Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne (born 13 January 1960) is a British choreographer whose work includes ballet, contemporary dance, dance theatre and musical theatre. Career Sir Matthew Bourne (OBE) is a British choreographer, dancer and artistic director of dance company, New Adventures. He is best known for his unique re-imaginings of traditional ballet, such as his 1995 production of Swan Lake, where he replaced the traditionally female corps-de-ballet with a male ensemble. Swan Lake (Bourne) went on to be the longest running ballet in London's West End and New York City's Broadway. The production earned him the title as the only British director to win both 'Best Choreographer' and 'Best Director' in the same year at the 1999 Tony Awards. On the iconic appeal of Swan Lake at the time, The New Yorker said, 'what was important about the gender switch was that it made this old love story romantic again, by making it seem dangerous.' In 2016 he was knighted as part of Queen Elizabeth II 2016 New Year Honours list for 'Services to Dance'. His admirers say that he has 'broadened the definition of ballet in a way that has consistently appealed to young audiences' Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Bourne has been creating notable works in dance, musical theatre and film since 1986. He has created many productions with his dance companies New Adventures and AMP, as well as choreographed musicals for the West End such as Mary Poppins and My Fair Lady. Productions include The Red Shoes (ballet), The Car Man (Bourne) (based on Bizet's Carmen) and Edward Scissorhands (dance) among many others. The company has often reinvented many traditional Tchaikovsky ballets, such as The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty, placing them in a new, filmic context to enliven their potential for storytelling for a modern audience. Bourne has also adapted famous cinema and literature for the stage, such as a dance version of Tim Burton's 1990 film Edward Scissorhands, Hans Christian Andersen and Pressburger's The Red Shoes (1948 film) and Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. Bourne is described after an interview with the New Yorker in 2007 as a particularly 'audience-conscious artist'. Bourne highlights the importance of intervals for the audience, "in the second half they’re always more demonstrative, because they’ve talked to their friends and decided that it’s O.K. to enjoy it." He goes on to explain how he always asks company dancers to offer warmth in their