189:, Vaslav Veltchek, Edy Vasconcelos and Nina Verchinina gave me good career opportunities, without looking at my color. The problems came after that. I got myself excluded of everything and even if I put a doormat covering my face, they would not let me step on the scene. I only once crossed the stage wearing pointed sneakers, and still in the background. " - to which she sought to circumvent, as she said on another occasion: "Everything was always very difficult, but who would assume or make it clear that part of my difficulties was because I was not white? They would never tell me this, or say that the problem was racial, but I knew it was, and so I always struggled every time to try to perfect myself. " She then went to join the
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162:. From a humble background, she moved to Rio de Janeiro, where she had several jobs (among which, she worked as a maid, as a worker in a hat factory, and in a printing), but it was as box office clerk in a movie theater that she had the dream to work in the arts She attended a municipal school at
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Back in Brazil, she founded the Ballet Folclórico
Mercedes Baptista, dedicated to the formation of black dancers, who researched and incorporated Afro-Brazilian culture into their work and movements, gaining prominence in the artistic scene and touring throughout Europe and Latin America.
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in the 1940s. On March 18, 1948, in a difficult selection test, she was approved to join the ballroom of the
Municipal Theater, being the first black woman to obtain it and, along with Raul Soares who also attended this contest, one of the two black people there.
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Despite this, she suffered constant discrimination, to the point of not being able to work; in a 1981 interview she stated: "
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Suffering from diabetes and heart problems, Mercedes died at the age of 93 in the retirement home where she lived in the
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105:(20 May, 1921 — 19 August, 2014) was a Brazilian ballet dancer and choreographer, the first black woman to join
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Baptista was responsible for the creation of the Afro-Brazilian ballet, inspired by the
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In 2016 a sculpture of her was erected at Rio's port zone, sculpted by Mario
Pitanguy.
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358:"Morre Mercedes Baptista, a primeira bailarina negra do Teatro Municipal, aos 93 anos"
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as a dancer, then as collaborator and eventually as a choreographer.
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neighborhood, and her body was cremated at the
Memorial do Carmo.
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Sculpture of
Mercedes Baptista in Rio de Janeiro, byM. Pitanguy.
416:"Da diáspora de Stuart Hall para dança de Mercedes Baptista"
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In 1963 she elaborated the choreography of the samba school
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Mercedes
Baptista: a criação da identidade negra na dança
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She began her ballet studies (in 1945) with the dancer
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Balé de Pé no Chão – A dança afro de
Mercedes Baptista
262:She was the subject of a documentary film in 2007,
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281:, Paulo Melgaço, Fundação Cultural Palmares, 2007.
383:. Revista de Dança. 24 April 2013. Archived from
325:. Revista de Dança. 24 April 2013. Archived from
166:neighborhood, Colégio Municipal Homem de Mello.
210:first all-African-American modern dance company
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204:Invited by choreographer and anthropologist
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381:"Mercedes Baptista e a dança brasileira"
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495:Brazilian women choreographers
485:Deaths from diabetes in Brazil
231:elements of classical dance."
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460:Afro-Brazilian female dancers
432:. O Globo. 26 September 2016.
158:Mercedes Batista was born in
191:Teatro Experimental do Negro
88:ballet dancer, choreographer
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360:. O Globo. 19 August 2014.
470:Brazilian women activists
147:Mercedes Baptista in her
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480:Brazilian choreographers
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225:Acadêmicos do Salgueiro
16:Brazilian ballet dancer
323:"Ao som dos atabaques"
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56:Rio de Janeiro (state)
430:"A Dança de Mercedes"
257:Unidos de Vila Isabel
253:Acadêmicos do Cubango
214:civil rights movement
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160:Campos dos Goytacazes
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52:Campos dos Goytacazes
475:Brazilian ballerinas
311:. Museu Afro Brasil.
465:Brazilian activists
387:on 23 December 2017
329:on 23 December 2017
309:"Mercedes Baptista"
229:comissão de frente
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389:. Retrieved
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273:Bibliography
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72:(2014-08-19)
48:May 20, 1921
455:1921 births
450:2014 deaths
97:, known as
444:Categories
286:References
241:Copacabana
44:1921-05-20
120:terreiros
117:candomblé
391:1 April
333:1 April
247:Homages
164:Tijuca
60:Brazil
235:Death
393:2019
335:2019
177:and
139:Life
67:Died
38:Born
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