Laura Alonso Martínez

Grand Maitre de Ballet, for twenty-five years she was principal soloist of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba. She studied with great professors of the ballet world. Throughout her career she has worked as a professor at the Instituto Superior de Arte de Cuba; Director of the International Courses of the Escuela Cubana de Ballet known as CUBALLET; President of the Dance Association for the Americas (AIDA); Director of the Center for the Promotion of Dance in Cuba, known internationally as Centro Prodanza, where young dancers are trained and educated using the Cuban Ballet School method.

She was born in New York, United States. Daughter of Alicia Alonso and Fernando Alonso, outstanding figures in the world of dance. Being the daughter of two great figures of world ballet is not only a privilege but has also been an enormous challenge and constant incentive.

Laura grew up in La Habana with her two grandmothers Ernestina (Kika) and Laura, as her parents remained in New York due to the demands of their ballet careers. English was her first language; she had to learn to speak Spanish, and spoke English with her parents because they wanted her not to lose the language.

Ballet was a very strong vocation. The entire family was opposed to her being a dancer. Taking ballet classes was one thing, but performing in theater was another… When her mother was away, her father needed a dancer for one of the performances, and he put her in the corps de ballet. When her mother returned she said: "She's already proven it. The applause is stronger than drugs; now there will be no one who can take it away from her."

When the Academia de Ballet Alicia Alonso was founded in 1950, she took classes with Fernando Alonso (her father), and with Phylis Bedells, Ana Ivanova, Alexandra Fedorova and Mary Skeaping, among others. Around this time she began her participation in performances of Ballet Alicia Alonso.

In 1952 she participates in her first tour, traveling to Venezuela and Colombia. In 1957 she moves to the United States, where she joins the cast of the Greek Theatre of Los Angeles. She then takes classes at the American Ballet Theatre School with Valentina Pereyaslavec and Leon Danielian, also with Mme. Swovoda at the Ballets Russes de Montecarlo and with Dukodowski at the Metropolitan Opera House.

From 1959 onwards she joins the Ballet Nacional de Cuba and uses the name Laura Rayneri to professionally distance herself from the Alonso surname. Since then she participates in the various tours undertaken by this ensemble throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Between 1965 and 1967 she remains in the Soviet Union, where she takes advanced theatrical training classes and works on repertoire at the Bolshoi theatre. Among the professors she studied with during this period are E. P. Gerdt, Olga Endriknova Jordan, Barlamov, Assaf Messerer and Sulamith Messerer. During her stay in Moscow, she performs as a guest artist at the Park of Culture and at the Night of Cuban Soviet Friendship, where she performs the second act of Swan Lake, accompanied by Boris Khokhlov. Also in the Soviet Union she performs the pas de deux of the third act of Swan Lake.

Long before concluding her career as a dancer (she left the stage in 1974), she had already begun to develop as a teacher. Since the founding of the National School of Art, her work as a teacher in the men's class drew attention, work she maintained for several years. She also taught classes in other national artistic groups such as the Ballet of the Cuban Institute of Broadcasting (ICR) and the Musical Theatre of La Habana.
Laura Alonso.

She was trainer and personal maître of Alicia Alonso, a role she performed for seven years.

One of the most important tasks that the Ballet Nacional de Cuba has undertaken in extending its activity beyond the specifically theatrical sphere is Psychoballet. This experience is conducted with children who present emotional problems and are rehabilitated through dance. She has directed this program since its inception in 1973, and has displayed her capacity and enthusiasm in it.

Since 1975 her work as ballet maître and rehearsal director has been highly prominent. This courageous woman, although she never became prima ballerina of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, but rather one of its principal soloists for 25 years, forged her own path in another crucial and extremely important facet of the dance world, and today is one of the most sought-after and renowned ballet maîtres in the world.

