Matthew Bourne & Glenn Graham Interview: Recruiting Young Talent
Title
Matthew Bourne & Glenn Graham Interview: Recruiting Young Talent
Date
14 November 2018
Description
Oral history interview with Matthew Bourne & Glenn Graham of New Adventures, a unique dance-theatre company, a regular visitor to the Theatre Royal.
What's the story?
Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne OBE was born in Hackney, London in 1960. He started training as a dancer at the age of 22. He later went on to become sole artistic director of Adventures in Motion Pictures (AMP) and subsequently his latest company New Adventures in 2002.
Glenn Graham was born in Nottingham in 1980 and was educated at Top Valley Comprehensive School and Clarendon College. He was professionally trained at the Rambert School of Ballet & Contemporary Dance before joining New Adventures in 2003.
In this interview Matthew and Glenn talk about how young dancers are recruited and about local recruitment for the newest production Romeo and Juliet.
Matthew: “We do take it very seriously that we’re quite an inspiring company for younger people, and older people, actually. Because we do different kinds of projects, but obviously mostly young people. We realise that we’re doing a kind of dance work which is very different to a lot of other companies and that a lot of young people see themselves, like Glenn did, up on stage seeing something you think “that’s me, I could be part of that”. You know there’s a lot of young people who don’t necessarily see themselves in a tutu or in white tights. There are young people who do and that’s great, brilliant that they do that and they want to be that. I’ve nothing against that at all. But there are other kinds of young people who see different things, who want to see different role models up there and I think we have to accept that we, as dancers, in the Company, we are role models for a lot of young people. And that’s something we do take very seriously.”
Glenn: “I think it should be worthwhile mentioning that three of the cast members in this current Swan Lake are from The Lord of the Flies. So a lot of those boys had never danced before, four years ago and they came and did Lord of the Flies, which was a lot of young people on stage, sharing the stage with professionals, touring in your local area. And here they are now. They’ve gone away, got training after being part of that project and here they are with the Company. That’s amazing.”
Matthew: “Well, again, we worked with each venue that we went to in the run and got their advice on where we should go to find the young men, boys, for that project: local groups, local schools, where they felt were some good possibilities of finding some young people. Because for that project we weren’t looking for dancers necessarily. We were looking for young men who had an interest in getting involved in something that was theatrical and maybe dance theatre. They wanted to be part of something. And it intrigued them. They didn’t have to have had training. Some of them were already toying with that a little bit, but that wasn’t the essential thing, it was about wanting to get involved and having some sort of potential, really. So that’s how we recruited them and many of them have gone on into training. And we’re doing it again here next year with Romeo and Juliet, but it’s a different kind of project. This time we’re looking for both men and women, but who are already in training. So dancers who have not had a professional career yet, but are on the edge of that professional career, but it’s been more of a talent search between the ages of 16 and 19 and we’re bringing from each city that we go to, six talented young people into the production and rehearsing specifically with them for a week before. And they build up into this with rehearsals throughout the year. So the nature of the project is different, but it’s the same sort of thing about developing talent, but at a stage later, in a way. So it’s very exciting.”
Glenn Graham was born in Nottingham in 1980 and was educated at Top Valley Comprehensive School and Clarendon College. He was professionally trained at the Rambert School of Ballet & Contemporary Dance before joining New Adventures in 2003.
In this interview Matthew and Glenn talk about how young dancers are recruited and about local recruitment for the newest production Romeo and Juliet.
Matthew: “We do take it very seriously that we’re quite an inspiring company for younger people, and older people, actually. Because we do different kinds of projects, but obviously mostly young people. We realise that we’re doing a kind of dance work which is very different to a lot of other companies and that a lot of young people see themselves, like Glenn did, up on stage seeing something you think “that’s me, I could be part of that”. You know there’s a lot of young people who don’t necessarily see themselves in a tutu or in white tights. There are young people who do and that’s great, brilliant that they do that and they want to be that. I’ve nothing against that at all. But there are other kinds of young people who see different things, who want to see different role models up there and I think we have to accept that we, as dancers, in the Company, we are role models for a lot of young people. And that’s something we do take very seriously.”
Glenn: “I think it should be worthwhile mentioning that three of the cast members in this current Swan Lake are from The Lord of the Flies. So a lot of those boys had never danced before, four years ago and they came and did Lord of the Flies, which was a lot of young people on stage, sharing the stage with professionals, touring in your local area. And here they are now. They’ve gone away, got training after being part of that project and here they are with the Company. That’s amazing.”
Matthew: “Well, again, we worked with each venue that we went to in the run and got their advice on where we should go to find the young men, boys, for that project: local groups, local schools, where they felt were some good possibilities of finding some young people. Because for that project we weren’t looking for dancers necessarily. We were looking for young men who had an interest in getting involved in something that was theatrical and maybe dance theatre. They wanted to be part of something. And it intrigued them. They didn’t have to have had training. Some of them were already toying with that a little bit, but that wasn’t the essential thing, it was about wanting to get involved and having some sort of potential, really. So that’s how we recruited them and many of them have gone on into training. And we’re doing it again here next year with Romeo and Juliet, but it’s a different kind of project. This time we’re looking for both men and women, but who are already in training. So dancers who have not had a professional career yet, but are on the edge of that professional career, but it’s been more of a talent search between the ages of 16 and 19 and we’re bringing from each city that we go to, six talented young people into the production and rehearsing specifically with them for a week before. And they build up into this with rehearsals throughout the year. So the nature of the project is different, but it’s the same sort of thing about developing talent, but at a stage later, in a way. So it’s very exciting.”
Type
Oral interview
Location of item
Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Rights
Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Contributor
Interviewers: Jennifer Sherwood and Diane Jones
Transcriber: David Chilton
Transcriber: David Chilton
