Daily Inspiration Quote by Matthew Bourne

Bourne is selling a promise, but not the bland kind that says “something for everyone.” He’s staking his brand on tonal whiplash: funny and moving in the same breath, not as separate menu items. The point is control. Dance can be stereotyped as either lofty and abstract or purely virtuosic; Bourne counters by framing his work as narrative entertainment with emotional stakes, where comedy isn’t a garnish but a delivery system for vulnerability. Laughter lowers the guard. Then the “moving” lands harder.

The subtext is also defensive in a savvy way. When a choreographer insists audiences “know” they’ll be surprised, he’s addressing a cultural problem: contemporary dance can feel like a risk purchase, especially outside major arts capitals. Bourne turns uncertainty into an asset. Surprise becomes the product, not the byproduct, and that’s a very modern pitch in an attention economy where people want to feel something but hate feeling excluded. His “bit of everything” isn’t compromise; it’s accessibility without capitulation.

Context matters: Bourne rose to wide visibility by rewriting classics (most famously Swan Lake) with pop-theatrical clarity and a willingness to puncture reverence. That history sits behind “my company is known,” a line that reads like confidence but functions as reassurance. You won’t need a decoder ring. You’ll get story, humor, and impact - and the permission to react like a regular human, not an initiated art-world insider.