Alonso was the ex-husband of world-renowned ballerina and fellow National Ballet co-founder Alicia Alonso.

State TV announced his passing Saturday without specifying a cause of death. It says he left an “indelible mark on Cuban culture.”

Fernando Alonso began his career in 1935, and in 1937 traveled with his brother and Alicia Alonso to the United States. In 1940, he and Alicia joined the American Ballet Theatre, where they remained for eight years.

Alonso trained several generations of virtuoso ballet dancers after founding his academy in 1950, with the collaboration of his former wife, ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso. He was one of the founders of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba and its first director, from 1948 to 1975.

Alonso, who was born in Havana in 1914, was awarded the National Dance Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the year 2000.

One of the books published based on his life bring interviews with Alonso, Alicia Alonso, his daughter Laura, and others, including Azari Plizestki, Ramona de Sáa, Menia Martínez, Jorge Esquivel, Aurora Bosch, Lázaro and Joel Carreño, Lorena and Lorna Feijóo, Jhon White, Donald Saddler and Carlos Acosta who were students of his long life. .

Curious and thoughtful, a pedagogue who was committed but not demagogic, Alonso insisted daily on achieving the highest standards of discipline and rigor, Singer said.

In 1948 they returned to Habana and were part of a group called the Ballet Alicia Alonso. It later became the National Ballet.

In 1975, after divorcing Alicia, Alonso took charge of the ballet of the city of Camaguey where he spent 17 years.

It was then that he became director of the National Dance Company of Mexico.

In 2000 he was awarded Cuba’s National Dance Prize for lifetime achievement and in 2008 the prize “Benois de la Dance”-considered the Oscar of the dance-at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.

Sources: BBC/Various/InternetPhotos/Youtube/www.thecubanhistory.com
GOOD BYE TO Fernando Alonso “Teacher of Teachers”
The Cuban History, Arnoldo Varona, Editor

UN ADIOS A FERNANDO ALONSO “MAESTRO DE MAESTROS”.

El académico y fundador del Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Fernando Alonso, falleció este sábado en La Habana a la edad de 98 años.

Alonso fue fundador de la prestigiosa Escuela Cubana de Ballet, junto a Alicia Alonso.

El cadáver de Alonso, de quien no se dieron las causas exactas de su muerte, se encuentra expuesto en el Teatro Nacional de la capital cubana y será enterrado en el cementerio de Colón de la misma ciudad.

Alonso nació en La Habana el 27 de diciembre de 1914 y, señala la agencia de noticias EFE, estudió ballet con profesores como Mijail Mordking, Mijail Fokine y Alexandar Fedórova.

Debutó en 1937 como bailarín en la Compañía Mordking Ballet.

Alicia Alonso fue esposa de Fernando, con quien cofundó la Escuela Cubana de Ballet.

Fue contratado por el American Ballet Caravan, dirigido por George Balanchine, así como por el American Ballet Theatre y el Ballet Ruso de MonteCarlo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Qs6vT5U0Wtw

En 1948 fundó el Ballet Alicia Alonso –que más tarde se convertiría en el Ballet Nacional de Cuba- junto a su hermano Alberto y a la bailarina Alicia Alonso, quien en aquel momento era su esposa.

Hasta 1975 dirigiría esa compañía. Más tarde fundó el Ballet de Camagüey, del que estuvo al frente hasta 1992.

Fue entonces que pasó a dirigir la Compañía Nacional de Danza de México.

En 2000 recibió el Premio Nacional de Danza de Cuba y en 2008 el premio “Benois de la dance” -considerado el Oscar de la danza- en el teatro Bolshoi de Moscú.