Dancer and choreographer Alberto Alonso, one of the three founders of the influential modern school of Cuban ballet, died of heart failure Dec. 31 at his home in Gainesville, Fla., his family announced. He was 90.
Together with his brother, dancer Fernando Alonso, and Fernando's wife, Alicia Alonso, Alberto Alonso founded what became the National Ballet of Cuba in 1948. The three forged a unique Cuban style of ballet that combined classical Russian and brilliant Western techniques with a national flair and sensuality.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday, January 12, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 33 words Type of Material: Correction
Alonso obituary: The obituary of dancer and choreographer Alberto Alonso in Friday's California section said dancer Maya Plisetskaya performed Alonso's "Carmen Suite" more than 35 times. She performed it more than 350 times.
The school has long been a feeder for dancers defecting to U.S., European and South American companies, including Miami City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, London's Royal Ballet, the Vienna State Opera Ballet and Buenos Aires' Ballet del Teatro Colon.
For the Cuban company, Alberto created such works as "Antes del Alba" (1948), "Rapsodia Negra" (1953), "Espacio y Movimiento" (1966), "Un retablo para Romeo y Julieta" (1970) and a 1982 version of Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights," "Cumbres borrascosas," in which the 60-year-old Alicia Alonso danced the role of Catherine Earnshaw.
But Alberto Alonso's most famous work, "Carmen Suite," was created in 1967 specifically for Bolshoi Ballet star Maya Plisetskaya to music by her husband, composer Rodion Shchedrin. Reportedly, it was the first piece choreographed by a foreigner in the Soviet Union, and it was created over the objection of Bolshoi Ballet director Yuri Grigorovich, who disliked Plisetskaya.
The work was considered so sensual and suggestive, however, that Soviet authorities immediately canceled a second performance. Only after Plisetskaya agreed to wear a chiffon skirt over her brief black leotard and tone down some of the more extreme arabesques was the work permitted a repeat performance. She would eventually dance the piece more than 35 times around the world.
The following August, Alicia Alonso premiered a Cuban version tailored for her by Alberto Alonso, with Plisetskaya's brother, Azary Plisetsky, as her partner. Both versions remain in the repertory.
Alberto Julio Rayneri Alonso was born May 22, 1917, in Havana. He studied with Nicholas Yavorsky in Havana and with Olga Preobrajenska and Stanislas Idzikowski in Paris.
