Guadalajara’s beloved pioneer of dance, Amelia Bell Feeley, passed away on Saturday, May 31, less than a month before her 101st birthday.

Bell experienced some of the 20th century’s most dramatic events alongside her family of irrepressible entertainers. Her grandfather was renowned English clown Richard Bell, a beloved performer and close friend of Porfirio Diaz. Her other grandfather was a trick rider known as “the Human Meteor.” Her mother, one of the greatest equestrian artists of her time, performed with Ringling Brothers’ Circus in the United States.

Traveling with her family and the Bell Brothers’ Circus, Bell fled the Mexican Revolution to attend dancing school at Madison Square Garden with her sister. In 1914, the 19 members of the Bell family and their stage hands were set to perform in Europe when World War I broke out and sent them fleeing back to Latin America via the brand-new Panama canal.

Bell toured most of Latin America and the Caribbean before coming to live with her grandmother in Guadalajara when she was 15 and staging her first dance festival at the American School. Within the year, 14 more schools had requested a performance. She also performed with her parents at the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara and throughout Mexico.

Bell, one of the city’s first classical ballerinas, almost single-handedly brought dance to Guadalajara: she opened her first dance academy in 1934 and went on to start another 14 schools. With equal verve, she taught tap dancing and ballet, dances from South American countries and from Mexico, and even occasionally incorporated acrobatics in her curriculum.

Bell’s remarkable legacy is distinguished by her love of dance and a wholehearted commitment to all her students, regardless of age and ability. In 1983, almost a decade after a fractured knee forced her to retire, Bell returned to teach folkloric dance to a group of senior citizens at the Family Development Agency (DIF). Her group of seniors, competing against 84 other groups, took first place in a Mexico City contest in 1989.

Bell danced for the last time in her mid-90s, when walking became difficult. She received the Clemente Orozco Merit award in 1959, an award from the Pedro Sarquis Merewe Foundation in 2004 for her services to the community over eight decades and has been honored with countless tributes and performances. One of her star pupils, Rafael Zamarripa, guided Guadalajara’s now-famous Ballet Folklorico to international fame. Several of Bell’s former students now lead dance academies around the city. An award in her name has been presented to outstanding contributors to dance for almost a decade.

But official awards and recognitions are not the sum of Amelia Bell’s accomplishments. Amost 97 years after she first strapped on a pair of dance shoes to perform at the age of four, she leaves behind generations of dance students and aficionados in Guadalajara who will remember their beloved Miss Bell, mourn the passing of her era and celebrate her life. For a passionate performer and teacher, there can be no finer accolade.