Monique Loudières

Every time that I participate, it gives me energy. It is nourishing as well as regenerating to work with young people. I have an amazing job! I am always excited to discover new talents, and I love trying to guess where the dancer comes from.

Member of the Corps de Ballet of the Paris Opera Ballet since the age of 16, Monique Loudières was chosen by Rudolph Nureyev  in 1981, to interpret Kitri in his production of Don Quixote. Rosella Hightower, who was its Artistic Director at the time, named her Étoile in 1982. Thereafter, she danced most of the classical and neoclassical repertory.  She had a predilection for dramatic heroines from the following ballets: Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, Manon, Notre-Dame de Paris and Eugene Onegin.

She has performed the works of the greatest choreographers: J.Robbins, A. Ailey, G. Balanchine, M. Béjart ,R.Petit, J. Neumeier, S. Lifar, J. Kylian, P. Taylor, K. MacMillan, M. Graham, T. Tharp, W. Forsythe and Giselle by Mats Ek. And she also addresses the contemporary repertoire with D. Larrieu, C. Bastin, J. Bouvier, R. Obadia, N. Christie, B.Li…

She was also invited as a guest artist in many great companies: Boston Ballet, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Stuttgart Ballet, Staatsoper Berlin, Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, Tokyo Ballet, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Havana Dance Festival…

In 1993, the Ministry of Culture awarded her the Grand Prix National de la Danse and named her Commander of Arts and Letters in 1996.

After benefiting from the teaching of great masters such as Y. Brieux, Y. Chauviré, P. Lacotte, V. Verdy and R. Nureyev, Monique Loudières stated that she wished to convey her experience to new generations of dancers. She became teacher and coach for the Prix de Lausanne, Europa Danse, Paris Opera Ballet and the National Dance Conservatory (Paris and Lyon).

In 2001, she was appointed Artistic Director of the Cannes Rosella Hightower Ballet School .

In 2003, she was invited to the Paris Opera Ballet for the tribute to Rudolf Nureyev, and in Tokyo with M.Legris . She was also invited to interpret duets with L.Hilaire and M.Legris for the Japanese public in 2004 and 2007.

In November 2007, she created her own version of the ballet Giselle with the Cannes Junior Ballet and Ballet of Nice and Avignon.

From 2013 to 2015 she was Artistic Director of the international training course associated to the “Les Etés de la Danse” festival in Paris. Between September 2022 and April 2023, she was interim artistic director of Ballet Nice Méditerranée.