Biografia Alicia Alonso

Alicia Alonso Martínez (born Alicia Ernestina de la Caridad Martínez Hoya onDecember 21, 1921) is the Cuban prima ballerina assoluta and choreographer. Her company became the Ballet de Cuba in 1955.[1] She is most famous for her portrayals ofGiselle and the ballet version of Carmen.[2] From the age of nineteen, Alicia was afflicted with an eye defect and was partially blind. Her partners alwayshad to be in the exact place she expected them to be, and she used lights in different parts of the stage to guide them.
Early life
Alonso was born in Havana, Cuba. She was the one of two daughters of an army officer and his wife. The family was financially comfortable and lived in a fashionable section of the then-vibrant capital. Alonso indicated at a very early age, produced an affinity formusic and dance - her mother could occupy her happily for long periods with just a phonograph, a scarf, and some records. She started dancing at the age of seven and at the age of eight, she studied ballet at Sociedad Pro-Arte Musical in Havana with Sophie Fedorova. A year later she performed publicly for the first time in Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty. Alonso danced in Cuba under the name of AliciaMartínez.
The dancer's rapid progress in her lessons came to an abrupt halt in 1937, when the 16-year-old fell in love with a fellow ballet student,Fernando Alonso, whom she married. After her marriage, she changed her last name to Alonso. The new couple moved to New York City, hoping to begin their professional careers. There they found a home with relatives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan,nearRiverside Drive. Alonso soon gave birth to a daughter, Laura, but managed to continue her training at the School of American Ballet and took private classes with Michel Fokine, Alexandra Fedorova, Enrico Zanfretta, and Anatole Vilzak. She then arranged a travel to London to study with the renowned Vera Volkova. Meanwhile, her husband had joined the new Mordkin Ballet Company in New York.

Anew endeavor in Havana
Alonso's desire to develop ballet in Cuba led her to return to Havana in 1948 to found her own company, the Alicia Alonso Ballet Company, which she maintained with little financial support, this company eventually became Ballet Nacional de Cuba. Fernando was general director of the company, which was at that time composed mainly of Ballet Theater dancers temporarily out ofwork due to a reorganization in the New York company. Fernando's brother Alberto, a choreographer, served as artistic director for the company.
The company debuted briefly in the capital and then departed for a tour of South America. The performances were a hit with audiences everywhere, but Alonso found herself funding the company with her savings to keep it going despite donations from wealthyfamilies and a modest subsidy from the Cuban Ministry of Education. Meanwhile, she commuted between Havana and New York to recruit the world's best teachers to train her new students. She remained a sought-after prima ballerina during this hectic time, dancing twice in Russia in 1952 and then producing and starring in Giselle for the Paris Opéra Ballet in 1953.
Between 1955 and 1959, Aliciadanced every year with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo as guest star. She was the first dancer of theWestern Hemisphere to perform in the Soviet Union, and the first American representative to dance with the Bolshoi and Kirov Theaters of Moscow and Leningrad (St. Petersburg) respectively in 1957 and 1958. During the decades to follow Alicia Alonso had cross-world tours through West and East Europeancountries, Asia, North and South America, and she danced as guest star with the Opera de Paris, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Bolshoi and with other companies.[3] She has staged her versions of Giselle, Pas de Quatre, andThe Sleeping Beauty for the Paris Opera. She also staged Giselle at the Vienna State Opera and the San Carlo Theater of Naples, Italy;La Fille Mal Gardée at the Prague State...