Le Monastère, a history

It was William V (William the Great) that ordered the building of a monastery in Vouvant in 1000 AD. Prior to this, the area was nothing more than a hill surrounded by a river.

The monks of Maillezais were instructed to carry out the building of a monastery along with Vouvant's famous church, but could not fulfill the task due to lack of funds.

Most recently, the current day estate was known as the Monastère de la Visitation, run by the Sisters of Vouvant, who approved the sale for development into flats, and maintain a close interest in the project to this day.

Prior to this, it was a large manor, belonging to the Count Louis Begouen.

Circa 1940, during the Second World War, it was occupied by the German Army as one of their main headquarters in the region.

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Mireille Negre - "The Ballerina"

Mireille Negre, known to the Vouvant community merely as "The Ballerina", had an important and fascinating association with the Monastère in its more recent history.

Mireille’s childhood was marked by a terrible accident, when she was just two years old. On her return home following a walk with her family in Paris, her legs somehow slipped through the railings of the elevator just as it began its ascent carrying the family to their floor. Her feet were crushed. Despite the tragedy, this event marked the true beginning of her exceptional life.

Doctors recommended simple dance techniques as a possible therapy and treatment for her injuries. This she found excruciatingly painful and physically punishing, but refused to give up even at her tender age. Remarkably, it became quickly evident that Mireille’s dancing was becoming far more than a form of healing for her. She had developed enormous skill, and word spread in the capital of her splendid technique and talent.

At the highpoint of Mireille’s young career, when her renown and proficiency had delivered her a leading role in the Paris Opera, she astounded the Paris arts establishment by shirking her fame and recognition for a future in the church. She moved to the Carmel Monastery in Limoges, spending ten years there as a Carmelite sister. Life here was hard for her – whilst devoted to her faith, she could not deny her love of dance, although for long periods she would attempt to dumb down the wish to return to it. There was certainly no question of her combining her two devotions: in the Carmelite mission, dance and religion are incompatible, the former being considered the work of Satan.

1981 offered a new direction for Mireille, one which she had ached for during the whole period of her calling as a nun. She was presented the possibility of a move to the Monastère at Vouvant, which would not only allow her to progress to beautiful and divine new surroundings, but also to return to dancing at the same time as fulfilling her commitments as a sister. The Vouvant house had an entirely different personality: it was not a Carmelite monastery, and thus did not require the solitude that Limoges had demanded.

The teacher of the elementary school in Vouvant, Sister Madeleine, had proposed to Mireille that she become the school’s dance teacher, which she accepted with little hesitation. At the same time, another important figure in the Vouvant church of the time, Sister Therese, chose to adopt the new arrival and became one of her greatest supports. The sister had an enthusiasm for the inclusion of dance elements in religious celebration, and asked Mireille to assist her with her choreography. She was subsequently granted many privileges: she got to choose the colour of her bedroom (pink), she could grow her hair long, and was even allowed to wear a special mauve cloth symbolising a free life. She also developed a new talent: she was given the honoured task of painting religious icons.

However, this new life did not bring her immediate contentment. The once accomplished dancer found that the ten years during which time she neglected her art had caused her talents to deteriorate. She started to doubt her abilities, this leading to considerable unhappiness. She felt once again torn between her life’s two great passions, and could not hide this from the religious community of Vouvant. Relations between Mireille and the Priest and Prioress Mother became increasingly strained due to her fixation with her dancing, whilst the religious voice in her own head kept telling her that Vouvant did not provide her with the same spiritual fulfillment as she had had in Limoges. She felt unable to integrate into the community of the town, and decided that Vouvant did not represent enough of a step towards the retrieval of her lost flair. Her divided loyalties and confusion over her true raison d'être caused her increased unhappiness, and distanced her still further from the religious community of the town. She began to take up offers of new commercial dance shows outside the Monastère, this only serving to exacerbate the animosity surrounding her in the church. Eventually, it became too much and she was expelled by the church establishment.

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