Cuban National Ballet School

Salsa, changüí, danzón, rumba, son — when it comes to rhythm, Cubans move with soul. But don’t let the festive dances fool you, they also master the discipline, grace, and precision of ballet. In fact, Cuba is one of the world’s leading ballet nations, and its capital is home to the island’s most important ballet school, and one of the largest in the world. For that, we have one woman to thank: Alicia Alonso, a legendary dancer, choreographer, and national icon. Born in Havana in 1920 to Spanish immigrants and a military father, Alicia Martínez, as she was known then, was walking on tiptoes as a child — much to her father’s dismay. At ten, she began classical ballet, a time when showing your legs, let alone lifting them high, was still considered scandalous. She studied at the Sociedad Pro-Arte Musical under Nikolai Yavorsky, a Russian-born Cuban choreographer, where she also met Fernando Alonso, her future husband and dance partner. In the 1940s, Alicia followed Fernando to the United States, where she joined the American Ballet Theatre in New York, later refining her technique in London and Paris. Just as her international career was taking off, she began losing her vision at the age of 20, but Alicia didn’t stop. She danced by relying on stage lights, spatial cues, and the voices of her partners. Against all odds, she performed leading roles in Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake, performing on the world’s greatest stages — from the Paris Opera to the Vienna State Opera. In 1948, she founded her own ballet company in Havana, her homeland. After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, it became the Cuban National Ballet, with Alicia Alonso as its artistic director — a position she held into the 2010s. A devoted supporter of the revolution and fiercely patriotic until her death in 2019, she remained in Cuba despite countless international offers. At the corner of this street, stands the school she directed. From this beautiful building on the Prado, she trained generations of dancers, helping to build Cuba’s worldwide reputation for technical brilliance and expressive power. The prima ballerina assoluta didn’t just create stars — she created a movement.