Matthew Bourne and His Adventures in Dance: Conversations with Alastair Macaulay

Description

In 1987, a small, aspirant dance group with a striking name made its debut on the London fringe. In 1996, Adventures in Motion Pictures made history as the first modern dance company to open a production in London's West End. From this achievement, AMP sailed triumphantly to Broadway - winning three Tony Awards - guided by Artistic Director Matthew Bourne. In the first decade of the new millennium, the company name was changed to New Adventures, and Bourne's 'classics', as well as Bourne's new works - The Car Man, Play Without Words, Edward Scissorhands and Dorian Gray - achieved levels of box-office popularity that have seldom, if ever, been matched in dance. In addition, his choreography for various musicals - My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins and Oliver! - have run for years in the West End and on Broadway. The detail in which Bourne discusses his work with Alastair Macaulay is unprecedented. The two explore Bourne's upbringing, his training and influences, and his distinctive creative methods. Bourne's notebooks, his sources and his collaboration with dancers all from part of the discussion in this book.

Alastair Macaulay has been chief dance critic of The New York Times since 2007. He served as chief theatre critic of The Financial Times between 1994 and 2007, as chief dance critic to the Times Literary Supplement, and as a leading examiner and lecturer in dance history at various academic institutions in Britain. He first met Matthew Bourne while a teacher of dance history at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance where Bourne was then a student.