Dark 'Beauty' thrills Chinese audiences

Together with several other young artists, Bourne founded the Adventure in Motion Pictures company in 1987, right after graduation.

"Rather than looking for a job, we created one," he says. "We didn't get paid at the beginning. All of us had part-time jobs." He himself used to work at the bookshop of the National Theatre in London for years after having his own company.

In 2002, he founded his own company, New Adventures.

Bourne has witnessed the rise of male dancers throughout his career. His Swan Lake surely played an important part, where all the swans are male dancers. Also, the movie and TV programs weighed in, as sportsmen and celebrities participated in reality dance shows such as Strictly Come Dancing.

This has not only encouraged men to take up dance as a profession, hence improving the quality of dance performances and enriching the choreography, but it also brings more men into the audiences, he says.

Having grown up as a big fan of classic movies, Bourne says: "The movie has always been my first inspiration."

One of the inspirations for Swan Lake was Hitchcock's film The Birds, he says.

"We all have film images going round and round in our heads, though sometimes I don't know where an image is from. I do use it a lot in these pieces. They are quite cinematic in their storytelling."

If you go

Sleeping Beauty

7:15 pm, Tuesdays-Sundays, Aug 16-28; 2 pm, Aug 21, 27-28. Shanghai Culture Square, 225 Shaanxi Road South, Xuhui district, Shanghai. 021-6472-6000.

7:30 pm, Sept 1-4; 2 pm, Sept 3-4. Beijing Tianqiao Performing Arts Center, Building No 9, Tianqiao South Street, Xicheng district, Beijing. 400-635-3355.