yeah. And it's time-consuming.

0:30:500:30:51

This bit we're doing now, for example, is 15 seconds long,

0:30:510:30:56

and it'll take about probably 45 minutes for them to learn it.

0:30:560:30:59

It's a crazy amount of time it can take, you know,

0:31:010:31:03

but it's one of the scenes where there's a lot of people on stage

0:31:030:31:06

with different stories and quite a lot of dancing as well.

0:31:060:31:09

We have to keep the stories going.

0:31:090:31:10

That's what you always do, isn't it? Always looking for the story.

0:31:100:31:13

Yeah. Always. You know, we do have to do the dancing.

0:31:130:31:17

THEY LAUGH

0:31:170:31:20

Which we enjoy as well.

0:31:200:31:22

BACKGROUND MUSIC REACHES CRESCENDO

0:31:220:31:25

So they've immersed themselves in these different periods

0:31:250:31:30

-that it has to go through?

-Yeah. You'll see we have books over here.

0:31:300:31:34

We've got a library of things, so we've got our Edwardian stuff.

0:31:340:31:39

It's incredible for this, because this idea that you can absorb

0:31:390:31:44

history and trends and that all these dancers immerse themselves

0:31:440:31:48

in this library here and sort of get to understand

0:31:480:31:51

so much more about these periods and the way they connect, so that

0:31:510:31:55

you get this sort of range of experience and periods and eras.

0:31:550:31:59

HE LAUGHS

0:32:010:32:02

You sort of do as much research as you can, and I almost try and

0:32:020:32:06

forget it and start again with what this is that we're trying to do.

0:32:060:32:11

'So, with the fairies, I try to approach it as something new.'

0:32:110:32:15

The research process starts from day one,

0:32:170:32:20

as soon as you've information of what Matthew's ideas are.

0:32:200:32:23

But also, just general ideas that you can go off and explore yourself.

0:32:230:32:29

A bit of TV, just walking along the street, thinking,

0:32:290:32:32

"That's a really good idea for me to bring that into the character."

0:32:320:32:35

MUSIC REACHES CRESCENDO

0:32:350:32:37

Very good timing.

0:32:370:32:40

It's interesting that all your work, more than anyone else, you always...

0:32:400:32:45

The sense of character and who these people are is always

0:32:450:32:50

at the bottom of everything, which, normally, in modern dance,

0:32:500:32:55

that's not what people look for, and you can't avoid it in your work.

0:32:550:32:59

Sometimes not even talked about all, not even touched upon, I think.

0:32:590:33:03

And that suggests when you're casting,

0:33:030:33:05

you're looking for something different from other companies, aren't you?

0:33:050:33:09

I think so, and I think a lot of the people I have worked with

0:33:090:33:12

over the years wouldn't have got into other companies.

0:33:120:33:14

And they've found their home here, because it sort of suits them,

0:33:140:33:18

you know, and what they can offer.

0:33:180:33:20

We try not to have a body image.

0:33:200:33:23

Cos you like people of different shapes and sizes?

0:33:230:33:25

I do, yeah. I like it. Within reason, obviously.

0:33:250:33:28

HE LAUGHS

0:33:280:33:30

But, yeah.

0:33:300:33:32

When we come out on six, it's not a hold this time. We go...

0:33:320:33:36

Matthew Bourne isn't the only choreographer to have taken

0:33:360:33:39

a radical approach to Sleeping Beauty.

0:33:390:33:42

In 1985, the avant-garde Swedish dance-maker, Mats Ek,

0:33:490:33:53

created a drug-crazed Aurora in which, rather than

0:33:530:33:57

pricking her finger on a spindle, she stabs herself with a syringe.

0:33:570:34:03

It's not pitched to the same audience, but Bourne's desire always

0:34:060:34:10

to push the boundaries is evident in his brief to designer Lez Brotherston.

0:34:100:34:15

A one and a two and a three and a four, and five, six...

0:34:150:34:20

'The first thing I said to Lez was I wanted the design, the set,

0:34:200:34:23

'to have some kind of movement in it.

0:34:230:34:25

'Not just the movement of dancers, but movement within the set.'

0:34:250:34:29

OK, get off, get off.

0:34:290:34:31

Because I felt...

0:34:310:34:32

I wanted to try and tell a story in a very fluid, journeying kind of way.

