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

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. Even before the inception of AMP, Bourne was fascinated by theatre, by characterization, and by the history of dance. In his early works - "Spitfire", "Town & Country" and "Deadly Serious" - Bourne brought a novel approach to dance. And in his reworkings of the classics of the ballet canon - "Nutcracker", "Swan Lake", "Cinderella" - Bourne created witty, vivid, poignant productions that received great acclaim. 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, living in New York. Before that, he lived and worked in London. He served as chief theatre critic of The Financial Times (for which he also reviewed dance and music) 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. In 1983, he was founding editor of the British quarterly Dance Theatre Journal. In 1988 and 1992, he served as guest dance critic to The New Yorker. In 1998, his biography of Margot Fonteyn was published by Sutton Books. He has contributed to books on the choreographers Frederick Ashton, Merce Cunningham, and Mark Morris. 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. "Matthew Bourne and His Adventures in Motion Pictures," was first published in 2000.