They Award Laura Alonso the 2021 National Dance Prize

April 29, 2021

The Grand Maitre of Ballet, Laura Alonso, was awarded, this Wednesday, with the National Dance Prize 2021, a recognition conferred for her imprint on the culture of our country, her intelligent and coherent work, with contributions to the dance movement in Cuba.

The jury that awarded her, unanimously, the Prize to the distinguished artist, met on the eve of International Dance Day, presided over by Johannes García, accompanied by Nieves Laferté, Rosario Cárdenas, Miguel Iglesias and Alberto Méndez.

Director of the Center for the Promotion of Dance in Cuba, known as Prodanza; an institution where young dancers are trained and educated with the Cuban School of Ballet method.

Teacher of several generations of Cuban dancers, Laura began her studies at the Ballet School of the Pro-Arte Musical Society of La Habana, with Alberto Alonso, León Fokine and other teachers.

She was a soloist with the National Ballet of Cuba for more than two decades. Later, in the 1980s of the last century, she created the Department of Specialized Teaching, within Cuba's first dance company to, through the CUBALLET courses, promote the methodology of the Cuban school of ballet.

Daughter of Alicia and Fernando Alonso who, along with Alberto Alonso were the promoters of a Cuban style of academic dance, Laura inherited the passion for the art of pointe and lived from a very young age among rehearsal halls and stage productions. As a dancer, she has to her credit an important number of pieces within the repertoire of the National Ballet of Cuba, standing out in classical roles, romantic roles and other choreographies where she displayed her technical virtuosity and character in performance.

Laura Alonso had in the creation of the ProDanza Center, perhaps the most important consolidation of her artistic trajectory. This institution, from its inception, brought together groups of various dance genres, and welcomed La Joven Guardia, a space for the professional development of emerging dancers, who later became leading figures of the National Ballet of Cuba: José Manuel Carreño, Svetlana Ballestaer, Xiomara Reyes, Lienz Chang, Ernesto Quenedit, Gladys Acosta, Ana Lobet, Julio Arozarena, Lorena and Lorna Feijóo, Galina Álvarez, Anissa Curbelo, Ariel Terrero, Armando González, Joan Boada, Alihaydeé Carreño, Víctor Gilí, Viengsay Valdés, among other names that bring prestige to the Cuban and international scene.

Since the founding of the National School of Art, her work as a teacher in the men's class stands out, a position she held for several years. She even taught classes in other national artistic groups such as the Ballet of the Cuban Institute of Broadcasting (ICR) and the Musical Theater of La Habana, and was also a teacher at the University of the Arts (ISA) and promoter of the Psychoballet movement, having held the direction of this program since its inception in 1973, and has deployed in it her capacity and enthusiasm.

For this incessant pedagogical work that she has carried out inside and outside of Cuba, she has obtained numerous recognitions, establishing Laura Alonso as Cuba's Grand Maitre. Well-deserved, the National Dance Prize 2021.