Live ballet filmed in high definition: you feel as if you are there, watching Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, Cinderella, The Red Shoes, and Romeo and Juliet
- Love letters to live theatre, the films of four Bourne productions being shown in Hong Kong and New York bring home how innovative the British choreographer is
- His visual ideas often come from movies, and in the case of The Red Shoes the music too – from soundtracks to the films of Alfred Hitchcock
When coronavirus pandemic lockdowns started in the UK exactly a year ago, British choreographer Matthew Bourne and his dance company, New Adventures, had just made several high-definition films of their ballet productions that could be made available for streaming. It has turned out to be an excellent move.
The series has already been shown in Los Angeles and Russia. This month it is the turn of Hong Kong – as a highlight of this year’s Arts Festival – and New York, with a different show each weekend for viewing in the theatre that is now people’s own homes.
“It’s opened up a kind of income source for some of the companies who are struggling at the moment … and once we do go back to life performances, I think it’ll continue hand in hand with live work,” Bourne says during an interview via Zoom.
The dance films include Bourne’s critically acclaimed all-male Swan Lake, Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, and The Red Shoes. The first two have already been shown as part of the festival in Hong Kong. These screenings are no substitute for live theatre – but they are a love letter to it.
“It’s sort of become quite a big thing at the moment because you do get a sense of the live experience from the films. And it’s the nearest we can get at the moment,” says Bourne. He’s been an audience member himself over the past year for online productions from other dance companies.
“I really got into New York City Ballet: they were posting things regularly and I sort of fell in love with this company that you never really get the chance to see in the UK. I really got into the style and the dancers and – you know – it was a way of getting to know a company that isn’t close to home.”
