Matthew started his dance training at the comparatively late age of 22. He studied Dance Theatre and Choreography at The Laban Centre (now Trinity Laban) graduating in 1985 and spending a further year with the college’s performance company Transitions. Matthew danced professionally for 14 years creating many roles in his own work. 

As Artistic Director of his first company, Adventures in Motion Pictures from 1987 until 2002 Matthew created many award-winning works for the Company including "Spitfire" (1988), "The Infernal Galop" (1989), "Town and Country" (1991), "Deadly Serious" (1992), "Nutcracker!" (1992), "Highland Fling" (1994), "Swan Lake" (1995), "Cinderella" (1997) and "The Car Man" (2000). The most iconic productions have been revived for New Adventures, which was launched by Matthew and his Co-Director Robert Noble in 2002. Ground-breaking new productions were added to the repertoire including "Play Without Words" (2002 – a co-production with the National Theatre), "Edward Scissorhands" (2005), "Dorian Gray" (2008), "Lord Of The Flies" (2011 – Director Only), "Early Adventures" (2012 – a compilation of his early work) and "Sleeping Beauty" (2012). New Adventures is now the most successful and busiest dance company in the UK and a major exporter of British dance across the world.

In 2016, New Adventures presented the World Premiere of Matthew Bourne’s latest work, "The Red Shoes", based on the classic Powell & Pressburger film with music by Bernard Herrmann.

Source : The company New Adventure 's website

More information : new-adventures.net

Rosella Hightower liked to say of her student Jean-Christophe Maillot, that his life was just a union of opposites. In fact, for the current Choreographer-Director of the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, dance combines with theatre, enters the ring under a big top, evolves into the arena of visual arts, is fuelled by the most diverse scores and explores different forms of literature... His repertoire of 80 ballets (35 created in Monaco) draws from the world of art in the broadest sense and each ballet is a sketch book which feeds the following work. Thus, over 30 years, Jean-Christophe Maillot has created an ensemble of sixty pieces ranging from great narrative ballets to shorter formats, and where multiple connections reflect a work which forms part of the history and diversity. Neither classical nor contemporary, not even between the two, Jean-Christophe Maillot refuses to adhere to one style and designs dance like a dialogue where tradition on pointes and the avant-garde are no longer mutually exclusive. 

Born in 1960, Jean-Christophe Maillot studied dance and piano at the Conservatoire National de Région de Tours, before joining the Rosella Hightower International School of Dance in Cannes until winning the Prix de Lausanne in 1977. He was then hired by John Neumeier at the Hamburg Ballet, where he danced in principal roles as a soloist for five years. An accident brought his dancing career to an abrupt end. 

In 1983, he was appointed choreographer and director of the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Tours, which later became a National Centre of Choreography. He created around twenty ballets for this company and in 1985, founded the Dance Festival, "Le Chorégraphique". In 1987, he created Le Mandarin Merveilleux for the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, which was a great success. He became the company's Artistic Advisor for the 1992-1993 season and was then appointed Director-Choreographer by H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover in September 1993. 

His arrival at the Ballets de Monte-Carlo set the company on a new path that quickly developed the level of maturity and excellence for which this company of 50 dancers has been renowned for 20 years. He has created almost 40 ballets for the company, some of which, such as Vers un pays sage (1995), Romeo and Juliet (1996), Cinderella (1999) La Belle (2001), Le Songe (2005), Altro Canto (2006), Faust (2007), LAC (2011), CHORE (2013) and Casse-Noisette Compagnie (2013) have forged the reputation of the Ballets de Monte-Carlo across the world. Several of these works are now included in the repertoires of major international ballet companies, such as the Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Korean National Ballet, the Stuttgart Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre and the Béjart Ballet Lausanne. In 2014, he creates La Mégère Apprivoisée for the Ballet of Bolshoi Theatre.

