Art & Creativity Quote by Matthew Bourne

Bourne’s line reads like an artist’s credo, but it’s also a defensive maneuver - a way of staking legitimacy in an art form that’s perpetually accused of being “just entertainment.” When he says he wants the “dance audience” to “respond and respect,” he’s naming a particular tribunal: not casual ticket-buyers, but insiders who can smell choreography that’s clever on the surface and hollow underneath. The anxiety isn’t about applause; it’s about credibility.

The insistence on being “true to the music” is doing double duty. On paper, it’s humility: the choreographer as servant to the score. Underneath, it’s a claim of authority. Bourne doesn’t say he obeys the music; he says he “honour[s]” it “in the way I see it,” a quiet reminder that fidelity is interpretive, not mechanical. He’s arguing for a version of respect that allows bold choices without tipping into gimmickry.

“I don’t mess around with the music” lands with special force in Bourne’s cultural context: a choreographer famous for reimagining classics for mass audiences, sometimes with pop-inflected swagger, always under suspicion from purists. The phrase “mess around” rejects the cheap thrill - choreography that treats music like a prop, a soundtrack to mugging or narrative overkill. He’s drawing a line between adaptation and vandalism: you can twist the story, change the setting, even subvert expectations, but the score is the moral center. That’s how you win both the crowd and the connoisseurs.