Born as Fernando Juan Evangelista Eugenio de Jesús Alonso Rayneri in Havana, Cuba in 1914 to Matías Alonso Reverón and Laura Rayneri Piedra.[2][3] His father worked as an accountant and his mother worked at a local cultural institution, Sociedad Pro-Arte Musical, within their household the arts were valued.[3] By 1929, at age 15 both Fernando and his younger brother Alberto were sent to the United States to study at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, due to the country's political instability.[3][4]
He returned to Cuba in 1935 at the age of 21, and began his dancing career that year by enrolling in dance classes.[5][3] In 1937 he married Alicia Alonso, a teenage ballet dancer.[6] The new couple and Alonso's brother moved to New York City, hoping to begin their professional careers in the United States.[5][6] In 1938, their child Laura was born.[3]
He and Alicia joined the American Ballet Theatre in 1940, where they remained until 1948.[citation needed] They returned to Havana and were part of a group called the Alicia Alonso Ballet Company, where his wife co-founded her own company with him. It later became the Ballet Nacional de Cuba.[5] He separated from Alicia in 1974.[3] In 1975, after he and Alicia divorced.[citation needed] He took control of the Ballet de Camagüey in the city of Camagüey, where he remained until 1992.[3]
In 2000, he was awarded Cuba's National Dance Prize for lifetime achievement.[5] On 27 July 2013, Cuba's state television announced his death at the age of 98.[3] No cause was specified, however his daughter Laura reported it was due to kidney failure.[3][5]
