Christopher Hampson, New Year, New Resolutions...
	Image © Jan Stary 'Esquisses' reviews ENB 'Nutcracker' reviews RNZB reviews Chistopher Hampson website   Christopher Hampson has been writing for Ballet.co since November 1997 when he was a dancer and choreographer with English National Ballet. Tens of works down the line and Christopher is now an internationally known and respected choreographer. So which far flung place is he in this time... Here is a link to the previous column in the series. Link to later column.     Hampson diary index Happy New Year! One of my new year resolutions is to write my diary more often. A quick glance back over 2005… Atlanta Ballet (See pictures below) Narodni Divadlo (National Theatre, Prague) Visits to Washington Ballet, Ballet du Rhin, West Australian Ballet, Australian Ballet and Basel. Coming up next… Back to Atlanta Ballet to rehearse Sinfonietta Giocosa ready for it to go on tour to New York. This work is now on its third revival and I never get bored rehearsing it. The score, from Bohuslav Martinu, I describe as a 3D rhythmic jigsaw. It has an energy and pulse that won’t let you go. I originally choreographed Sinfonietta to a recording, but on my last visit it was presented at the Fox Theater (a very impressive, if camp, auditorium) to orchestra. The dancers of the Atlanta Ballet were exceptional in their ability to find new dynamics to a work that they have done many times now. I adore working there.   From second movement of Christopher Hampson's Sinfonietta Giocosa for Atlanta Ballet © Atlanta Ballet   From third movement of Christopher Hampson's Sinfonietta Giocosa for Atlanta Ballet © Atlanta Ballet   From third movement of Christopher Hampson's Sinfonietta Giocosa for Atlanta Ballet © Atlanta Ballet Recently in at ENB looking over Nutcracker before it went back on at the Coliseum. All was looking good in the studio with some excellent performances from new dancers in their characatured roles. “All” never looks good the first time it hits the stage for the first technical rehearsal. With a get-in on Sunday, build the set during Monday, technical rehearsal Monday evening, dress rehearsal on Tuesday afternoon and an opening that night, this production always feels like a premiere. I remember from my own time in the company (starting nearly 15 years ago) that this has, more often than not, been the case at ENB…But, it doesn’t make it right. I received a phone call from Royal New Zealand Ballet in September to inform me that my new production of Cinderella would have to be postponed for a year (dosh probs) and that left me with a bit of a gap…The day after the RNZB bombshell came a phone call from Raymond Gubbay asking if I’d like to re-choreograph and direct a Strauss Gala. I’d be required to work with a soprano, eight dancers, conductor and orchestra. Never done anything like that before, so it had to be a “Yes”. Waltzing for eight hours a day during rehearsals wasn’t as painful as it might sound. The dancers were hard working as was everybody else involved. It opened at the Barbican just after Christmas and is on tour around the country until the end of February. It’s great fun and, yes, you have to clap along to Radetzky March at the end…Oh, go on, live a little
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