0:34:320:34:37

Do you want to have a go with music?

0:34:370:34:39

'And I knew we were going to have to travel across periods of time in the story,

0:34:390:34:43

'so a fluid staging seemed really necessary.'

0:34:430:34:46

Five, six and a seven

0:34:460:34:49

and a eight and a one and a two

0:34:490:34:53

and a three and a four, and back, six and seven...

0:34:530:34:59

'One of the very, very first things Matt wanted to do with Beauty

0:34:590:35:02

'was to move the dancers mechanically.'

0:35:020:35:04

And a four. Travelling on this one. Quite fast.

0:35:040:35:08

We'd done it before in Dorian Gray, we needed to revolve,

0:35:080:35:12

and it's not very usual to use it in big ballets.

0:35:120:35:16

Oh, it's quite hard, isn't it?

0:35:160:35:18

But this time, the production was going to be so big

0:35:180:35:20

that actually laying a revolve on the kind of touring schedule

0:35:200:35:24

that we have, which is getting in on Monday,

0:35:240:35:26

open on Tuesday, kind of puts the stage out of action for a very

0:35:260:35:29

long period of time, so we wouldn't have time to build the set.

0:35:290:35:32

Sideways is quite nice that Katie's doing there.

0:35:320:35:34

So I kind of suggested that travelators would be better than a revolve,

0:35:340:35:39

because we can put them in a part of the stage towards the back

0:35:390:35:42

where people could be working on that while the rest of crew build the set downstage,

0:35:420:35:45

so it wouldn't affect things so much.

0:35:450:35:47

Erm, and then we talked about one travelator or two travelators,

0:35:470:35:51

and Matt had reference of some films of people dancing on travelators.

0:35:510:35:54

I'd seen this used very well in a film...

0:35:590:36:03

As I always go back to, Fred Astaire movies.

0:36:030:36:06

But this is a less well-known number called This Heart Of Mine from Ziegfeld Follies,

0:36:080:36:12

and there's a really beautiful use of travelators in it where they have

0:36:120:36:15

travelators going different directions.

0:36:150:36:18

And it seems very good with a story that has fairies

0:36:180:36:22

and mythical characters and creatures in it, that they could glide.

0:36:220:36:27

And a one and a two and a three and a four,

0:36:270:36:32

and five, six, seven, eight,

0:36:320:36:37

and a one and a two and a three and a four.

0:36:370:36:42

And a one and a two and a three and a four

0:36:420:36:47

and a five and a six...seven.

0:36:470:36:51

No, sorry, two and a three. HE LAUGHS

0:36:510:36:54

Counting wrong!

0:36:540:36:55

And a one and a two...

0:36:550:36:57

'You ask him about the movie sources, and he'll say,

0:36:570:37:00

'"Oh, this is the Hitchcock it's based on."'

0:37:000:37:02

I absolutely remember interviewing him about Play Without Words,

0:37:020:37:05

and he can list, I think, at least 25 films that were part

0:37:050:37:09

of the individual characterisations for each person in Play Without Words.

0:37:090:37:13

'In Cinderella, Cinderella dances with the tailor's dummy.

0:37:150:37:19

'Which is also a Fred Astaire image.'

0:37:220:37:25

So we're going to go from the top.

0:37:350:37:37

Matthew is always challenging himself to bring

0:37:370:37:40

the characters to life in intriguing ways.

0:37:400:37:43

Even the baby Aurora, traditionally a stuffed doll,

0:37:430:37:46

has been animated and given a personality.

0:37:460:37:50

Three, four, five, six, one...

0:37:500:37:52

The baby Aurora was an idea that seemed really important to me,

0:37:530:37:57

and the reason for that was, really, Aurora is the main character

0:37:570:38:02

in the piece, and the first act, or the Prologue as it's called

0:38:020:38:06

in the classical ballet, is about 25 minutes long.

0:38:060:38:10

And you haven't met her yet. She's just a bundle in a cot, you know?

0:38:100:38:14

I thought, "We've got to give her a personality."

0:38:140:38:16

Two, strolling on... No.

0:38:160:38:19

So the idea for this baby puppet came up,

0:38:190:38:21

and I wanted her to be an unruly child who cried a lot,

0:38:210:38:25

and she ran away, and she climbed up things,

0:38:250:38:27

and so you got personality for her. She was a little wild child.

