Legendary Cuban ballerina Alicia Alonso, who achieved global acclaim in the 1940...
- Legendary Cuban ballerina Alicia Alonso, who achieved global acclaim in the 1940s and went on to run the internationally renowned National Ballet of Cuba for decades, died on Thursday at age 98, state-run media said.
Alonso immediately identified herself with the 1959 revolution and, with her dance partner of many years, the Russian Igor Youskevich who died in 1994, performed for the bearded guerrillas of Fidel Castro’s rebel army after they took power in Havana. She remained closely associated with the Communist government until the end.
For her debut in the ethereal 1841 French Romantic role, Alonso had learned the steps with her hands while recovering from eye surgery. Alonso for years did not name a successor because, she said, “I will live until I’m 200,” according to several of her dancers and collaborators. Critics accused her of holding onto power for too long, even as her health faltered.
“We Cubans were born to dance as a people, thanks to the mix of races, the Spanish and the African, both lovers of dance,” Alonso told Reuters in 2004. “Cuban dancers immediately stand out with their expressive way of performing the great classics or the moderns.”According to Alonso’s own account in a 1981 biography, Castro asked her how much money she needed to organize the National Ballet.
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