Elena Del Cueto

Ballet dancer, choreographer and instructor Elena del Cueto was born in the Havana neighborhood of El Vedado in Cuba on February 9, 1927. Her parents were José del Cueto and Elena Faz Tabío who noticed their daughter's interest in music and dancing from an early age. She was barely 14 when Elena was accepted at the ballet dancing school in Havana's Sociedad Pro-Arte Musical and soon became an accomplished ballerina. She demonstrated her talent, her determination, and her fresh approach to the art in many performances held at school functions and at other venues in Havana. In 1946 she was named auxiliary teacher at the Sociedad and that same year she married the school director, choreographer dancer Alberto Alonso, a brother of Fernando Alonso the husband of Cuba's prima ballerina Alicia Alonso. The couple united in life and in art, eventually had two daughters, Maria Victoria and Maria Elena.