{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Cuba\u0026#39;s greatest ballerina remains active despite age and failing health' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c451d8eafeecae167e01' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c451d8eafeecae167e01' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nCuba\u0026#39;s greatest ballerina remains active despite age and failing health\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eHavana -  November 22, 20071. Various Alicia Alonso conducting class at National Ballet School of Cuba in Havana2. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Alicia Alonso, Prima Ballerina Assoluta:\"If life had been unjust with me, I wouldn't be fighting so...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eHavana -  November 22, 2007\u003cbr/\u003e1. Various Alicia Alonso conducting class at National Ballet School of Cuba in Havana\u003cbr/\u003e2. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Alicia Alonso, Prima Ballerina Assoluta:\u003cbr/\u003e\"If life had been unjust with me, I wouldn't be fighting so hard; I would have been defeated. Life is not unjust with anyone. One is unjust with life because it always places increasing demands on you to do what you really can do.\"\u003cbr/\u003eAP Television Archive, 1940's:\u003cbr/\u003e3. Medium shot black \u0026amp; white footage of Alonso dancing her favourite ballet, \"Giselle\". \u003cbr/\u003eAP Television \u003cbr/\u003eHavana -  November 22, 2007\u003cbr/\u003e4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Alicia Alonso, Prima Ballerina Assoluta:\u003cbr/\u003e\"I think that science has advanced so much we do not have to put a limit at 200 years. Let's see what science comes up with.\"\u003cbr/\u003eAP Television Archive 1920's and 1930's:\u003cbr/\u003e5. Various still pictures of Alonso as a child and as a young ballerina\u003cbr/\u003eAP Television \u003cbr/\u003eNovember 22, 2007:\u003cbr/\u003e6. Various Alonso assisting ballet students to achieve proper arm movements\u003cbr/\u003eAP Television Archive \u003cbr/\u003eDecember 2001:\u003cbr/\u003e7. Medium shot Fidel Castro with arm around Alonso on stage while audience claps.\u003cbr/\u003eAP Television Archive \u003cbr/\u003eOctober 2002:\u003cbr/\u003e8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Fidel Castro, President of Cuba:\u003cbr/\u003e\"Alicia's talent, her tenacity, and her example have inspired generations of brilliant artists that have made this miracle possible.\"\u003cbr/\u003eAP Television \u003cbr/\u003eNovember 22, 2007:\u003cbr/\u003e9. Pan left young girls in ballet class\u003cbr/\u003e10. Medium shot young girls doing ballet exercise\u003cbr/\u003eAP Television Archive \u003cbr/\u003e11. Wide shot Cuban National Ballet dancing \"Romeo and Juliet\" in Old Havana\u003cbr/\u003e12. Medium shot Alonso in audience\u003cbr/\u003e13. Close up same\u003cbr/\u003eAP Television \u003cbr/\u003eNovember 22, 2007:\u003cbr/\u003e14. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Alicia Alonso, Prima Ballerina Assoluta:\u003cbr/\u003e\"Are you tired of living? I'm not either.\"\u003cbr/\u003eAP Television Archive 1940's:\u003cbr/\u003e15. Medium shot black \u0026amp; white clip of Alonso dancing \"The Nutcracker\"\u003cbr/\u003eAP Television Archive \u003cbr/\u003eDecember 2001:\u003cbr/\u003e16. Medium shot Alonso on stage with ballerinas waving at audience\u003cbr/\u003ePrima ballerina assoluta is the highest rank a dancer can attain. \u003cbr/\u003eOne of the few living dancers to hold the title is Cuba's Alicia Alonso.  \u003cbr/\u003eCuba's grande dame of dance and the founder of the internationally renowned National Ballet of Cuba, still conducts daily rehearsals, despite being in her late eighties and suffering from failing eyesight. \u003cbr/\u003eFounded by Cuba's living ballet legend, Alicia Alonso, in 1948, the National Ballet of Cuba has managed to forge its own style out of old Russian and Western techniques.  \u003cbr/\u003eAlonso, the 86 -year-old former prima ballerina who was a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet, retains a strong grip over the company, even though she now has trouble moving and can barely see.  \u003cbr/\u003eA familiar figure with her proud, turban-wrapped head and wide mouth, Alonso erected Cuba's classical dance programme from the ground, training several generations of dancers highly sought by some of the world's best ballet companies.  \u003cbr/\u003eAfter having been the company's director, choreographer and teacher, Alonso still decides what the dancers will wear, who will go abroad, with whom they will dance, what they will dance. \u003cbr/\u003eAs her eyesight fails her Alonso depends on her hearing to conduct daily rehearsals with her dance company, imagining the dancers her in mind as she instructs them. \u003cbr/\u003eNevertheless, six decades after forming the National Ballet of Cuba, Alonso's remains grateful for her life.\u003cbr/\u003eBorn on Dec. 21, 1920, Alicia Ernestina de la Caridad del Cobre Martinez Hoya said she is thankful to those who forget she is almost 87,  but she says she would also still love to live many more years, if science permits it. \u003cbr/\u003eAlonso was a young girl in the 1930s when she began studying ballet alongside her sister.\u003cbr/\u003eHer professional life began in 1937 in the United States with the Ballet Caravan, which is now the New York City Ballet. \u003cbr/\u003eIn 1940 she joined the Ballet Theatre of New York, later known as the American Ballet Theatre.\u003cbr/\u003eThe road to becoming prima ballerina assoluta opened wider in 1943, when she substituted Alicia Markova, one of the 20th century's greatest dancers, in a production of Giselle directed by Anton Dolin at the New York's Metropolitan Opera House.\u003cbr/\u003eAlonso worked with great choreographers including Michel Fokine and Anthony Tudor, and danced with the Russian icon Rudolf Nureyev, among others. She later choreographed some of her own works.\u003cbr/\u003eAmong her most special moments as a performer was in Buenos Aires, when she had 49 curtain calls. \u003cbr/\u003eAlthough she had offers from the United States and elsewhere, she eventually returned home to Cuba.\u003cbr/\u003eThere was then no professional ballet company on the island, and after constant travelling abroad to perform.  \u003cbr/\u003eShe and her first husband, Fernando Alonso, whom she married when she was 15, opened the ballet company in 1948, along with the Cuban School of Ballet. She kept her last name after their divorce.\u003cbr/\u003eDue to money problems, the ballet company was forced to close in 1956 during the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.\u003cbr/\u003eBut shortly after the triumph of the Cuban revolution, she got a visit from Fidel Castro, a man she described as \"a great personality.\" \u003cbr/\u003eHe praised her in 2002 for inspiring generations of dancers. \u003cbr/\u003eWith Castro's support, the company was reopened, Cuban ballet was reborn, and continues to receive support from the communist-run government.\u003cbr/\u003eWhen her students have defected to dance in other countries, Alonso has bemoaned the desertions, emphasising the free training they received.\u003cbr/\u003eThe company is regarded as one of the top troupes in the world and Cuban dancers consistently win at international competitions. \u003cbr/\u003eFormer stars include Jose Manuel Carreno who became a principal with the British Royal Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre 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