Born in Lincoln, England, Jane Bourne trained at the Benesh Institute of Choreology in London and worked with Leonide Massine notating La Tricorne for the London Festival Ballet (now the English National Ballet). Following her graduation, Bourne spent some time with The Royal Ballet’s educational touring unit, Ballet for All, notating Birth of The Royal Ballet and Harliquinade.

In 1974, Bourne joined the Stuttgart Ballet as Choreologist to assist in the completion of the notation scores of the John Cranko repertoire. While at Stuttgart, she also notated new productions, working with choreographers Sir Kenneth MacMillan, John Neumeier, Glen Tetley, William Forsythe, and Uwe Scholz.

Bourne has staged Cranko’s ballets (Onegin, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, The Lady and the Fool, Jeu de Cartes, Brouillards) for companies around the world, including the Royal Swedish Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, Australian Ballet, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, Bolshoi Ballet, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro dell’Opera Rome, Teatro Municipale Chile, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Paris Opera Ballet, National Ballet of China and The Royal Ballet.

In 1991, Bourne was awarded a fellowship of the Benesh Institute.

Courtesy of American Ballet Theatre