Prokofiev: Cinderella

Markéta Pimek Habalová, Ballet Mistress of the National Theatre Brno, is a Brno-born dancer, choreographer, and teacher. A graduate of the Brno Dance Conservatory, she joined the Ballet NdB as a dancer in 1996 and has served as Ballet Mistress since 2019. She has performed a wide range of classical and contemporary roles, including Carmen, Maria in Maria’s Dream, Daphne in Sylvia, Catherine in Ballads, and Korban in The Rite of Spring.

Habalová began choreographing in 1997 and has since created works for both professional and student dancers. Her piece Vesoul won first prize for contemporary choreography at the 2nd International Ballet Competition in Brno (2006). She has contributed numerous short works to the Ballet NdB’s Choreographic Studio and collaborated with the NdB Drama Theatre on several productions. Her choreographies for the Ballet NdB include Rhapsody in Blue and the New Year’s Eve Swan Lake, both noted for their humour, originality, and inventive direction.

Her Cinderella is based on Charles Perrault’s beloved fairy tale, combining contemporary movement rooted in classical technique with emotional depth and gentle humour, all set to Prokofiev’s evocative music. Working closely with designers Pavel Knoll and David Janošek, Habalová aims to create a world where imagination and kindness prevail, reminding audiences, young and old, that goodness still triumphs.

Ondrej Olos studied conducting at the Žilina Conservatory under Milan Seidl and later at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU) with Emil Skoták. In 2006, he received the Leoš Janáček Prize for his chamber production of The Cunning Little Vixen at the JAMU Chamber Opera. He also directed the original 1904 version of Janáček’s Jenůfa at the Janáček Brno Festival in 2008.

Olos works with the Janáček Opera of the National Theatre Brno and the Slovak National Theatre. His extensive operatic repertoire includes works by Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Janáček, Puccini, Strauss, Donizetti, Dvořák, Mozart, Rossini, Smetana, and others. Internationally, he has appeared with the Greek National Opera, Den Jyske Opera in Aarhus, Opéra de Rennes, Opéra de Limoges, Opéra de Reims, and the National Theatre Prague. He also collaborates regularly with major orchestras across Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and is an accomplished pianist and chamber musician.

Olos describes Prokofiev’s Cinderella as one of the most inventive and richly varied scores in the ballet repertoire. Its colourful musical tapestry ranges from stylized Baroque dances to exotic, characterful numbers that incorporate instruments unusual for their time such as maracas, castanets, celesta, and xylophone. The music shifts fluidly between humour, sarcasm, tenderness, intimacy, and full symphonic brilliance, creating sweeping emotional arcs. As a result, Cinderella stands not only as a beloved ballet but also as a symphonic masterpiece, made even more captivating when paired with the timeless fairy tale story.

David Janošek is a Czech set and costume designer, visual artist, and actor. A graduate of the Secondary School of Art and Design in Brno, the Higher Vocational School of Restoration, and later the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts, he began his career as a member of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre’s drama ensemble. Since 2019 he has worked as a freelance artist and actor, and in 2021 became Artistic Director of the Spejbl and Hurvínek Theatre in Prague.

As a designer, Janošek collaborates widely with theatres across the Czech Republic and Slovakia, including the National Theatre Brno, National Moravian-Silesian Theatre, Petr Bezruč Theatre, Moravian Theatre Olomouc, the National Theatre Prague, and the Slovak National Theatre. His extensive portfolio ranges from opera and ballet to drama and family productions. Alongside his design work, he remains active as an actor and also works in carving, film, advertising, and teaching.

In designing Cinderella, Janošek drew inspiration from the imagery of night and dreams: the vastness of the sky, the depth of midnight blue, the moon, the stars, and the fragile, fleeting nature of dream worlds. For him, Cinderella’s dreams of hope and transformation form the emotional heart of the production. Magical lighting, delicate projections, and playful transformations shape a stage world that shifts and surprises from scene to scene, capturing the wonder and enchantment that theatre can inspire.

Pavel Knolle is a Czech costume and set designer with a distinguished background as a professional dancer. Born in Nový Bor, he graduated from the Prague Dance Conservatory in 1985 and spent his performing career as a soloist with Laterna Magika, appearing in productions such as The Magic Circus, The Minotaur, The Magic Flute Play, Graffiti, Casanova and Riddles. He was nominated for the Thalia Award in 2002 for his performance in Petr Zuska’s Les Bras de Mer, and received the Czech Dance Association Award the same year.

Knolle co-founded the international Prague Festival Ballet in the early 1990s and has served as its co-director since 1995. From 2010 to 2021 he led the artistic ensemble of Laterna Magika. His transition into costume design grew naturally from his artistic training and stage experience. Today he designs costumes and sets for numerous theatres and dance companies, including Laterna Magika, Prague Chamber Ballet, the National Theatre in Prague, National Theatre Brno, the Moravian-Silesian National Theatre, the Moravian Theatre Olomouc, the South Bohemian Theatre, and Dekkadancers, as well as international collaborations in Estonia.

For Knolle, Cinderella is a story filled with wonder, imagination, and childhood dreams coming true. Designing the costumes offered him the chance to fully embrace the magic of the fairy tale world: its fairies, goblins, and mystical creatures. He describes the creative process as an open, playful collaboration with choreographer Markéta Pimek Habalová and set designer David Janošek, shaped by shared energy, spontaneous ideas, and joyful experimentation. Knolle hopes that a spark of this theatrical magic will reach the audience as well.