Today I spoke with Christopher Hampson. Aside from his notable credits as a dancer and choreographer with companies like English National Ballet, Christopher joined Scottish Ballet as Artistic Director in 2012 and was appointed CEO/Artistic Director in 2015. The Company has performed across the world, and Christopher has brought some of the most sought-after dance creators to work with Scottish Ballet, while also developing in-house talent. Christopher is on the Boards of Central School of Ballet and Ballet Black. In this episode, we chatted about many aspects of the ballet world where change must happen. From issues with artistic leadership, power dynamics in a ballet company, diversity in ballet, to helping dancers retire, this conversation was one for the books. To connect with Scottish Ballet: https://www.scottishballet.co.uk/ IG: @scottishballet Facebook @scottishballet Christopher’s response piece to the Guardian article mentioned in the show: https://www.scottishballet.co.uk/articles/does-ballet-have-a-race-problem Christopher’s Ted Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FjeP9_YmiU Please remember that I am not a mental health professional, and anything you hear me say on the show is based on personal experience and perspectives, and should not be considered medical advice. If you are in crisis, please call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) to reach a 24-hour crisis center, text MHA to 741741, call 911, or go to the nearest emergency room. To find a local MHA affiliate who can provide services, check out https://www.mhanational.org/ Theme music is, "A Journey" by Kevin Hartnell It has been edited and reproduced under the Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). Follow us on Instagram! Dance; Better Podcast @dancebetterpodcast Send in your questions or episode suggestions to [email protected] ...and don't forget to check out our sponsor, Minding the Gap at www.wearemindingthegap.org If you relate and found this episode helpful, please click follow/subscribe and leave us a review. (We might even read it on the next episode!) This helps to make our show more searchable, and will make it more accessible to more people...plus, we’d love to hear from you!