0:38:270:38:31

'In developing the puppet,

0:38:350:38:37

'we had a talk about what he actually wanted it to do.

0:38:370:38:39

'He had to say in advance.'

0:38:390:38:41

Reaching up...

0:38:410:38:42

And it transpired that actually, we needed more than one puppet.

0:38:440:38:47

I think we've got five puppets now.

0:38:470:38:49

There's one that does crawling, one that does crying,

0:38:490:38:51

with a head that spins round so it's not crying.

0:38:510:38:53

There's a bundle baby and the first baby we see.

0:38:530:38:56

So there's lots of different babies for different moments.

0:38:560:38:58

'And it sort of grew.

0:38:580:39:00

'As we found out what the puppet could do,

0:39:000:39:03

'then it became more fun to play with the puppet

0:39:030:39:05

'and we made a whole story for it in the first act.'

0:39:050:39:07

The baby is coming on a bit soon.

0:39:070:39:10

One and a two and a three and a four and a five and a six

0:39:100:39:12

and a seven and eight.

0:39:120:39:14

It's surprising that you need... To operate a baby crawling,

0:39:140:39:17

you need three big men all in black with sticks and things

0:39:170:39:21

just to make each joint and the legs and arms and body and the head all move correctly.

0:39:210:39:27

Now, you have to work very close to each other.

0:39:270:39:31

What dancers are very good at is body language.

0:39:310:39:33

They have to tell the story through their bodies,

0:39:330:39:35

so to put that into an inanimate object is something

0:39:350:39:38

they are very good at understanding, I think.

0:39:380:39:40

Yeah, OK, thanks. OK. We're nowhere near, really, for that one?

0:39:430:39:48

It's turned out to be a very popular aspect of the production already.

0:39:480:39:52

And it's very realistic-looking, but we don't give her a bow,

0:39:520:39:56

because we fear she'd get the most applause!

0:39:560:40:00

After six weeks at the film studios,

0:40:020:40:05

the production moves into another gear and relocates to the Theatre Royal in Plymouth.

0:40:050:40:10

Over a week, a black box is slowly transformed

0:40:130:40:17

into Lez Brotherston's set.

0:40:170:40:20

Need a bit more, please, Al!

0:40:200:40:22

The dancers arrive and start to get the feel of the space

0:40:220:40:26

and try out their costumes, hair and make-up.

0:40:260:40:29

Finishing up with the run-throughs in rehearsal space,

0:40:350:40:39

you feel you've achieved something and you've got your studio version of the show.

0:40:390:40:44

Getting to Plymouth, you suddenly take several steps backwards.

0:40:450:40:50

You're in the theatre, I'm distanced from everyone a bit,

0:40:500:40:54

I'm sitting in the stalls with a mic, and they maybe don't see me all day.

0:40:540:40:58

There's just a voice over the mic.

0:40:580:41:01

Can we look at the Aurora route through this?

0:41:010:41:03

So she goes...

0:41:030:41:05

through her friends over here.

0:41:050:41:09

Yeah.

0:41:090:41:10

Because we are revealing the whole stage picture now,

0:41:100:41:13

I think we need more people on.

0:41:130:41:15

There are always things that need adjustment, in costumes, wigs.

0:41:150:41:20

People all concerned about quick changes and how

0:41:200:41:23

they get around the wings which weren't really there in rehearsal.

0:41:230:41:28

So you never really know,

0:41:280:41:29

and that is one of the exciting things about technical rehearsals.

0:41:290:41:33

Here we go.

0:41:330:41:35

Seven, two, three, eight, two, three...

0:41:350:41:38

For a designer, it is quite intimidating

0:41:380:41:41

because it's the first time the company and Matt

0:41:410:41:43

and the producers has seen everything together. It is

0:41:430:41:46

quite hard work in that you have got very little time to put...

0:41:460:41:52

You have one act for two sessions so that's for six hours.

0:41:520:41:54

That's as much as I'm going to have to look at every costume, every

0:41:540:41:58

wig, every bit of make-up, make the notes, decide what

0:41:580:42:00

the changes have to be, see what is working, see what is not working.

0:42:000:42:04

So it is quite an intense period because you just don't know...

