Alicia Alonso's artistic achievements are remarkable, considering that
she became partially blind and lost her peripheral vision at age
nineteen. From childhood, she exhibited a passion for dancing, studying
first in Cuba and later in New York City, where she became an overnight
sensation in Giselle and was promoted to principal dancer in Ballet
Theater. Returning to Cuba in 1948, she founded her own company, which
eventually folded due to lack of funding. In 1959 the Cuban government
gave her enough money to establish a new dance school, Ballet Nacional
de Cuba, which Alonso directs to this day.
In elegant free verse and stunning artwork rendered in watercolor,
colored pencils, and lithograph pencils on watercolor paper, Carmen T.
Bernier-Grand and Raúl Colón capture the seminal events in Alonso's
life. The back matter includes a biography, Alonso's ballets,
choreography, and awards, a glossary, sources, notes, and websites.