Cuban ballet choreographer Alberto Alonso died on January 1 at the age of 90 at his home in Gainesville, Florida. According to his family, he died of heart failure.

He has been living in Gainesville since 1993 when he received political asylum.

According to the New York Times, he entered Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville as master artist and was resident choreographer for the Dance Theater of Santa Fe.

Alberto Julio Rayneri Alonso, by his full name, was borne in Havana on May 22, 1917. In 1930 he attended Pro Arte Musical, in Havana, Cuban News Agency informs.

He received international recognition in 1935 in Monte Carlo where he performed with Col. W. de Basil’s Ballets Russes. He traveled in with the troupe in Europe, Australia and U.S. portraying the roles of The Prodigious Son, Prince Igor and Petrushka. He also took part in the ballets of choreographers like George Balanchine and Leonide Massine.  Afterwards he returned to Cuba to start his career as a choreographer.

He joined Fred Astaire in the movie “Yolanda.”

He is known worldwide for his 1967 work “Carmen Suite.” It was the first role created for the star Maya Plisetskaya from the Bolshoi Ballet. Another work for which he is international recognized is the musical comedy “Un Dia en el Solar”, which was first performed in 1965 at the Musical Theatre in Havana.

In 1948 he, along with his brother, Fernando Alonso, and his sister-in-law, Alicia Alonso set the foundation for the National Ballet of Cuba.  

At 76 years old, after his defection from Cuba, Alonso started to show the new generation of international dancers the Cuban classical style of ballet.

Santa Fe Community College produced in September 2007 a documentary about Alonso’s life as a solo artist, choreographer and instructor, which was entitled “Dance of My Heart.”

Alonso was married three times. First to the Ballets Russes dancer Alexandra Denisova, then to a Cuban dancer, Elena del Cueto. His third wife is the one that he is survived by, Sonia Calero, 44, dancer and actress. He is also survived by three children: Alberto Jr., Victoria Alonso Saccenti and Maria Elena Alonso-Sierra and three grandsons.