0:42:080:42:11

It's how you find out whether it's going to work or not.

0:42:110:42:13

The production has 160 costumes in all.

0:42:160:42:19

As well as addressing Les Brotherston's concerns,

0:42:190:42:22

the dancers now have to get used to rehearsing in period clothes.

0:42:220:42:26

I feel amazing.

0:42:260:42:28

It feels good. The greatest thing about the costumes is

0:42:280:42:33

we usually stick to the real costume itself.

0:42:330:42:36

Like my shoes, they are not actual dance shoes from anywhere.

0:42:360:42:39

We are using proper shoes. So you get to feel it as well which is nice.

0:42:390:42:44

Now we've got the costume on, I've got the moustache on

0:42:440:42:47

and the full clobber, so you start to feel it a bit more on stage.

0:42:470:42:51

I definitely feel more in the period,

0:42:520:42:55

especially with putting a wig on.

0:42:550:42:58

Wearing a corset to dance in solidly for

0:42:580:43:01

an hour and a half is quite difficult.

0:43:010:43:04

At the moment I have let it out a bit, so I have more room to breathe!

0:43:040:43:08

Hopefully it's something I'll get used to.

0:43:080:43:12

Because we are designing for characters,

0:43:150:43:17

you find the costume that is right for the King or the Queen

0:43:170:43:20

and then you just make it possible to dance in.

0:43:200:43:22

There's only about three or four tricks that you

0:43:220:43:25

do in terms of cutting the three-part sleeve or just

0:43:250:43:28

different ways of putting panels in that make it friendlier to move in.

0:43:280:43:32

There is no great mystery, really.

0:43:320:43:34

What is different to what we do, I suppose, is it is so much more

0:43:340:43:36

character-based and narrative-based

0:43:360:43:38

and less about just a way of dancing.

0:43:380:43:40

It is an extraordinary mix of styles in this piece.

0:43:440:43:47

But also, we haven't got the enormous

0:43:470:43:51

budgets of a Royal Opera House or something like that.

0:43:510:43:53

The company is very small, actually.

0:43:530:43:55

People think there is going to be twice the amount

0:43:550:43:57

of people on stage at the end of the show.

0:43:570:43:59

There's only 17 people actually in the production at any given

0:43:590:44:03

performance but they are just constantly changing.

0:44:030:44:07

The choreography backstage is almost as complex as the performance

0:44:090:44:13

on stage.

0:44:130:44:15

There may be only 17 dancers but they have to juggle more

0:44:150:44:18

than 50 wigs over the course of the evening.

0:44:180:44:21

They are all handmade by Darren Ware and his small team of makers.

0:44:210:44:25

We've got more wigs in this than anything else,

0:44:250:44:27

because all the boys have got them and we've had to buy

0:44:270:44:30

bigger wig blocks because normally it is just the girls that have wigs.

0:44:300:44:33

They have smaller heads.

0:44:330:44:35

So we have had a huge order to go through for more wig blocks.

0:44:350:44:39

It's always a slightly heart-stopping moment because you

0:44:390:44:42

buy this very expensive long European hair to make the wig with.

0:44:420:44:45

How is it going to behave when she is whishing around

0:44:450:44:48

and swishing her hair?

0:44:480:44:49

Is it all going to back up and look like a big bird's nest?

0:44:490:44:52

It is about how we dress it so that it's really natural

0:44:520:44:54

and what products we use in it so that it moves.

0:44:540:44:56

With every show I do,

0:44:560:44:58

if we have done a good job they think we have done nothing at all.

0:44:580:45:01

I have been doing it too long that I don't get that

0:45:040:45:06

excited about many things.

0:45:060:45:09

This one, you just kind of think, this is extraordinary.

0:45:090:45:11

It's got overtones of True Blood and Twilight and that whole

0:45:110:45:15

kind of vampire thing that is going on, which is so current.

0:45:150:45:18

For that scene in amongst the trees, very exciting.

0:45:180:45:23

With multiple dancers playing each role, Hannah and Dominic

0:45:280:45:32

pick up tips by watching their counterparts rehearsing onstage.

0:45:320:45:35

That's better.

0:45:350:45:38

Really hard.

0:45:430:45:44

Our immediate thing is to get up first but what

0:45:440:45:47

we need to do is get you up and then I step over you because otherwise...