Also aware of the work of other artists, Jean-Christophe Maillot is known for his spirit of openness and his commitment to inviting choreographers with a different style to create for the company. In 2000, this same desire to present the choreographic art in all its many forms led him to create with Stéphane Martin the Monaco Dance Forum, an international showcase for dance which presents an eclectic proliferation of shows, exhibitions, workshops and conferences.

In 2007, he produced his first stage opera, Faust for the Hessisches Staatstheater and in 2009 Norma for the Monte-Carlo Opera. In 2007, he created his first choreographic film with Cinderella then Le Songe in 2008. In 2009, he developed the content and coordinated the Centenary of the Ballets Russes in Monaco, which would see over 50 companies and choreographers pass through the Principality in one year, providing entertainment for 60,000 audience members. In 2011, dance in Monaco underwent a major and historical change. Under the presidency of H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover, the Ballets de Monte-Carlo now incorporates the Ballets de Monte-Carlo Company, the Monaco Dance Forum and the Princess Grace Academy under a single organisation. Jean-Christophe Maillot was appointed head of this organisation which now unites the excellence of an international company, the benefits of a multi-format festival and the potential of a high-level school.

DISTINCTIONS

1993 : Appointed Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by The Minister of Culture Jack Lang.

1999 : Appointed Officier of l’Ordre du Mérite Culturel de la Principauté de Monaco by S.A.S. Rainier III.

2002 : Appointed Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur by The president of the Republic Jacques Chirac.

2005 : Appointed Chevalier of the Ordre de Saint-Charles par S.A.S. Albert II de Monaco.

2014 : Appointed Commandeur of the Ordre du Mérite Culturel de la Principauté de Monaco by S.A.S Albert II de Monaco.

2015 : Appointed Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by The Minister of Culture Fleur Pellerin.

2016 : Received the Médaille Pouchkine.

2018 : Received the Life Time Achievement Award Prix de Lausanne.

AWARDS

2001 : « Nijinsky » award of the Best production for La Belle.

2002 : « Danza & Danza » award of the Best performance for La Belle. 

2008 : « Benois de la Danse » of the Best choreographer for Faust, awarded by Yuri Grigorovitch in Moscou.

En 2010 : « Premio Dansa Valencia 2010 ».

En 2015 : Golden Mask of the Best performance for La Mégère Apprivoisée. Thanks to this choreography, Ekaterina Krysanova received the Golden Mask of the Best dancer (in the role of Katharina) and Vladislav Lantratov received also the Golden Mask of the Best dancer (in the role of Petruchio). 

Source : Les Ballets de Monte Carlo

More information : http://www.balletsdemontecarlo.com/ 

(1947-2019)

Andy De Groat was born in 1947 in the United States into a family of Dutch, Italian, French, German and English origins. Whilst studying at the New York School of Fine Art in 1967, he met the director Robert Wilson. He joined his troupe as a dancer, then as a choreographer for all the productions from Deafman Glance in 1971, A Letter for Queen Victoria in 1974 to Einstein on the Beach in 1976, created for the Avignon Festival.
In 1981, he received a grant from the Guggenheim Foundation in New York for his choreographic research.
He created new works in succession for red notes, including several for Jean Guizerix, Wilfride Piollet, Jean-Christophe Paré, the Choreographic Research Group of the Opera of Paris (GRCOP), the Scala in Milan, Ris et Danceries, the Ballet du Nord (Roubaix) and Wah Loo Tin Tin Co, a Montauban-based company of young performers.

Today, his work totals over sixty creations that have been presented in around twenty countries and periodically goes back to questioning the repertoire and the heritage of dance.

His company has worked regularly on lyrical productions since 1988, in particular on "The Magic Flute" (Mozart), with Robert Wilson at the Opera Bastille, Paris, "The Rake's Progress" (Stravinsky), with Alfredo Arias for the Aix-en-Provence Festival of Lyric Art and at the Operas of Lyon, Gênes and Montpellier, "Aida" (Verdi) and Klaus Michael Grüber at the Amsterdam Opera.

