Mercedes Baptista was a Brazilian choreographer and ballet dancer, born in 1921 in Campos dos Goytacazes, who died in 2014.
Biography
Mercedes Ignácia da Silva Krieger, known as Mercedes Batista or Mercedes Baptista (20 May, 1921 — 19 August, 2014) was a Brazilian ballet dancer and choreographer, the first black woman to join Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro's corps de ballet.
Baptista was responsible for the creation of the Afro-Brazilian ballet, inspired by the candomblé terreiros, elaborating a codification and vocabulary proper for these dances.
From the Wikipedia article “Mercedes Baptista”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Facts from Wikidata (Q46715107), CC0.