Brava, bravo: Mexico's contemporary dance pioneer sets a new college standard.

Picture a peaceful 16th-century colonial town 160 miles from sprawling Mexico City: Queretaro--home of Maximilian, Austrian emperor defeated by Juarez, and site of the writing of Mexico's constitution. A graceful, still-working aqueduct, built by the Spaniards (finished in 1735), more than five miles long, 55 feet high, with 74 arches adds to the charm of the city's architecture. Now, adding to its history, is CENTRO--Centro Nacional de Danza Contemporanea (National Center of Contemporary Dance).

Just three years ago, Guillermina Bravo, recipient of the Grand National Prize for the Arts in 1979, and artistic director of Ballet Nacional de Mexico (BNM), made a risky move. She decided to relocate her company after twenty-four years in Mexico City to Queretaro to establish a college for contemporary dance. With the financial assistance of the governor of the state of Queretaro, National Institute of Fine Arts, and the National Council for Culture and Art, Bravo built CENTRO's large, immaculate, modern, skylighted, high-ceilinged studios. Hardwood floors gleam, wooden walls reflect a warm glow, and a small indoor garden provides an oasis for students.

In addition, housing for all of Bravo's dancers (who comprise the faculty) induced the group to share her vision away from home. "It was a question of our future," Bravo, an imposing figure, says. "We needed a place where we could provide scholarships and expand our teaching on the professional and nonprofessional levels; where there were no distractions; where students could concentrate in peaceful surroundings; where the com pany would be able to work without having to contend with traffic, pollution, noise, and the hugeness that Mexico City has become."

CENTRO's curriculum, for students ages fourteen through twenty, provides thorough professional training and academics and culminates in a B.A. degree in performing, teaching, choreography, or stage technique. (Mexico has one hundred twenty professional companies, six or seven of them large contemporary troupes.) Principal BNM dancer Orlando Scheker is the school director. Bravo is artistic director.

Nearby is a large local theater where the BNM company performs. "These dancers are my second generation," Bravo explains. "The original members do not dance all the works. The young ones are very quick, but I have had to introduce drama classes because I want them to dance with their role inside, a person they portray whom they know and understand." In another three years the college's students will form an apprentice company. CENTRO's syllabus is Graham-based without trendy athleticism or balletic vocabulary. Bravo's visit to the Graham school in New York in 1965 decided her choice of basic technique and since then Graham company dancers Christine Dakin, Tim Wengerd, David Wood, and others, have taught at the school during summer sessions. At enrollment, eight board members determine eligibility based upon physical attributes, musicality, ability to remember given movements, and acceptance of criticism. After one year, students with potential may be offered scholarships.

In addition to technique and academics, there are professional training courses including solfeggio, harmony, history of music, ethnic and preclassic dance, ballet history, anatomy, physiology, nutrition, anthropology, dramatic literature, history of art, psychology, Oriental philosophy, appreciation of cinematography, history of film, and applied ethics. Workshops abound. It all adds up to a spectacular seven-year training period that by far outweighs shorter college courses that begin at a later age.

Technique is taught by BNM members at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, followed by additional training to become a performer, choreographer, teacher, or stage technician. Biannual examinations are judged by the teachers.

Bravo advises young students to learn a technique, not just a style. "There are so many. The difference is in having an organic capacity to move in a number of styles instead of being limited to the style of one choreographer. In New York," Bravo laments, "I saw students go from class to class, without forming an expressive body, just developing a facility, a surface ease without making an aesthetic statement. This is a lack of development on the dancer's part, although I suppose it provides more opportunities for employment. But that is a hollow life. The dancers there are earnest and desire to improve, but they don't know how to do so."