Among her students have been José Manuel Carreño and Xiomara Reyes, principal figures of ABT, Marcela Goicochea, soloist of the Ballet of the Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires, Lorna Feijoo, Alihaydeé Carreño and Víctor Gilí, principal figures of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Arionel Vargas, principal figure of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Edelquis Cruz, principal figure of the Ballet of the Teatro Teresa Carreño of Caracas and others.

For professional reasons, she has traveled to several countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia, including: Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, United States, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Russia, Germany, China, Korea, Vietnam, France, Italy, Canada, Japan, Finland, Monaco, Spain, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland, Guadeloupe Islands.

As principal soloist of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, she performed roles such as Cerrito in the Grand pas de quatre, one of the soloists in the pas de trois of the first act, and the Spanish dance in the third act of Swan Lake, the Prayer in Coppelia, the Persian slave in the Polovtsian Dances of Prince Igor, the muse Terpsichore in Apollo, as well as central roles in newly created works, among which are: Delirium, Pulpería, Exorcismo, Majísimo,

In 1972, as a guest artist of the Ballet de Camagüey she performs the role of Swanilda in the complete version of the ballet Coppelia.

In 1995 she created her own company, the Ballet Laura Alonso, and in 2001 she was elected vice president for Cuba of the Latin American Dance Confederation.

As Principal Soloist of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba she has danced in the following choreographies:

Habana 1830
A Concert in Black and White
Spring Waters
The Nutcracker
Coppelia
Walpurgis Night
Sleeping Beauty
Carmen
Giselle
Les Sylphides
Plasmasis
Grand Pas de Quatre
The Advanced Guard
Apollo

Other choreographies
Laura Alonso and Silvia Marichal with Guffanti and Jorge Esquivel in A Concert in Black and White, by Parés

Pulpería
Exorcismo
William Tell (in Canada)
Coppelia (in Cuba and USA)
La fille mal gardée (third act)
Cassandra
The Three Musketeers
La Bayadera
Petroushka (with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba)
Grand Pas de Quatre (in Cuba and Canada)
Swan Lake - second act, pas de deux; pas de trois of the 1st act (in Canada)
Giselle (in San Diego, USA)
Don Quixote
Les Sylphides (in Cuba)

Awards
Some of the dancers trained by Laura Alonso have won medals and prizes in international competitions such as the Grand Prix de la Ville, the Jackson International Ballet Competition, among others. In this competition Laura Alonso is awarded the prize for best trainer.

In April 2021, at the headquarters of the National Council of Performing Arts in La Habana, she is awarded the National Dance Prize for that year.

She has developed her teaching experience in institutions such as:
Academia de Ballet Alicia Alonso
Ballet School of the National School of Art of La Habana
Ballet Nacional de Cuba
Psychoballet
Musical Theatre of La Habana
Ballet of the Teatro Karl Marx
Ballet of the National Institute of Tourism and Recreation
TV Ballet

Courses taught
She has taught international courses of the Escuela Cubana de Ballet - CUBALLETS - held both in Cuba and in other countries, as well as in the companies of:

Modern Dance of Mexico
Tchaikovsky Memorial
Tokyo Ballet
Alberta Ballet
Les Grand Ballet Canadiens
Toronto National Ballets and Schools
The Banff Centre of the Arts; The Australian Ballet
Philippine Ballet; Royal Danish Ballet
Opera Ballet of Finland; The Calgary City Ballet
Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Centro PRODANZA of Cuba

Film and television
In Cuba she has worked in the films:
Giselle
A Retablo for Romeo and Juliet

On television, she participated in the programs:
"Alicia Alonso and Cuban Ballet at the MET" (United States, 1971).
"Ballet Nacional de Cuba: Grand Pas de Quatre and Carmen" (Hungary, 1972).

Behind her personal legend, supported by so many professional achievements, and beyond the rumors and comments about her private life that are already part of the collective imagination of the Cuban people, is the girl, the adolescent, the young woman, the woman, who was born in the city of New York on March 14, 1938, and whom with all respect and admiration for her career I hope to be able to "draw" with my questions and her answers: