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"\u201CHansel &amp;amp; Gretel\u201D and a full-length Matthew Bourne ballet will be a part of Scottish Ballet\u2019s new repertoire, announced artistic director Christopher Hampson.Hampson, who took up the position in August, plans to broaden the company\u2019s range with a selection of newly choreographed work and productions.\u201CCommissioning new work has been the lifeblood of this company right from its founding director Peter Darrell, and I want to make sure that that remains the lifeblood of this company as we move forward into the next stage,\u201D said Hampson. &amp;nbsp;He has secured the exclusive license to stage Matthew Bourne\u2019s production of Highland Fling, which is a nod to the Danish ballet, La Sylphide. This is the first time a full-length Bourne ballet has been staged outside of the choreographer\u2019s own company, New Adventures. Bourne, who has won several awards for his choreographic works, is perhaps most well known for his reinterpretations of classical works, such as \u201CThe Nutcracker\u201D and an all-male cast of \u201CSwan Lake\u201D.Hampson will open the upcoming season with a full-length production of \u201CHansel &amp;amp; Gretel\u201D, which is scheduled to tour starting from December. The production will incorporate ideas from the community that will be incorporated into the ballet, as well as working with author Louise Welsh and the Forestry Commission of Scotland. The ballet will explore darker themes of fear, loss, and family, which are all apart of the original Brothers Grimm fairytale. \u201CHansel and Gretel\u201D will mark Hampson\u2019s chorographic debut for the company.In Hampson\u2019s aggressive approach to broaden the company\u2019s existing repertoire, he will be commissioning a slew of new works. The upcoming season will see a strong female voice with works from Helen Pickette, a former Forsythe dancer with an energetic, yet poetic vocabulary to her work, Crystal Pite, a Canadian who is also stationed at the Nederlands Dans Theatre as their Associate Chorographer, and new British talent, Kristen McNally.James Cousins, the winner of the inaugural New Adventures Choreography Award, has also been commissioned to create a brand-new work for the company this season. Hampson served as judge for the award and was so impressed by Cousins that he quickly jumped on board to be among the first to commission a new work.Hampson has also expressed intensions to pay homage to established chorographers such as Sir Kenneth MacMillan and Peter Darrell by re-staging some of their most iconic works.\u201CWe mirror Scotland\u2019s identity in being outward-looking and pioneering in everything we do. Our size and approach means we are adaptable and agile. We will need to be, because I will be bringing to the company a really broad range of choreographic work, which will mean we will have a really wide range of choreographers working with the company,\u201D said Hampson.Prior to joining the Scottish Ballet, Hampson trained at the Royal Ballet School and was a soloist with English National Ballet before turning his hand to chorography.&amp;nbsp;[content:advertisement-center]"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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