0:45:470:45:51

-Needs to be one then the other.

-Yes.

0:45:510:45:53

It has to be you.

0:45:530:45:55

What I did then was get you up as I was bringing my leg around.

0:45:550:45:59

Lighting designer, Paule Constable, is Matthew's long-time collaborator

0:46:010:46:07

and works with him from the centre of the stalls.

0:46:070:46:10

So music finishes, blind is in as quick as possible and then,

0:46:100:46:16

bring up interval, beat, 100 years,

0:46:160:46:20

beat, house lights, Sleeping Beauty.

0:46:200:46:24

Paule has one of the toughest jobs on the production.

0:46:240:46:27

She only sees her work evolving during the stage rehearsals.

0:46:270:46:31

Could we do the lift again, guys, just so that we can focus this light?

0:46:310:46:35

I think there is a convention as to how dance pieces tend to be lit.

0:46:350:46:40

If I am completely honest,

0:46:400:46:42

that convention I don't think is necessarily healthy.

0:46:420:46:47

What's tricky about lighting Matt's work, which I think is

0:46:470:46:50

different to most dance, is that you are not only lighting the form

0:46:500:46:54

in space, you are also lighting a play at the pace of dance.

0:46:540:46:59

That looks pretty good.

0:46:590:47:00

So the only way the audience would catch hold of those narratives

0:47:000:47:05

is if they can see the dancers as if they were speaking text.

0:47:050:47:08

Paule brings something that is again very unusual in the dance world,

0:47:130:47:18

it is not lit in the way that most dance is lit,

0:47:180:47:21

which tends to be very bright and very frontal and very sort of zingy.

0:47:210:47:26

She is not a great fan of follow spots,

0:47:260:47:31

which obviously in classical ballet are used very much.

0:47:310:47:34

She is much more interested in, as I am, in creating a world

0:47:340:47:39

and an atmosphere.

0:47:390:47:40

In ballet performance,

0:47:470:47:49

you very rarely hear anything other then the orchestra.

0:47:490:47:52

But for narrative emphasis, the sound designer adds extra layers.

0:47:520:47:58

Well, you can't make the music any better.

0:47:580:48:00

It does what it does, it does it obviously very well and beautifully.

0:48:000:48:04

But what I can do is help the dramatic storytelling.

0:48:040:48:08

That you can influence by using sound effects in this specific way.

0:48:080:48:12

And as far as I am concerned, I treat it just like I would a play.

0:48:140:48:18

There is a scene set in a garden, a scene set during the night.

0:48:180:48:21

And therefore I will add sound effects which help

0:48:240:48:28

the audience understand that it is hot or that it is cold.

0:48:280:48:31

So it is simply applying theatrical techniques to it.

0:48:310:48:34

Luckily we have a week in which to get to a run through where

0:48:360:48:41

we can see it for the first time as a piece of theatre.

0:48:410:48:47

It starts to reveal itself.

0:48:470:48:49

Sometimes things work just like that, immediately.

0:48:500:48:54

You think, wow, that looks beautiful.

0:48:540:48:56

And other times it's like, this is not quite the way I imagined it.

0:48:560:49:01

For many of the people who come to watch and enjoy your work,

0:49:030:49:07

there are people who wouldn't necessarily go to classical dance

0:49:070:49:12

which they might find rather intimidating.

0:49:120:49:14

You somehow found an audience and invited an audience in,

0:49:140:49:19

you can have fun, come and enjoy this.

0:49:190:49:21

And going back in time to music and dance

0:49:210:49:24

and forms that are a part of our history and our DNA.

0:49:240:49:28

Yes, it is a good point because the history of dance has become

0:49:280:49:31

a very important element in what I do as a choreographer.

0:49:310:49:36

I love dipping into different eras of dance,

0:49:360:49:39

different styles of dance which is why I'm very difficult to

0:49:390:49:43

pinpoint as a particular style of choreography, I think.

0:49:430:49:47

But the classical ballets that I have reinterpreted,

0:49:490:49:52

I'm very conscious of the original when I make those pieces.

0:49:520:49:55

Although I am known, I suppose, for sort of reinventing them

0:49:580:50:02

in my own way, I am very reverential in other ways about them.

