Exclusive photos: The Snow Queen ballet arrives in Prague

Michael Corder’s 2007 ballet, The Snow Queen, has joined the Czech National Ballet’s repertoire. Originally commissioned by the English National Ballet it has since had success in many companies worldwide.

Julian Philips created the score arranging music from Sergey Prokofiev’s final stage work, The Tale of the Stone Flower, and the all British team is completed with Mark Bailey who created the sets and costumes, and Paul Pyant who designed the lighting.

The story is of a cruel queen who casts a spell on the boy, Kay, by means of a shard from her magic mirror and imprisons him in her realm, where there is no room for love.

Dasa Wharton went to photograph the Czech National Ballet’s début both in front of, and behind, the curtain…

Czech company Preciosa decorated the costumes and created the jewellry for the ballet; 30,000 crystals adorn the costume of The Snow Queen.

First performance, Czech National Ballet, Prague, 3 March 2016.

All photos by Dasa Wharton

Gramilano Editor

Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.

Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.