Today, Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) launches the tenth series of its Why Dance Matters podcast with an episode with Sir Matthew Bourne.

Matthew Bourne is firmly established as the UK’s most popular and successful choreographer and director. He is the creator of the world’s longest running ballet production, a record-breaking nine time Olivier Award winner, and the only British director to have won the Tony Award for both Best Choreographer and Best Director of a Musical.

His company New Adventures performs Matthew’s signature works, including Nutcracker!, Swan Lake, The Car Man, Edward Scissorhands and Romeo and Juliet. He is also an award-winning West End and Broadway choreographer. He has been recognised by over 50 international awards, and was knighted in 2016; in the same year he was awarded the RAD’s Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award in recognition of his outstanding services to dance.

In this episode, Sir Matthew Bourne talks about why dance matters and digs deep into his award-winning interpretation of Swan Lake which tours from 2024-25 as part of its 30th anniversary.

On his Swan Lake:

“Back in 1995, the idea of a male swan was a very difficult thing at the time for people to imagine what that might look like…”

On why he started to dance:

“My parents took me to see a lot of big musicals in the 60s. I loved it, and I wanted to recreate those dances. So, I became a self-taught dancer through my teen years, putting on shows.

I didn’t discover ballet until my late teens. I actually went to see Swan Lake just out of self-education. After that I got so hooked and that’s where everything started.”

On why dance matters:

“Dance has always been my form of telling a story; my form of communicating with people. I think that’s why dance matters on the wider scale because it is so totally universal.”

Why Dance Matters is available to stream via all major streaming platforms. Listen here: https://embed.acast.com/605cb25f381b45645f1b99e2/672a0ccc31f920f4df2bc824