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In conversation with Michael Corder; choreographer and director of The Snow Queen
I’ve had the idea of creating a ballet of The Snow Queen for many years. I have always thought Hans ChristianAndersen’s original fairy tale beautiful and fascinating in its mythological feel and the way it deals with nature. For me, the key to creating the ballet was Prokofiev’s music for The Stone Flower, composed in 1948, as I have always loved Prokofiev’s music and had a special affection for this score in particular ever since I first heardit as a teenager. Later, with my career developing as a choreographer, it became one of the scores I wanted to choreograph but unfortunately, as the story of The Stone Flower is based on two rather obscure Russian folk tales, it doesn’t have the universal appeal of Romeo & Juliet or Cinderella, Prokofiev’s two other great ballets, both of which I have already tackled. However, not having seen the ballet of The Stone Flower and listening to the score I was free to make my own associations with this wonderful music. The various rustic, magical and wintry sounding elements in the score seemed to me to lend themselves completely naturally to the requirements of The Snow Queen story. And so the idea stayed on the shelf until two years ago, when I felt the time was right to finally develop it as a full-length ballet.
The next stage in the development of The Snow Queen was to transform the original story into a three act scenario that would work as a ballet. I started by storyboarding the action alongside the music I had already selected from The Stone Flower, so I could see how the story would
unfold on stage and I realised it would be necessary to use other music by Prokofiev as well. After selecting the other pieces I brought in composer Julian Philips who has done a wonderful job of cutting where necessary and editing the music to produce a score that sounds as if
Prokofiev had written it specifically for The Snow Queen.
I have tried to keep as close as possible to the main action and spirit of the original story but I have had to cut out some elements and characters in order to avoid the action becoming too episodic and to keep the production within a reasonable time length. For instance, I have cut the ‘Prince and Princess’ section of the story completely as it seems a diversion from the main thrust of Gerda’s journey to find Kay. I have also removed the rather sentimental religious connotations at the end of the tale, as I think they weaken Gerda’s courage and strength of character as the heroine of the piece as well as the power of the Snow Queen herself as the personification of Winter and a force of Nature.
Another issue was to construct the action so that the main characters of the Snow Queen, Kay and Gerda, have substantial appearances in each act. For example, the ‘Enchanted Garden’ section of the story has become a dream sequence where the roses in the garden reveal Kay to
Gerda in a pas de deux that reaffirms her deep love for him and inspires her on her journey. It was also necessary to adapt the idea of the mirror at the beginning of the story so that it’s much more connected with the SnowQueen herself, the impossible task she sets for Kay and her desire to see herself reign forever as eternal winter.
The creation of a big new full length ballet is very much a team effort and my working relationship with my assistant Andria Hall, Mark Bailey, the set and costume designer, Paul Pyant, who designed the lighting, and composer Julian Philips goes back many years. I have worked with all four successfully on previous projects: Mark designed the wonderfully witty costumes and set for Melody on the Move, Paul lit both my productions of
Cinderella and Melody on the Move for English National Ballet, and Julian has composed a superb full-length score of Les Liaisons Dangereuses for me for future production.
Whether I am creating large-scale narrative works, such as The Snow Queen, or plotless pure-dance ballets, my inspiration first and foremost comes from the music. There is no greater challenge for any choreographer than creating an original full-length narrative ballet as it demands the full range of the choreographers skills, as well as the sheer physical and mental stamina required. What has sustained me during the long creative process on The Snow Queen has been the great joy of working with Prokofiev’s extraordinarily beautiful music and the wonderfully talented and hard working dancers of English National Ballet.
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