The Peace of God to all that belong to the Light,
Dear Readers,
The Mexican dancer and choreographer Gloria Contreras, a genuine legend of the Modern Dance, died this November 25th 2015 at 81 years old.
She studied dancing under Nelsy Dambré in Mexico from 1946 to 1954, and, after joining Royal Winnipeg Ballet, visited School of American Ballet in
New York from 1956 to 1964, where she was taught by Pierre Vladimirov, Felia Doubrovska, Anatole Oboukhoff, Muriel Stuart and George Balanchine. From
1958 to 1965 she was also taught by Carola Trier.
María del Carmen Gloria Contreras Röniger was the most iconic choreographers of Mexican Classic and Modern Dance, her studio competed
internationally in the most prestigious events of Dance around the world for five decades.
This extremely sensitive and fine lady brought studied rigurously different dance schools but without doubt the core of her own dance language comes
from the old Russian school Ballet technique in the 1950s that she refined mentored by great legends like George Balanchine and Igor Stravinsky in New
York.
She spent about a decade with her own company in USA before to dedide to bring a kind of poetic style that emerged originally from the Neoclassicism
expressed in the steps the best of the pure Russian Classic Technique she learnt from Balanchine to Mexico and melt it with a lot of so creative ideas
to give birth to an extremely original proposition in Dance.
George Balanchine was the Ballet Choreographer of the Neoclassism, Roland Petit the one of Neorealist Passion, Maurice Bejart of the herculean
Energy, Mrs Gloria Contreras created Poetry in Dance, she taught the world to Dance a Ballet plenty of lyricism with Mexican spice.
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In the begining there was only movement and all the feelings, ideas, emotions of the human beings were completely communicated just with body
expression and face gestures, in that sense Dance emerged as the first language that ever existed in the world. ... That was the creed of Gloria
Contreras.
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Gloria left New York for Mexico City to lead there perhaps the most fruitful Dance studio of the western Hemisphere for 40 yrs.
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Gloria made a remarkable work into stilize also popular dances to express them in the standards of academic dance.
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Gloria Contreras received a homage in Tijuana in 2012, on this occasion she gave this interview.
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In November of 2014 she received a national homage in Mexico city, honored with the highest recognitions that Mexico grant to any creative talent in
culture and Arts.
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Hers is a titanic adventure in Culture, she fought and incredible difficult Quixotesc battle in Mexico city to be able to give birth to one of the
most reputed and internationally known Dance Studios at the National University of Mexico.
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Just to give you an idea of the monstruos virtuosso creative work of Gloria Contreras notice that while Balanchine left us 150 Ballets , Bejart
composed 140 and Petit 176, she composed 193 just along the years of the Choreographic studio she founded in Mexico city, to complete about 260 in all
her career including her years in America.
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The Mexican Congress offered a minute of absolute silence the monday after her death in homage and respect for a woman that wrote one of the most
beautiful pages of Art in the History of Mexico.
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Thanks for your attention, the thread is open to all the members that are interested in performing arts and in particular in Dance.
The Angel of Lightness
edit on 12/28/2015 by The angel of light because: (no reason given)