Alicia Alonso: Her Legacy
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| Photo Courtesy of Granger/Rex Alicia Alonso, "Swan Lake" (1955) |
Though the variety of dancers and choreographers who have shaped the history of dance as we know it today created vastly different techniques and specializations in which they could carry out into their dancing careers. Dancers, or more specifically ballerinas such as Alicia Alonso didn’t exactly have such an easy gateway into the enrichment of their ballet career. At just the age of nineteen and being named “prima ballerina”, a title a few achieved so young, Alonso suffered an incident that would lead her to become partially blind for the rest of her career. Though a redirect from the original direction she was advancing her journey as a ballerina on, Alicia Alonso successfully inspired a whole new community for the impaired as she continued to dance effortlessly and beautifully until the age of seventy-five.
The prima ballerina given the name of Alicia Ernestina de la Caridad del Cobre Martínez y del Hoyo at birth by her mother Ernestina del Hoyo y Lugo and father Antonio Martínez de Arredondo was born in the country of Cuba on December 21, 1920. Although from Havana, Cuba originally Alonso studied and participated in multiple different schools and institutions. Growing up, Alonso was introduced to the art of dance when she first attended flamenco lessons after her move to Spain before landing herself at the American Ballet Theatre in 1940. Whilst this grew her newfound love, Alonso moved from flamenco to ballet when she began practicing at Sociedad Pro-Arte Musical back in Havana at the age of eleven with choreographer Nikolai Yavorsky who guided her into her first on stage performance in Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty back at the Teatro Auditorium on October 26, 1932 (“Alicia Alonso - Students”). Continuing, as Alonso entered her teen years she applied and eventually attended the American School of Ballet in New York at seventeen; she quickly captivated the eyes of the dancers and choreographers as she was given her ballet debut for the school in 1938 in which she performed in the musical Great Lady. Though it was clear her love for ballet and her work ethic began to pay off as she made her way up the ladder of dance, another form of love and endearment began to stem when she met Fernando Alonso, another young dancer from Cuba who had moved to New York. This romance moved hot and fast which consequently led to the birth of the Alonsos’ first child/daughter named Laura when they were both nineteen. Yet seen as a young parent, Alicia Alonso was still able to pursue her career and make herself a name for one of the most influential dancers of her time.
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| Photo Courtesy of Lipnitzki/Roger Viollet Alicia Alonso, Paris (1995) |
As stated, Alonso’s dedication to her profession managed to get her into the American Ballet Theatre by the year of 1940 where she was able to work with other choreographers such as Mikhail Fokine, George Balanchine, Léonid Massine, and Agnes de Mille who were able to collaborate on incredible performance pieces. Alonso had also begun to work with her future all-time partner Igor Youskevitch once admitted. Sadly however, as her time at the American Ballet Theatre continued with her practices, Alonso also began to experience intense visionary issues which would cause her to become bedridden and, in the end, send her back to Cuba to have multiple eye surgeries. After undergoing much pain and procedures, Alonso’s eyeswere left permanently damaged causing doctors to diagnose her as partially blind with a detached retina (Noronha). With this newfound news, Alonso navigated a new world of not just dance, but sight as she began to use other practices unlike her legs and toes to help her navigate her surroundings, her fingers. She fought and struggled with having to take a break from dance up until 1943 when she was finally given the go by doctors to return to the American Ballet Theatre. This new challenge was not seen as a dead end for Alonso as she continued to tirelessly fight and practice until she once again landed herself the lead role in Giselle that same year (Noronha). She would then also dance as the lead roles in Undertow in 1945 and in de Mille’s Fall River Legend in 1948. Alongside that one of her top honors became her participation in the choreography for the 1947 Theme and Variations with partner Igor Youskevitch (Klenk). As years went on, both Alonso and her husband were inspired tremendously by their passion for dance which led them to open their own academy by 1948 named The Ballet School of Alicia Alonso. Realistically, while a ballerina could only dream and hope to dance forever, Alonso self-choreographed her last performance in 1955 named The Butterfly before she officially went into retirement as her condition took a plumet (Klenk). Overall, Alonso was able to not only work around her visual impairment but help teach other ballerinas her techniques along the way.
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| Photo Courtesy of Annemarie Heinrich Alonso and Reyes Fernández Giselle (1960) |
With that said, some of the significantly memorable qualities of Alicia Alonso that made her the unique ballerina of her time was the way she was able to guide herself on stage despite her blindness by using the stage lights and gleams; the lights were placed strategically so she knew what point or how far she was on stage in accordance to how bright they were. Other adjustments made during Alonso's career were having wires put in place at the very front of the stage to prevent her from falling over and having her partner Youskevitchn and herself memorize their exact positions in order to find each other during their duets without having to rely on her sight (Klenk). With the new ways she steered through life, Alonso famously quoted in 1971, “I can accept my blindness…I don’t want my audience thinking that if I dance badly, it is because of my eyes. Or if I dance well, it is in spite of them. This is not how an artist should be” (Noronha). In acknowledgement of her differences in the way she performed, audiences noted repeatedly that they would be captivated by Alonso's “technical precision and a vast emotional range” (Heinrich and Balanchine). Alicia Alonso became the first ever dancer to be invited to perform in the Soviet Union back in 1957 after Cuba’s shift in political power. Her skills began to be commemorated globally while she was also treasured back home in Cuba with the country creating postage stamps in her honor!
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| Photo Courtesy of William Sauro Alicia Alonso |
In the end, Alicia Alonso became ill with cardiovascular disease which then inevitably led to her passing on October 17, 2019, at the age of eighty-nine where she peacefully laid back in Havana. Her dedication along with her perseverance in the face of adversity, combined with her exceptional talent and innovative choreography have had an overall profound impact on the art of ballet. Alonso's work has been celebrated for its technical prowess, emotional depth, and cultural significance, and she has been recognized with numerous awards and accolades throughout her career such as the Pablo Picasso Medal. Through her remarkable 71 years in the industry of dance and ballet, honoring and representing her home country with her husband and daughter by her side, Alicia Alonso will continue to preach the message of “nothing can come up against your dreams” for generations to come.
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| Photo Courtesy of Paul Benoit Alicia Alonso, New England (1979) |
“Alicia Alonso - Students.” Britannica Kids, https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Alicia-Alonso/316109. Accessed 26 March 2023.
Heinrich, Annemarie, and George Balanchine. “SAB Trailblazer - Alicia Alonso.” School of American Ballet, 30 March 2021, https://sab.org/scenes/sab-trailblazer-alicia-alonso/. Accessed 26 March 2023.
Klenk, Liam. “Alicia Alonso, Legendary Cuban Prima Ballerina and Choreographer.” Theatre Art Life, 8 May 2021, https://www.theatreartlife.com/dance/alicia-alonso-legendary-cuban-prima-ballerina-and-choreographer/. Accessed 26 March 2023.
Noronha, Remus. “Alicia Alonso, who overcame near blindness to become ballet legend, dies in Havana at 98.” MEAWW, 3 March 2020, https://meaww.com/alicia-alonso-ballerina-choreographer-death-98-in-havana-fidel-castro-support-eyes-blind. Accessed 26 March 2023.
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