Talk:Alicia Alonso

Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo
Not Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo; but Ballets Russes without the de Monte Carlo is a different albeit related company. Robert Greer (talk) 22:10, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

Prove it!
I challenge the statement that Alonso was a prima ballerina assoluta because I see no evidence that the Cuban government ever made such a decision. If they did, please give chapter & verse so the claim can be checked. The wider problem affects a number of WP dance articles, where no reliable reference is given for big claims. Note: I do not deny her excellence in dance, just the title. See longer discussion on Ballerina talk page. Macdonald-ross (talk)
 * There seem to be no grounds for pba; ref given in intro. Macdonald-ross (talk) 18:21, 14 August 2009 (UTC)


 * "PRESIDENT Raúl Castro Ruz yesterday visited Alicia Alonso, Cuba’s prima ballerina assoluta, at her home to congratulate her on the occasion of her 90th birthday." Link:, screenshot: --Kar98 (talk) 19:09, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

This section has little/no references
I think there are several improved/discussed facts most of them without any relevance to this article. Please clean up and/or provide references. For example:
 * Critics [who?] point out her indifference to the Castro regime's brutality and the hypocrisy [discussed] of a "culture-friendly" regime that banned even the unauthorized loaning of books from one citizen to another [does it is relevant?]. (Alonso has also been criticized [by who?] for remaining silent about the immense artistic repression imposed after Castro lied to the Cuban people and took complete control [discussed, and again it is relevant?], instilling communist opposite to what he said and never bringing back the constitution of 1940 [reference?]. Also while Cuba would send away artist and counter-revolutionaries IMAP Silvio Rodriguez [what does it mean?].. Alicia Alonso continued on her selfish style of only worrying about herself [subjective/personal opinion]. Note that Alicia Alonso was Alicia Alonso long before a political movement[?]. Cuba existed LONG before the Current dictators the Castro Brothers [nonsense]. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 159.226.110.169 (talk) 00:19, 14 June 2011 (UTC)

Year of birth: 1920 or 1921
Spanish, French, German and Russian WP all say she was born in 1921. Only Italian (of the major languages) agrees with English WP that it was in 1920. How come this discrepancy? --  Jack of Oz   [Talk]  22:57, 17 November 2012 (UTC)


 * The wikidata for Alicia Alonso shows this DOB as 21 December 1921 with two citations used. I am listing below this post sources that read DOB 1921. Jooojay (talk) 07:55, 22 December 2018 (UTC) ,


 * Below this post, I have listed sources that read a 1920 DOB. Jooojay (talk) 08:09, 22 December 2018 (UTC)

It appears to be equally as many citations showing a DOB of 1920 as there is for citations reading DOB 1921 (after awhile I had to stop citing here because there are too many possible citations for both), however I noticed the 1921 DOB has more reliable sources - including authority control related sources. The current WP article reads a 1920 DOB and this was changed yesterday by two IP address users, without any supporting citation - and the existing citation used in the article shows DOB 1921. Jooojay (talk) 08:09, 22 December 2018 (UTC)

Still director of the Cuban National Ballet?
Under "Legacy", it is stated "She continued to serve as the director of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba until the early 21st-century." I watched a performance by the Cuban National Ballet on July 19, 2018. The vignette on the leaflet reads "Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Alicia Alonso, Dirección General":



This suggests that she is (at least formally) still director of the ballet. Karstenspang (talk) 21:17, 24 July 2018 (UTC)
 * I found a citation that agrees with this statement, today I edited the article to reflect this. Jooojay (talk) 07:55, 22 December 2018 (UTC)

Vandalism?
There appears to be a history of a lot DOB changes to this article (possible vandalism), from bouncing IPs. Adding a note here, in case it continues. Jooojay (talk) 08:31, 22 December 2018 (UTC)

Propaganda
Much of the article reads like pro-Cuba propaganda out of Havana. Facts presented in encyclopedic style at a premium.--Artaxerxes (talk) 14:30, 18 October 2019 (UTC)

Eye operation
Somebody has added this twice (from a mobile phone):
 * "However, this account must be treated with some caution as it is not possible to remove an eyeball (enucleation) without severing the optic nerve which would have rendered her completely and permanently blind in that eye. Moreover, antibiotics did not become available until after 1942."
 * Check NYT source (I'm over my article limit); make changes to the text in use (as guided by checking the source); make the above a footnote to the article. These seem better options than appending this (without a source).Artaxerxes (talk) 17:56, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

Three times now. You cannot remove an eye and re-insert it, without causing blindness. Irrespective of what the source claims. https://eyecancer.com/eye-cancer/treatments/enucleation-surgery-removal-of-the-eye/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.223.33.187 (talk) 18:55, 25 October 2019 (UTC)

An expert in the field making valuable input to the article -- but unwilling to consider editing suggestions here. I've created a footnote of this information, hoping that will suffice for now.--Artaxerxes (talk) 18:41, 30 October 2019 (UTC)


 * The cited source (New York Times article) does not state that the "eyeball was removed", nor are there any other reliable sources for this dubious claim, so it doesn't belong here and has been deleted.  JGHowes   talk  14:08, 2 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Thank you.Artaxerxes (talk) 14:46, 2 December 2019 (UTC)