Alicia Alonso (born Alicia Ernestina de la Caridad Martínez del Hoyo; 21 December 1920 – 17 October 2019) was a Cuban prima ballerina assoluta and choreographer whose company became the Ballet Nacional de Cuba in 1955. She is best known for her portrayals of Giselle and the ballet version of Carmen.
From the age of nineteen, Alonso was afflicted with an eye condition and became partially blind. Her partners always had to be in the exact place she expected them to be, and she used lights in different parts of the stage to guide herself.
Muere ALICIA ALONSO, última diva del BALLET CLÁSICO, a los 98 años
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpcPK5sCk6M
Alicia Alonso, la ‘prima ballerina’ de Cuba, y su relación con los Castro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etu15mWkt2I
Alicia Alonso, la ‘prima ballerina’ de Cuba, falleció este jueves a los 98 años. En 2011, Ismael Cala conversó de manera exclusiva con Alonso y tocaron temas como su carrera en el ballet, sus relaciones y los problemas de salud que la dejaron ciega.
Alicia Alonso
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicia_Alonso
Alicia Alonso: Legendary ballet dancer dies aged 98
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-50091870
Alicia Alonso: Legendary ballet dancer dies aged 98
Cuban ballet dancer Alicia Alonso has died age 98, the country's state media has announced.
Alonso is considered one of the greatest 20th Century ballerinas. She began to lose her sight at 19, relying on only the stage lights to guide her.
After the 1959 revolution, she helped found the National Ballet of Cuba with then leader Fidel Castro.
"Alicia Alonso has gone and left an enormous void but unbeatable legacy," President Miguel Diaz-Canel said.
"She positioned Cuba at the altar of the best of dance worldwide. Thank you Alicia for your immortal work," he added.
Born Alicia Ernestina de la Caridad Martínez del Hoyo on 21 December 1921, she first appeared on stage in 1931. She fell in love with ballet.
"When you look out and you see the theatre full of people you feel that you are alive, that you have been born. It's wonderful, it's unique," she told the BBC in 2015.
At the age of 16, she married fellow student Fernando Alonso and the pair moved to New York, joining Ballet Caravan.
Three years later, her eyesight began to deteriorate. She was diagnosed with a detached retina.
She told the BBC: "I suffered terribly with my sight and had to have various operations on my eyes. Detachment of the retina. It was terrible. They told me not to quickly lower my head or move it side to side. I was like that for two years.
"They told me I'd never dance again. Well I did dance again."
During her recovery, teachers came to her bedside to teach her the steps to Giselle, moving her fingers to practice the steps.
However the issues with her sight later came back and at one point she was unable to see her fellow dancers, relying on stage lights.
She had a number of operations.
By the late 1940s, she had performed major roles, particularly Giselle, in both New York and London.
In 1948, she founded the Alicia Alonso Ballet Company in Cuba's capital. She said every time she came home to Cuba she would question why there couldn't be ballet for everyone in the country.
Her ballet company collapsed in 1956 due to a lack of finance.
Alonso then formed the National Ballet of Cuba after the revolution. According to a 1981 biography of the dancer, she was asked by Fidel Castro how much money was needed to form the ballet company.
She recalled telling Castro that she needed $100,000.
His reply was: "We will give you $200,000."
The company brought ballet to everyone with performances in factories and other workplaces.
Alonso continued to direct the company until her 70s and also kept dancing during that time.
She is so respected in Cuba that she has perfume named after her and an ice cream parlour named Coppelia after one of her most famous roles.