Christopher Hampson joined Scottish Ballet as Artistic Director in 2012, and was appointed CEO/Artistic Director in 2015.

Christopher trained at the Royal Ballet Schools. His choreographic work began there and continued while he danced with English National Ballet (ENB), for whom he created numerous award-winning works, including Double Concerto, Perpetuum Mobile and The Nutcracker. Christopher’s production of Romeo and Juliet, created for the Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB), was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Production. Also for RNZB, his Cinderella was hailed as Best New Production by the New Zealand Herald and televised by TVNZ in 2009.

Other commissions include: Sinfonietta Giocosa (Atlanta Ballet and ENB); Dear Norman (Royal Ballet); Sextet (Ballet Black); Silhouette (RNZB); Rite of Spring (Atlanta Ballet); Storyville (Ballet Black), which was nominated for a National Dance Award; Hansel and Gretel (Scottish Ballet), The Snow Queen (Scottish Ballet, filmed in co-production with BBC Scotland), The Secret Theatre (Scottish Ballet’s first feature film), and Gene Kelly’s love letter to ballet, Starstruck (Scottish Ballet tour and feature film).

Since Christopher joined Scottish Ballet, the company has performed on the world’s greatest stages and commissioned new work from some of the most sought-after dance creators including Crystal Pite, David Dawson, Javier de Frutos, Helen Pickett and Matthew Bourne.

Internally, Christopher has mentored and promoted in-house talent through a variety of creative and choreographic initiatives, creating ‘Artist in Residence’ opportunities across artforms. He has also established a Dancer’s Education Group to help dancers receive structured training in community engagement and teaching while pursuing their stage careers, and is a passionate advocate for dancer career transition.

Committed to pushing the boundaries of the ballet world, Christopher curated the world’s first Digital Season for Scottish Ballet in 2017 and has remained at the forefront of digital innovation. He has been a leading public speaker on authentic leadership and the importance of diversity within dance.

Christopher founded the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion steering group at Scottish Ballet; he established the Dancers’ Education Group and is a passionate advocate for dancer career transition and creative leadership. In 2019, he graduated from Hult International Business School (MBA for the Creative Industries). In 2023, he was awarded an OBE in the King’s Birthday Honours List and received an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Beyond Scottish Ballet, Christopher gave a talk on ‘Creative Thinking’ as part of TEDx Glasgow and developed the inaugural Young Rural Retreat for Aspiring Leaders, in association with Dance East. Christopher is co-founder of the International Ballet Masterclasses in Prague, has been a guest teacher for many major international companies and his work now forms part of the Solo Seal Award for the Royal Academy of Dance. In 2018, Christopher joined the Boards of Central School of Ballet and Ballet Black, and in 2019 he completed an MBA for the Creative Industries with Ashridge Business School.

Contact Laura Keceyapan, Executive Assistant to Chief Executive/Artistic Director