4 dance works by Matthew Bourne to be streamed in March

The LG Arts Center will stream four never-before-seen works in Korea by celebrated choreographer Matthew Bourne.

The four pieces created by Bourne -- “The Red Shoes,” “The Car Man,” “Cinderella” and “Romeo and Juliet” -- will be streamed in March, the arts center announced Tuesday.

Bourne’s dance company New Adventures was to perform “The Red Shoes” in Korea last year at the LG Arts Center, but was later canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Red Shoes,” an adaptation of the eponymous ballet film in 1948, features dancer Ashley Shaw as the lead character Victoria Page. Shaw won the National Dance Award for Outstanding Female Performances for her rendition.

While the erotic dance-thriller “The Car Man” had premiered in 2000, it has remained a popular repertoire of the dance company ever since. It was inspired by the opera “Carmen” and James M. Cain’s much-adapted novel “The Postman Always Rings Twice.”

“Cinderella” is based on ballet music composed by Sergei Prokofiev in 1944. Bourne sets the well-known fairytale in the World War II period. The online streaming at LG Arts Center will be a recording of the troupe’s 2017 performance in London, accompanied by a 60-person live orchestra.

“Romeo and Juliet,” based on the Shakespeare tragedy, reflects Bourne’s “ambition to support the next generation,” the choreographer has said, featuring dancers between the age of 16 to 19 selected through an audition.

Bourne, best-known for his contemporary ballet version of “Swan Lake,” which features muscular male dancers as the swans, is an internationally acclaimed British choreographer who has won the Laurence Oliver Award nine times. He was knighted in 2016 for his contribution to the world of dance.

The online streaming of the four works will be available every Friday and Saturday, March 5-27. Each work will be streamed twice during the period through the online video streaming platform Naver TV for 10,000 won per show.

Reservations open on Feb. 16 on Naver TV.

By Im Eun-byel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)