Giselles strike a pose in Paris, 1966 (from left to right): Christiane Vlassi, Liane Daydé, Lycette Darsonval, Josette Amiel, Alicia Alonso, Yvette Chauviré, Nina Vladimirovna Vyroubova, Claude Bessy, and Janine Charrat. Photo: Museo Nacional de la Danza, Havana. Courtesy of Isis Wirth. |
Otto Rothschild, Basic position 5 sûr les pointes, demonstrated by Alicia Alonso. Photo © Otto Rothschild. Courtesy of Cuban Art News. |
Cuba’s prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso as the title character in Giselle, c1947. Photo: Granger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy.
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Havana, Cuba, 1949: prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso had already suffered a retinal detachment eight years earlier. Photo: AP.
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Ballerina Alicia Alonso executing a deep plié (bend) in fifth position, with arms au couronne (crownlike). Photo: Gjon Mili/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images.
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Just a few days ago, a new book was released, entitled “Alicia Alonso. Una mirada a su vida a través del lente” (“Alicia Alonso. A look at her life through the lens”), published by the Editorial Ocean Sur (Ocean Press) and edited by José Ramón Neyra (prose) and Yailín Alfaro (graphics). The book, featuring many unpublished photos of Cuba’s legendary prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso, in fact, officially opens the rehearsals for the celebrations of her 100th birthday, which will fall on December 21, 2020. The Editorial Ocean Sur (Ocean Press) President David Deutschmann personally handed it to her on July 3, 2019 in Havana, Cuba. Photo: Prensa Latina.
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The National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame, 99 South Broadway, Saratoga Springs, New York, United States is currently hosting, among others, the exhibition “Alicia Alonso’s Giselle”, in celebration of the 75th anniversary since Cuba’s prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso first performed Giselle, the Romantic ballet which she staged on companies around the world, including her own Ballet Nacional de Cuba. Photo © The National Museum of Dance.
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Cuba’s prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso speaking with border guards before her performance near the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in 1964. Photo: Sputnik/Alamy Stock Photo.
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New York, United States, 1944: Stroboscopic multiple exposure of American Ballet Theatre ballerina Alicia Alonso executing a pas de bourrée. Photo: Gjon Mili/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images.
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On the first day of the year, we shared with Alicia Alonso one of her dreams. The Gran Teatro de La Habana named after her, as a gift of its new cycle, staged Swan Lake, in the most faithful version of her choreographic style. [Read more].
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Alicia Alonso in the dressing room of an unspecified theatre, most likely in the United States, c. 1945. Photo © PALM/RSCH/Redferns/Getty Images.
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The company of Ballet Nacional de Cuba in the second act of Swan Lake at the Gran Teatro de La Habana Alicia Alonso on January 1, 2019 in Havana, Cuba. Photo: Yuris Nórido.
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Havana, January 1 (Prensa Latina) — Alicia Alonso’s appearance in public unleashed an apotheosis today at the Gran Teatro de La Habana named after the legendary ballet étoile.
Health problems have kept Cuba’s prima ballerina assoluta out of the public scene for months. Admirers from all countries regretted that, for the first time in history, the artist could not parade ahead of her own company, the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, at the 26th International Ballet Festival of Havana, which took place from October 28 to November 6, nor participate directly in any of the sideline events. Alicia was not in her theatre, where ritually hundreds of admirers applaud and praise her even in the corridors, and where a bronze statue of herself, young and gleaming in the role of Giselle, has impressed visitors since its installation a year ago. Although she appeared seated in a chair on the stage of the García Lorca Auditorium, for greater ecstasy of her admirers Alonso performed a port de bras, a movement of arms which she executed in different positions, and inevitably the audience erupted in applause and cheers. Not in vain, sometimes many have the impression that she still dances. [Read more]. |
Alicia Alonso back to the Gran Teatro de La Habana on January 1, 2019, on the 60th anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution. Photo: Prensa Latina.
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The Ballet Nacional de Cuba celebrated on Tuesday, January 1, 2019 the 60th anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution with a gala show performing Swan Lake, which was staged at the Gran Teatro de La Habana Alicia Alonso featuring the first dancers Grettel Morejón and Dani Hernández.
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Alicia Alonso, Cuba’s legendary prima ballerina assoluta, performing the ballet “La Avanzada” for the frontier guards near the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in 1964. Photo credit: La Raza Cómica.
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Cuba’s prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso — pictured above (with dark glasses) — celebrated her 98th birthday on Friday, December 21, 2018 with a giant, ballet-inspired ponqué (pound cake) made and offered by Cafeccino cafe-bakery in Santa Marta, Varadero, Cuba. Photos: Cafeccino Varadero Cuba.
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Cuban ballerina Alicia Alonso in the dressing room of the Philharmonic Auditorium on Friday night, February 8, 1957 in Los Angeles, California, United States. Photo: USC Libraries/Corbis via Getty Images.
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