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Christopher Hampson,
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Christopher Hampson, formerly a dancer and choreographer with ENB, has been keeping a diary for us since November 97. Initially he covered the creation of his new ballet ‘Country Garden’ but since then there have been lots of other ballets, and he is now a freelance choreographer and ballet master for City Ballet of London...
Here is a link to the previous column in the series.
March 3rd 2000 Haven't been all that busy this month. My time has been mostly taken up with laying down plans for the Summer and Winter and re-staging works that I created some time ago. Central School of Ballet gave their debut of my ballet "Dinaresade" at the beginning of the month. I was only able to be there for the technical rehearsal so I had a very pleasant surprise on opening night to see that the ballet had been staged with as much care and attention as I would have given.I normally see a ballet through to the opening night, but Dinaresade has been a piece that constantly has to be left with baby-sitters. I created it for Wayne Sleep's company originally and I missed the premiere due to being in Sydney in an arena... The next time it was revived was by City Ballet of London for a Gala at the Ross-on-Wye festival and this time I was at the Sadlers Wells with another ballet. Having missed the dress rehearsal for Central's debut in Illford (honestly, I did have to be somewhere else) I wonder if I'll ever get to stage the bloody thing myself. I recently went to the Royal Opera House to see Coppelia. I enjoyed most of it, but what was so fascinating for me was seeing where Ronnie Hynd had come from with his own production for English National Ballet. It is something I have performed more times than I care to remember, but I never tire of watching it. Ronnie had taken all the best from Madame's original production, but then had the clever idea of making Franz's role worth putting on a jock-strap and make-up for. It is something I admire about Ronnie's work. He can tell stories brilliantly and with such humour. I don't think his production will ever date. The Royal's, I fear, has and although I think it's amazing to be able to see a production that is probably the closest thing to the original I was left thinking that surely the whole audience couldn't be full of choreographers analyzing the merits of mime and form. I was informed only last night by my notator that she has finally finished the first draft of Cancionnes, the ballet I created, dropped and then re-created for City Ballet in Autumn. I cannot explain to you how much work goes into a Benesh Notation score ('cause I can barely comprehend it myself) but if you're reading this Caroline WELL DONE!!!! Having a ballet notated is vital. It allows it to be re-created anywhere in the world by anyone that can speak fluent Benesh. That is the strange thing for me. I normally have absolute control and understanding of every part of ballets both on an artistic and technical level. Now that Caroline has finished her score what I can't do is look at it and point out where I think she has gone wrong, as I don't speak Benese. Therefore, it is vital that we have good communication during the time it is being written up, and this can be illustrated best by the way that when I'm invited to Caroline's for dinner I don't get served an After Eight mint with my cognac...instead I'm quizzed on what count something is or what I intended the movement to be. Caroline is the third notator I have worked with and these people never cease to amaze me. The Benese come from a small Island in Battersia and they produce only two or three offspring a year, so they are very rare indeed and for that reason I've been blessed to have found such a caring one as Caroline. There are a few projects on the horizon that need discussing, but I'm sure you won't mind if I don't tempt fate with my writing about them but all will be revealed in time.
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