When the allure of love is a trap

Monica Loughman trained as a ballerina in Russia and is directing love story, La Sylphide, at the Cork Opera House.

of unattainable love is the theme of La Sylphide, one of the oldest surviving romantic ballets, which will be performed by the Monica Loughman Ballet Company at the Cork Opera House on Sunday. First performed at the Paris Opera in 1832, Loughman has reinterpreted the ballet “to make it clearer. The first time I saw it, I could never understand why the witch was played by a man.”

The witch, Madge, appears to Scottish farmer, James, on his wedding day. Madge, played by Loughman, predicts that James will betray his fiancée. He does, falling in love with the vision of a magical sylph and following her into the forest.

Two of Russia’s leading principals, Denis Veginiy and Olga Konosenko, perform the lead roles of James and the Sylph. Loughman, the director and choreographer, is standing in for a dancer. Loughman portrays Madge as “a collector of men. She’s not pretty, but there is something alluring about her. James becomes one of her men. It’s not even a sexual thing. It has more to do with female dominance.”

Over the years, Loughman has played both the sylph and Effie (James’s spurned fiancée). “Although I fell in love with this ballet, it always confused me. I’m bringing clarity to it. James is enchanted by the sylph. He had everything, but he wanted more. He ends up a broken man because the sylph dies,” she says. James suffers the ignominy of watching his fiancée marry his best friend.

Loughman says the costumes are “breathtaking.” Created by Monica Ennis of Riverdance, they include “a Vivienne Westwood-gone-mad type of costume for Madge. And there are no tights. The dancers wear kilts.”

The sets, an elegant manor and a forest, are designed by Cork-based Lisa Zagone, who was nominated for ‘best costume design’, for Pagliacci, at the recent Irish Times theatre awards.

Loughman says the ballet has a specific style. “The dancers have to have an understanding of the two styles of dancing in La Sylphide. It’s like two different ballets. The first act is very lively and requires high energy. The second act is subtle, soft and feminine. But it’s quite powerful.”

Choosing to stage La Sylphide is “quite strategic,” says Loughman. “I was thinking of people who may not have been to the ballet before. This is a very fast ballet, about 40 minutes for each of the two acts. “I really like that because, sometimes, ballets go on for too long. With this, there is action from the moment the curtain lifts until it drops.”

Loughman says there is an audience for ballet in Ireland, citing the success of the Cork City Ballet and the legacy of Joan Denise Moriarty.

At the Grand Canal Theatre, in Dublin, “we sold 1,900 tickets in one day for The Nutcracker last December. We filled this 2,000-seat venue for three nights and could have filled it for seven.”

As well as her five schools for children, in Dublin and Meath, Loughman runs a full-time academy of ballet in Dublin. She is focused and driven.

Her training in Russia has stood to her. She left Ireland at the age of 14 to join the Perm State Theatre of Opera and Ballet, becoming one of the few westerners to dance for them.

“It was very tough and very disciplined. It really suited me. I love how passionate the Russians are about ballet. I was sucked into a lifestyle of trying to always be better,” says this determined ballerina and ballet mistress.