Christopher Hampson was born in Manchester, and trained at the Royal Ballet Schools. After graduating in 1992 he joined English National Ballet (ENB) where danced as a soloist until 1999. His roles with ENB included Drosselmeyer in Deane’s Nutcracker, Paris in Nureyev’s Romeo and Juliet, the Headmistress in Graduation Ball and the lead role in Balanchine’s Square Dance. He has danced in works by Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan, Robert North, Mauro Bigonzetti, Ben Stevenson, Ronald Hynd, Glen Tetley, Michael Corder, Hans Van Manen and Wayne Sleep.
Christopher has created numerous works for English National Ballet including Perpetuum Mobile, Country Garden, Concerto Grosso, The Nutcracker and Double Concerto, which won the Barclays Theatre Award and the Critics’ Circle Award for Best Classical Choreography.
Works for other companies include, Coda for Three Men for Wayne Sleep’s Coliseum Season, Notturno, created for Thomas Edur and Agnes Oaks, Dinaresade and Canciones for City Ballet of London, and Homage to a Princess, specially created for Tamara Rojo and Johan Kobburg to mark the 70th Birthday of Princess Margaret.
Christopher’s Romeo and Juliet, created for Royal New Zealand Ballet, was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award (Best New Production 2005) and his production of Giselle for the National Theatre in Prague has been performed every year since it’s premiere in 2004. Christopher created Sinfonietta Giocosa, for the Atlanta Ballet in the U.S.A. and, after a New York tour it received its UK premiere with ENB in 2007. He created a new Cinderella for the Royal New Zealand Ballet, which was hailed, Best New Production by the New Zealand Herald and televised in 2009. His work has toured Australia, China, U.S.A. and Europe. His most recent commissions are: Dear Norman (Royal Ballet, 2009), Sextet (Ballet Black/ROH2, 2010), Flow (English National Ballet School, 2010) and Silhouette (Royal New Zealand Ballet, 2010).
Christopher has been a guest teacher for English National Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, Northern Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Atlanta Ballet, Bonachela Dance Company, Mathew Bourne’s New Adventures and the Genée International Ballet Competition. Christopher’s work now forms part of the Solo Seal Award for the Royal Academy of Dance.
In 2012 Christopher was appointed Artistic Director of Scottish Ballet and in 2015 he was also appointed Executive Director.
