Cuban ballerina and choreographer Alicia Alonso has been appointed a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for her ‘outstanding contribution to the development, preservation and popularisation of classical dance’ and for her ‘devotion to the artform’, according to a recent UNESCO news release. Havanna-born Alonso is currently Director and Choreographer of the Cuban National Ballet, and during a professional career launched in 1938, danced with the New York City Ballet, alongside the likes of Mikhail Fokine and Leonide Massine. Keen to foster classical dance in her homeland, she founded the Alicia Alonso Ballet Company (now the Cuban National Ballet) in 1948, and her choreographies of classic works, such as Giselle, Grand Pas de Quatre and La Fille mal Gardée, have been staged by companies across Europe. She holds honorary doctorates from both Havana University and the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain), and in 1999, UNESCO awarded her its Pablo Picasso Medal for outstanding contributions to dance. Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura commented that Alonso ‘has combined her Cuban roots with different cultures and traditions to bring us remarkable artistic creations, and has helped the growth of dance throughout the Americas and the rest of the world.’ As part of her ambassadorial brief, she will focus on basic education and the preservation of tangible and intangible heritage. Alonso will join 36 other Goodwill Ambassadors who, by using their talent and international prestige, promote UNESCO's ideals of peace, justice, solidarity and mutual understanding in education, science and culture. Further information is available online at: www.unesco.org