Dancer, teacher and co-founder of the National Ballet of Cuba
Fernando Alonso, who has died aged 98, was one of the principal architects of classical ballet in Cuba. With his ballerina wife, Alicia, whom he married in 1937, he co-founded what became the National Ballet of Cuba. Fernando's teaching method is largely responsible for the current eminence of Cuban-born and -trained dancers in companies around the world. A thoughtful and meticulous teacher, he was described by Arnold Haskell, the British writer on dance, as both a scientist and an artist.
The elder of two sons, Fernando was born into an environment where the arts were valued. His mother, Laura, was a pianist and the president of Cuba's Pro-Arte Musical society. The mansion in which he grew up is now the headquarters of the National Ballet of Cuba. When Fernando was 15, he and his brother, Alberto– later a dancer and choreographer – were sent to study in the US. In 1935 the boys returned to Cuba, where both studied ballet at the Pro-Arte and Fernando encountered Alicia Martínez – the sister of a school friend – who was also studying ballet.
Ambitious and believing that they had reached the limits of what they could achieve in Cuba, in 1937 Fernando and Alicia decided to move to New York. Fernando left first and worked as an x-ray technician while studying dance. Alicia joined him later that year, the couple were married and their daughter, Laura, was born in 1938.
Among their teachers were Mikhail Mordkin and Anatole Vilzak. They also took classes at the fledgling School of American Ballet. All the while, Fernando studied his teachers – using his anatomical knowledge from his medical work to analyse their methods. The couple danced on Broadway, with George Balanchine's Ballet Caravan, and with the Mordkin Ballet – the basis of American Ballet Theatre, the company they danced with from 1939 to 1948.
In 1941, Alicia underwent an operation for a detached retina and, during the months when she was forced to remain motionless in bed, Fernando sat with her, helping her remember the great roles of the classical repertory with minute movements of her fingers and feet. Although her sight remained poor and she underwent many more operations, her technique was not affected.
The couple founded the Ballet Alicia Alonso in 1948 after their return to Cuba from the US. Financial difficulties forced its closure, but shortly after Fidel Castro took power in 1959 both the company and its associated school were resuscitated and quickly became symbols of the new Cuba. The company was renamed the National Ballet of Cuba; Alicia currently heads the organisation.
Fernando returned to Cuba in 1956 and devoted himself to teaching and running the Ballet Alicia Alonso, while Alicia appeared both in Cuba and with American Ballet Theatre. Once the company became an official state organisation, Alicia was the figurehead but Fernando continued to teach, producing gifted dancers who combined Russian virtuosity with Cuban warmth.
After he and Alicia divorced in 1975, Fernando moved to Camagüey, central Cuba, where he founded a highly regarded school and company. He was awarded Cuba's National Dance prize in 2000 and the Benois de la Danse lifetime achievement honour in 2008.
He is survived by his third wife, Yolanda, and their two daughters, and by Laura.
• Fernando Juan Evangelista Eugenio de Jesús Alonso Rayneri, dancer and teacher, born 27 December 1914; died 27 July 2013