Maria de las Mercedes Ribera, founder of Girona's first dance school, died yesterday at 111 years old. Her career was linked for decades to the training of dancers in the city, where in 1952 she promoted a pioneering center on the Rambla under the name of Escola de Dansa Mercedes Ribera.
Ribera had been born in Barcelona on December 1, 1914. She studied nursing and, at the same time, trained in dance with teachers like Marina Noreg, who is identified as a Russian dancer. Before the start of the Civil War, she attended the Russian Ballets of the Liceu, an experience that marked her interest in this discipline.
From nursing to the creation of a pioneering school in Girona
After the Civil War, she was a volunteer nurse at Hospital Clínic. Later on, she worked as a secretary for a company and as a social worker for Nestlé. Her definitive leap into the world of dance teaching came when she learned that there was interest in Girona in having a center of this type.
In 1952, the city's first dance school opened on La Rambla de Girona. At the end of the first course, she organized a Dance Festival at the Teatre Municipal de Girona, an event that over time became a tradition.
A career linked to teaching and international projection
Ribera combined teaching with the presidency of the first Associació de professors de dansa. He also launched a second dance school in Barcelona, which remains open.
Her activity led her to travel to incorporate new choreographies. The first of those destinations was Russia, a country she visited in 1960. Afterwards, she extended her stays and contacts in places like London, Japan, Israel and the Middle East.
The memory of a life in three characters
At 104 years old, she published the biography "Three Lives". In that book, she recounted her story through three girls named Bibi, Irenen, and Tina.
With her death, a figure linked to the start of regulated dance teaching in Girona and to a key stage of the city's cultural life disappears.