With our mission of creating leaders of the next generation, we’re so excited to feature Alicia Alonso, a truly unstoppable female icon. Alicia was an amazing ballerina with a great career ahead of her when she came down with a terrible illness. Due to her illness worsening day by day, her sight began to deteriorate. She was told by doctors not to move, but as a dancer that was just not possible! Alicia began to dance in her mind while her body was resting. In no time, Alicia taught herself the role of “Giselle” blinded, motionless, lying on her back.
One day, the principal ballerina for the New York City Ballet injured herself. The ballet company called Alicia to fill in for the injured dancer. Although at this point Alicia was partially blind, she would never say “no” to Giselle, one of her absolute favorite ballets! Instead of focusing on her hardships, Alicia rose to the occasion and trained her partners to be exactly where she needed them to be at just the right time. Talk about impressive dedication and leadership!
Alicia’s style was so unique and beautiful that she was asked to dance with ballet companies all over the world. But her dream was to bring classical ballet to Cuba, her home country. She eventually founded the Alicia Alonso Ballet Company, which later became the Ballet Nacional De Cuba.
Our world needs more female leaders like Alicia Alonso, which is why we motivate our young dancers to take on more challenging leadership opportunities. One way District Dance provides leadership training to students is through our junior helper program.Our junior helpers are dancers ages 10 and up who assist teachers in our youngest dance classes for children ages 2-6 years. In our weekly classes, our junior helpers work towards greater patience, managing young children effectively, having confidence in front of a group of people, and so much more. Join District Dance, not only for the great dance classes but also to promote leadership opportunities to young women!