0:50:020:50:05

I am very sort of careful to be conscious of where

0:50:050:50:09

they have come from.

0:50:090:50:11

I kind of want to please the people who know them really well.

0:50:130:50:17

As well as invite this new audience in,

0:50:170:50:19

I want people to get the fact that I know where it is coming from.

0:50:190:50:23

I think what he saw in the Tchaikovsky scores,

0:50:290:50:33

he saw the cinematic quality of the music.

0:50:330:50:38

He had seen enough musicals to understand

0:50:400:50:43

the potential of these pieces as theatre pieces

0:50:430:50:46

rather than just as ballets.

0:50:460:50:49

And he said to me, the trouble is the public have got

0:50:490:50:53

it into their minds that modern dance is boring.

0:50:530:50:56

That needs a lot of work.

0:50:570:50:59

And, to a great extent, he is right.

0:50:590:51:03

In any dance city, there is going to be an animosity between

0:51:060:51:10

ballet and modern.

0:51:100:51:12

And normally the ballet people can be the snobs about it.

0:51:120:51:15

But Matthew Bourne has made a form of modern dance

0:51:150:51:19

that is actually more popular than ballet.

0:51:190:51:21

So he can make a show that runs for weeks unbroken.

0:51:230:51:27

You could say he had a limited palette

0:51:330:51:36

if what he was doing was simply making classical ballets.

0:51:360:51:40

But there is more to a theatrical work than just the steps.

0:51:400:51:45

The thing that Matthew is very, very good at,

0:51:450:51:48

almost the best at, is telling a story.

0:51:480:51:51

And sometimes,

0:51:510:51:54

the best way of telling a story is not to tell it through footwork.

0:51:540:51:58

I think he has been hugely successful

0:52:020:52:05

because he wants to put on popular work.

0:52:050:52:08

He is not afraid to sort of incur the wrath of the dance

0:52:080:52:13

establishment by doing something that might upset them.

0:52:130:52:18

He does it because, A - he believes in it, and B - he wants to entertain

0:52:180:52:23

and bring people who have never been to the ballet to see his work.

0:52:230:52:28

The big hurdle, I guess, to overcome is coming to London with the piece.

0:52:400:52:45

So I am quite nervous about the London opening.

0:52:450:52:48

And there will always be some critics,

0:52:480:52:51

I guess, particularly with a piece like this, Sleeping Beauty,

0:52:510:52:56

which is a sort of hallowed classical piece, who are always going to

0:52:560:53:01

take exception to some of the things I have done with it.

0:53:010:53:04

But the way I see it, for 98% of the audience,

0:53:080:53:11

they couldn't care less about that.

0:53:110:53:13

They just want to enjoy the story and be taken somewhere

0:53:130:53:18

exciting theatrically and that is what we're all about.

0:53:180:53:21

I am definitely feeling nervous.

0:53:230:53:25

At the moment we have got a show which is in really good shape.

0:53:250:53:30

But as ever, it is a living and breathing thing

0:53:300:53:33

and it will change day to day, week to week,

0:53:330:53:36

but I don't think there will ever be a point where I am not nervous.

0:53:360:53:40

-You look quite tired.

-Yes, I am tired.

0:53:420:53:44

You know, you're watching every show, you're rehearsing every day,

0:53:440:53:48

you don't sleep very well, you worry a lot.

0:53:480:53:51

And the company, do they feel kind of confident at this point?

0:53:510:53:54

It's always an added buzz when you come to London,

0:53:540:53:58

they feel they have been working towards it so there is

0:53:580:54:01

a certain amount of nerves coming into Sadler's Wells.

0:54:010:54:04

But it adds to the excitement of the show and being here.

0:54:040:54:09

Pure genius.

0:54:220:54:24

I mean, the way he reinvents classics is unique,

0:54:240:54:28

nobody can do it as well as Matthew.

0:54:280:54:31

I have got goose pimples, it was brilliant.

0:54:310:54:34

He has brought it up to date, he has made it absolutely now

0:54:340:54:37

and yet it will not date, this will go on for ever.

0:54:370:54:40

Considering I have done four different productions,

0:54:400:54:43

this is a cool one.

0:54:430:54:44

I love the baby, especially, and I love the dark side, very much.

0:54:440:54:51

I think... Ah!

0:54:510:54:52

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