María Gloria Contreras Roeniger, better known as Gloria Contreras (November 15, 1934 – November 25, 2015) was a Mexican dancer and choreographer.

Biography

Contreras was born in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

. She studied dancing under Nelsy Dambré in Mexico from 1946 to 1954, and, after joining the

Royal Winnipeg Ballet The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada's oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America. History It was founded in 1939 as the "Winnipeg Ballet Club" by Gweneth Lloyd and Betty Farrally (who also fou ...

, visited the School of American Ballet in New York from 1956 to 1964, where she was taught by

Pierre Vladimirov Pierre Vladimiroff, or Pyotr Nikolayevich Vladimirov (russian: Пётр Николаевич Владимиров; born February 13, 1893 in Gatchina, Saint Petersburg Governorate, Russian Empire – died November 25, 1970 in New Yo ...

, Felia Doubrovska, Anatole Oboukhoff, Muriel Stuart and George Balanchine. From 1958 to 1965 she was also taught by Carola Trier. Contreras taught choreography at the

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

(UNAM) and was director of its choreography workshop, which she founded in 1970.
Following Balanchine, she had a neo-classical choreographic style and utilized the music of Mexican composers in her work. Contreras had been a member of the

International Dance Council The International Dance Council (CID, standing for French: ''Conseil International de la Danse'') is the umbrella organization for all forms of dance in the world. It is a non-profit international non-governmental organization founded in 1973 "u ...

since 2003 and was a 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 e ...

.

She was multiply awarded, including Mexico's

Premio Nacional de las 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 ...

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Contreras Roeniger, Maria Del Carmen Gloria 1934 births 2015 deaths Mexican female dancers Mexican ballerinas Mexican choreographers Ballet choreographers National Autonomous University of Mexico faculty Musicians from Mexico City