Alonso, Alicia (1921–)

Cuban ballet dancer. Born Alicia Martinez in Havana, Cuba, Dec 21, 1921; dau. of Antonio Martinez (army officer) and Ernestina (Hoyo) Martinez; studied ballet with Alexandra Fedorova, Leon Fokine, Anatole Vilzak, and Vera Volkova; m. Fernando Alonso, 1937; children: Laura Alonso (ballerina).

At 10, gave 1st public performance, dancing a waltz in an abridged version of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty; married and moved to NYC (1937); made American professional dancing debut in chorus line of Broadway musical Great Lady (1938), followed by Stars in Your Eyes (1939), choreographed by George Balanchine; was chosen by the newly formed Ballet Theater for its corps de ballet (1941); diagnosed with a detached retina (1941), lost peripheral vision; replacing an indisposed Alicia Markova in Giselle, had a huge success; promoted to principal dancer of Ballet Theater (1946) and danced the Accused in Fall River Legend; returned to Havana in order to found her own company, the Ballet Alicia Alonso (1948), then commuted between Havana and NY; opened her own dance school in Havana, the Alicia Alonso Academy of Ballet (1950); because of the machinations of Batista, had to disband both her dance company and ballet school (1956); danced with the famed Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo (1956–59); was the 1st ballerina from the West to be invited to perform in the Soviet Union; danced Giselle in Moscow and Leningrad (1957) and starred in the Leningrad Opera Ballet's 3-act Path of Thunder, a denunciation of South Africa's apartheid system; with Castro's overthrow of Batista, returned to Cuba and received funds from the revolutionary government to form a new ballet company, Ballet Nacional de Cuba, and reopen her dance school (1959); within a few years, her company began taking top honors in numerous international dance competitions; with her ensemble, appeared in Western and Eastern Europe (1960–90); performed occasionally in Canada (1967, 1971) and US (1975, 1976). Received Dance Magazine Award (1958).

See also Women in World History.