Alberto Julio Rayneri Alonso (22 May 1917 – 31 December 2007) was a Cuban dancer and choreographer, the brother of

Fernando Alonso Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mi ...

and brother-in-law of

Alicia Alonso Alicia Alonso (born Alicia Ernestina de la Caridad del Cobre 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 ...

(née Martinez). He was influential in the development of the Cuban style of ballet, a combination of Russian and Western techniques with a Latin style.

Biography

Alonso was born in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, and attended Springhill College in Mobile, Alabama. On returning to

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, he began ballet training in 1932 at the ''Sociedad Pro-Arte Musical'' arts school in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

with Nikolai Yavorsky. He studied in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

with several teachers including Preobrazhenska and Idzikowski, and danced with the Ballets Russes de Colonel W. de Basil from 1936 to 1940, performing principal roles in several ballets created by

Michel Fokine Michael Fokine, ''Mikhail Mikhaylovich Fokin'', group=lower-alpha ( – 22 August 1942) was a groundbreaking Imperial Russian choreographer and dancer. Career Early years Fokine was born in Saint Petersburg to a prosperous merchant and a ...

. He subsequently danced with the

Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual ei ...

from 1943 to 1945, in works created by Fokine,

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

and

Leonid Massine Leonid (russian: Леонид ; uk, Леонід ; be, Леанід, Ljeaníd ) is a Slavic version of the given name Leonidas. The French version is Leonide. People with the name include: *Leonid Andreyev (1871–1919), Russian playwright an ...

. Back in Cuba in 1948, he co-founded with Alicia and Fernando Alonso the

Ballet Alicia Alonso Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, which would eventually become the

Ballet Nacional de Cuba The Cuban National Ballet ( es, Ballet Nacional de Cuba) is a classical ballet company based at Great Theatre of Havana in Havana, Cuba, founded by the Cuban prima ballerina assoluta, Alicia Alonso in 1948. The official school of the company is ...

, being its artistic director and choreographer. From 1942 he also worked as ballet master and choreographer, creating several works including ''Antes del Alba'' (1948, music by Hilario Gonzalez, libretto by Francisco Martínez Allende), ''Rapsodia Negra'' (1953, music by

Ernesto Lecuona Ernesto Lecuona y Casado (; August 7, 1896 – November 29, 1963) was a Cuban composer and pianist, many of whose works have become standards of the Latin, jazz and classical repertoires. His over 600 compositions include songs and zarzuelas as ...

), ''El Solar'' (1965, music by

Tony Taño Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leag ...

, filmed as ''Un día en el solar'' by

Eduardo Manet Eduardo Manet (born 19 June 1930) is a Cuban-born novelist and playwright writing in French. His work has been translated into over 20 languages. Life Born in Santiago de Cuba, Manet lived in Paris and Italy in the 1950s. In 1960 he returned to ...

), ''Espacio y movimiento'' (1966, music by

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

, prize for best choreography at Varna in 1968), ''Un retablo para Romeo y Julieta'' (1969, to the music of Roméo et Juliette by Berlioz), etc. His most well-known ballet is '' Carmen Suite'' (1967), to music by

Rodion Shchedrin Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin ( rus, Родион Константинович Щедрин, , rədʲɪˈon kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ ɕːɪˈdrʲin; born 16 December 1932) is a Soviet and Russian composer and pianist, winner of USSR State ...

; it was created for

Maya Plisetskaya Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya (russian: link=no, Майя Михайловна Плисецкая; 20 November 1925 – 2 May 2015) was a Soviet and Russian ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet director, and actress. In post-Soviet times, she he ...

in the

Bolshoi Ballet The Bolshoi Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is among the world's oldest ballet companies. In the early 20th century, it came to internatio ...

, and simultaneously for

in the

, and later it has been re-created by several other companies. He was married from 1939 to 1944 to the

Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Revolution disrupted society. A ...

Canadian dancer Alexandra Denisova. Later he married Elena del Cueto, a Cuban dancer, until 1962, when she left for the United States with their two daughters. In 1964 he married the

Cuban Rumba Rumba is a secular genre of Cuban music involving dance, percussion, and song. It originated in the northern regions of Cuba, mainly in urban Havana and Matanzas, during the late 19th century. It is based on African music and dance traditions, ...

dancer and actress Sonia Calero. They were married until his death and had a son, Alberto Jr. He left Cuba in 1993 with his third wife, and settled in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

, where he became master artist in residence at the

Santa Fe Community College Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) is a public community college in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It has an undergraduate population of about 4,027 students, as well as approximately 4,706 contract training and continuing education students. The college ...

and resident choreographer for the Dance Theater of Santa Fe. He continued choreographing for several companies including New York's Ballet Hispanico in 1994, and re-creating Carmen for Svetlana Zakharova in the Bolshoi Ballet in 2005. Alonso died from

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

in his adopted hometown of Gainesville, Florida, at age 90. The minor planet 58373 Albertoalonso was named after Alonso in 1995.

References

Notes

Sources consulted

Danza Ballet Blog Revista Video
"Farewell to a Master", by Célida P. Villalón, January 8, 2008. *''"Dance of my heart",'' Dir. Ricardo Acosta. With Alberto Alonso, Sonia Calero, Fernando Alonso, Maya Plisetskaya. Santa Fe Community College, 2009.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alonso, Alberto 1917 births 2007 deaths Ballet choreographers People from Havana Cuban male ballet dancers 20th-century ballet dancers Cuban emigrants to the United States