Ana Mérida

Ana María Mérida Gálvez (born Mexico City, 1922[1] – died 12 August 1991, Mexico City[2]) was a Mexican ballet dancer and choreographer. She also appeared in several movies.

Biography

Ana Mérida was the daughter of the famous Guatemalan painter and muralist, Carlos Mérida. Her father emigrated to Mexico in 1919 at age 26, later becoming a naturalized Mexican citizen. Ana Mérida was born three years after her father's arrival in Mexico.

At age 20 Mérida began studying dance under the American choreographer Ana Sokolow, and became a member of Sokolow's modern dance group, "The Blue Dove " (La Paloma Azul). She also danced in Waldeen's ballet company during this period.

In 1947 the director of El Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Carlos Chávez, invited her to co-found (with Guillermina Bravo) La Academia de la Danza Mexicana. In 1948 she was named the full director of the Academy, continuing in that post through 1949. She taught at the drama school Escuela de Arte Teatral, led the national ballet (with whom she toured Central and South America), and was head of the department of dance of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes.

Mérida took the role of Francisca in the 1973 Mexican movie El Santo Oficio, winning a national award for her performance. She also authored and produced a ballet, Ausencia de flores, an homage to the Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco.[3] Possibly as a result of this production, Orozco used her as the theme of one of his pictorial works.[4]

In 1986 Mérida was awarded for her choreographies in La Luna y el Venado y La casa de Bernarda Alba, de Federico García Lorca.

In later life Mérida suffered from gastritis and ulcers. She finally died from complications of these conditions on 12 August 1991, in Mexico City, six years after the passing of her father.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Carlos Mérida (Spanish) Archived July 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  2. 1 2
  3. ↑ Ana Mérida, bailarina y coreógrafa (Spanish), 15 August 1991
  4. ↑ José Clemente OROZCO , Retrato Ana Mérida

External links

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