Havana - The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, today highlighted Alicia Alonso's legacy as a dancer and her commitment as a pedagogue and essential figure in the creation of the National Ballet School (BNC).

#Alicia Alonso lived to create and teach the pleasure of dance in its most perfect and exquisite form. Why not commemorate its long and fruitful existence showing the wonder of your school? She is #Cuba, the president wrote on the social network Twitter.

His words were accompanied by a link that refers to the Granma digital newspaper, where fragments of interviews granted by Prima Ballerina Assoluta are shared with Cuban journalists Marta Rojas, Mario Cremata Ferrán and Pedro de la Hoz.

After knowing her death, the day before at 98 years old, the head of state expressed from that digital platform the pain for the Caribbean nation and the world that causes the loss of the legendary artist.

#AliciaAlonso is gone and leaves us a huge void, but also an insurmountable legacy. She placed #Cuba on the altar of the best of world dance. #Thanks Alicia for your immortal work. #We are Cuba, tweeted Diaz-Canel.

In homage to the excellent dancer, the BNC will pay tribute to its director and founder with a single function that will be based on the newly reopened Teatro Sauto, located in the western province of Matanzas.

After the performance, the company will return the capital to participate in the funeral honors of Alonso, to be held on Saturday 19 from 09:00, local time, in the Grand Theater of Havana that since 2015 bears her name.