Alicia Alonso Dies, Prima Ballerina Assoluta of Ballet Nacional de Cuba. Universal Cuban

October 18, 2019

Alicia Alonso, who during 88 years as a dancer, choreographer and pedagogue contributed with her brilliant art to place the prestige of her Homeland in the highest place in the four corners of the world, passed away at CIMEQ Hospital in Havana, at 11 in the morning this Thursday, October 17, 2019, two months and three days before turning 99 years old.

71 years ago she founded the Alicia Alonso Ballet in Havana, today the National Ballet of Cuba. As its director and principal figure, she has been inspiration and guide for the formation of several generations of Cuban dancers, with her own style that has conquered a prominent place in international ballet.

Born on December 21, 1920, in the Redención neighborhood, a popular area of Marianao, in a modest home formed by Antonio Martínez Arredondo, veterinary lieutenant of the army, and Ernestina del Hoyo y Lugo, refined seamstress, the illustrious dancer found in dance from a very early age the vocation that would guide her entire life.

Her stellar route, initiated at the Ballet School of the Pro-Arte Musical society of Havana, in 1931, was forced to take new directions when she had to go abroad due to the low level, prejudices and elitist character that ballet faced in Cuba at that time.

Tracing her professional artistic orbit is a Herculean task, as it spans from Broadway musicals, Ballet Caravan, New York Ballet Theatre, Washington Ballet and the Russian Ballet of Monte Carlo, to her colossal triumphs as a guest star of the most relevant companies, festivals and galas of this artistic genre throughout the world.

Her exceptional category as prima ballerina assoluta was not due to a capricious hierarchical reputation, but to the mastery of a vast repertoire of 134 titles that encompassed the great works of the romantic-classical tradition and creations by contemporary choreographers.

When on November 28, 1995, at the Massini Theater in the Italian city of Faenza, she took a pause in her career as a performer, she had already established a record difficult to match, not only for the length of time on pointe, but for the level of excellence with which she did it.

But the greatness of Alonso does not lie solely in having represented us triumphantly in 65 countries, receiving the most thunderous ovations, impossible to count, from Helsinki to Buenos Aires, from New York to Tokyo or Melbourne, but in having placed at the service of her Homeland all the honors received, among them the 266 international awards and distinctions, 225 of a national character and the 69 choreographic creations—romantic, classical and contemporary—that she has made, reverting them as fruits of the work that she has always seen as a modest contribution not only to her culture, but to world dance culture.

Degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Havana, the Higher Institute of Art of Cuba, the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain, and the University of Guadalajara, Mexico.

Order "The Aztec Eagle," conferred by the Mexican state in 1982. Encomienda of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, awarded by the King of Spain in 1993.

She created the Dance Foundation that bears her name, and the Alicia Alonso Higher Institute of Dance attached to Rey Juan Carlos University.

Honorary Member of the Association of Stage Directors of Spain (ADE). Gold Medal of the Circle of Fine Arts of Madrid, in 1998. Title of National Heroine of Work of the Republic of Cuba.
Order José Martí, the highest decoration awarded by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba.

In 2002 she was appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba by the Ministry of Foreign Relations. She was invested in Paris as UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. The President of France conferred upon her in 2003 the rank of officer of the Legion of Honor. She received in Cannes, in 2005, the Irene Lidova Prize for her entire artistic career.

She received, from the hands of the Kings of Spain, the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts awarded by that country's government.
In 2012 she received the Alba de las Artes Award from the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.

In 2017 she receives the title of World Ambassador of Dance awarded by UNESCO.

More than half a century ago, upon returning to our country laden with foreign honors, she did not hesitate to declare:

"All my hope and my dreams consist of never again going out into the world representing another country, but carrying our own flag and our art. My desire is that there be no one who does not shout: Bravo for Cuba!, when I dance. If not, if I cannot fulfill that dream, sadness would be the reward for my efforts".

This patriotic stance led her to found, together with Fernando and Alberto Alonso on October 28, 1948, today's National Ballet of Cuba (BNC), and in 1950 the Ballet Academy that bore her name and had the historic task of forming the first generation of dancers within the technical, aesthetic and ethical principles of the now internationally recognized Cuban school of ballet.

For 71 years, especially after the triumph of the Revolution, she was able, with a firm hand, to place the BNC among the most prestigious companies worldwide, establish a system of teaching that today spans the entire Island and is the guarantee of Cuban ballet, as well as to encourage an internationalist collaboration movement that in the field of ballet Cuba has extended to almost half a hundred countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa.

She is the Alicia guide and mentor, who with her gift for bringing people together was able to convene in Havana, in 26 International Ballet Festivals, the most celebrated personalities of dance, in a celebration of art and friendship. And she is also the Alicia we have seen give the best delivery of her teaching, whether on stages of the highest prestige or on rustic platforms, in public squares, factories, schools and military units, aware that to the people, whoever they may be, one always ascends and never descends.

Those who had the privilege of being at her side also came to know the extraordinary human being that was in her, who by courage and iron discipline never allowed herself to be defeated by physical ailments, misfortunes or misunderstandings.

She was our Alicia, who although bathed in cosmopolitanism yearned to hear the songs of our roosters, to taste the smell of salt spray from her Havana Malecón, to value the butterfly and the coral snake as the most exquisite flowers, or to be fascinated by scientific advances and the mysteries of the cosmos. "A tenacious, frenzied, heroic impulse—launched against illness and against time—toward tireless perfection," as Juan Marinello aptly defined her.

Mourning Alicia
From different social networks there are many expressions of respect and affection for the illustrious dancer of Cuba. From his Facebook profile, photojournalist Osvaldo Gutiérrez Gómez, of the Cuban News Agency, shares his feelings.