Guillermina Nicolasa Bravo Canales (November 13, 1920 – November 6, 2013 ) was a Mexican

modern dancer Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

and artistic director of Ballet Nacional de Mexico. She was co-founder of the academy of Mexican dance ( es, Academia de la Danza Mexicana) in 1947 and established together with Josefina Lavalle the national ballet company in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

in 1948, which has been located in

Querétaro Querétaro (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro, links=no; Otomi language, Otomi: ''Hyodi Ndämxei''), is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. I ...

since 1991, where she also established the national center of

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly strong popularity in ...

. Bravo is considered as main figure of modern Mexican dance. Her sister (1918–2004) was a notable stage actress.

Biography

Guillermina Bravo, daughter of Guillermo Nicolás Bravo and María de los Dolores Canales y Mondragón, was born in

Chacaltianguis Chacaltianguis is a municipality in Veracruz, Mexico. It is located in the south of the state of Veracruz. It has a surface of 557.69 km2. It is located at . The municipality of Chacaltianguis is delimited to the north by Cosamaloapan, to the east ...

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

. She studied folk dance at the national dance school ( es, Escuela Nacional de Danza) and music at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música. In 1938 she was taught by Estrella Morales, and taught choreography autodidactically from 1940 to 1945, while she danced as ballerina of Waldeen's ballet of fine arts ( es, Ballet de Bellas Artes) in

. Afterwards she was involved in the establishment of the Academia de la Danza Mexicana and the national ballet. After 1960, she retired from the stage but kept the direction of the national ballet.Dictionary of Dance: ''Guillermina Bravo''
at Answers.com.
(Spanish), El Universal, January 18, 2008. In 1989, she received the José Limón National Dance Award. Bravo is member of the

Academia de Artes The Academia de Artes (AA) is the Mexican Academy of Arts founded 1967/1968 by CONACULTA for the promotion of Mexican art. Seat of the institution is the Museo Nacional de San Carlos in Mexico City. The Slogan of the Acadademy is ''elevación por el ...

''Academia de Artes-Artes Escénicos''
/ref> and of the World Dance Alliance. She was awarded with the 1979

Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes The National Prize for Arts and Sciences ( es, Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes) is awarded annually by the Government of Mexico in six categories. It is part of the Mexican Honours System and was established in 1945. The prize is a gold medal a ...

and was made

honorary doctor An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

of the

Universidad Veracruzana Universidad Veracruzana (Spanish for ''University of Veracruz'') is a public autonomous university located in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Established in 1944, the university is one of the most important in the southeast region of México. It ...

.''Guillermina Bravo''
(Spanish), Dirreción de Danza UNAM, Mexico City.

Literature

*César Delgado Martínez: ''Guillermina Bravo'' (Spanish), *Patricia Cardona: ''Guillermina Bravo iconografía'' (Spanish), *Alberto Dallal: ''La muerte en la obra de Guillermina Bravo'' (Spanisch), in ''Diálogos.-México'', Vol. 17 (1981), pp. 23–28

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bravo, Guillermina Mexican ballerinas Mexican choreographers Mexican women choreographers Ballet choreographers 1920 births 2013 deaths