Source : website of the Centre national de la danse (CND, Pantin)

Raimund Hoghe was born in Wuppertal and began his career by writing portraits of outsiders and celebrities for the German weekly newspaper "Die Zeit". These were later compiled in several books. From 1980 - 90 he worked as dramaturge for Pina Bausch's Tanztheater Wuppertal which also became the subject matter for two more books. Since 1989 he has been working on his own theatre pieces for various dancers and actors. 1992 started his collaboration with the artist Luca Giacomo Schulte, who is till now his artistic collaborator. In 1994 he produced his first solo for himself, "Meinwärts", which together with the subsequent "Chambre séparée" (1997) and "Another Dream" (2000) made up a trilogy on the 20th century.
 Since 2002, Raimund Hoghe works also on group pieces : "Sarah, Vincent et moi" (2002), "Young People, Old Voices" (2002), "Tanzgescchichten" (2003), "Swan Lake,4 Acts" (2005), and the duo "Sacre - The Rite of the Sprin" (2004) with Lorenzo De Brabandere. He went back to the solo form in 2007 with "36, Avenue Georges Mandel" created in Seoul and presented during the Festival d'Avignon. Raimund Hoghe follows his cycle on classical and history of dance pieces with "Boléro Variations" in 2007 ( creation for the Centre Pompidou / Festival d'Automne in Paris) and the solo "L'Après-midi", for the dancer Emmanuel Eggermont, on Claude Debussy "Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune" and Gustav Mahler "Lieder" (creation in Festival Montpellier Danse 2008 /Théâtre du Hangar).

Hoghe frequently works for television on projects such as "Der Buckel", his 1997 hour-long self portrait for WDR (West German Radio and Television). His books have been translated into several languages and he has presented his performances all over Europe, as well as in Japan and Australia. He lives in Düsseldorf and has been awarded several prizes including the "Deutscher Produzentenpreis für Choreografie" in 2001, the French Prix de la Critique in 2006 for "Swan Lake, 4 Acts" (in the category "Best Foreign Piece"). Critics from the magazin ballet-tanz awarded him "Dancer of the Year" for 2008.

Source : Raimund Hoghe 's website

More information : raimundhoghe.com

Robyn Orlin was born in 1955 in Johannesburg and obtained bursaries to study in London (London Contemporary Dance School) and then in Chicago (School of Art Institute).

Since her first performance in Johannesburg in 1980, she has attempted to redefine choreography and the art of theatre in her country and has become one of the most committed anti-apartheid choreographers. She starts from the principle that “dance is political”, and in her pieces she examines the social and cultural situation in South Africa: its influences, its history, its rifts and its disintegration. The choreography then creates “an iconoclastic dance which puts its foot in it”, a dance-chronicle of today's South African society, skilfully handling irony and derision; a dance that shamelessly stirs up references and identities, blending traditional popular culture with the radical avant-garde, a dance that is capable of breaking down the artist-audience barrier by putting the audience at the centre of the event.

Robyn Orlin came to France for the first time in April 2000 at the invitation of La Filature Scène Nationale, Mulhouse, with “Daddy, I've seen this piece six times before...”

She achieved immediate recognition: Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis, Montpellier Dance Festival, Théâtre de la Ville, Paris, followed by tours all over the world.

In 2004, Robyn Orlin took part in the inauguration of the Centre National de la Danse, Pantin and composed a solo for Sophiatou Kossoko as part of “Vif du Sujet”.

In 2005 she created “When I take off my skin and touch the sky with my nose, only then I can see little voices amuse themselves...”, a piece with 6 singers from the South African Opera, then, during the summer, “Hey dude... i have talent... i'm just waiting for god...,” a solo for the dancer-choreographer Vera Mantero.
  From September 2005 Robyn Orlin was in residency for two years at the Centre National de la Danse, Pantin. In April 2007 her “L'Allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato” was premièred at the Paris National Opera.

Source : 

Digital resource - Médiathèque du Centre national de la danse
http://mediatheque.cnd.fr/spip.php?page=mediatheque-numerique-ressource&id=PHO00003887

 More information :  robynorlin.com