Alonso founded her own dance company in Havana, which would evolve into the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, one of the most prestigious companies in the world.
In 1948, Alicia Alonso, together with her husband Fernando Alonso and brother-in-law Alberto Alonso, established the Ballet Alicia Alonso in Havana. This company later became the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, an institution that would put Cuban ballet on the world map.
Founding a classical ballet company in a country with almost no prior tradition of state-supported dance was a significant act of cultural entrepreneurship. Alonso used her own earnings from international performances to help fund the fledgling company during its early years, and she recruited and trained generations of Cuban dancers, creating a distinctly Cuban school of ballet technique characterized by dramatic expressiveness, strong technique, and rhythmic vitality.
The company would go on to survive political upheaval, including the Cuban Revolution of 1959, after which Fidel Castro's government provided state funding that allowed the company to flourish despite the U.S. trade embargo and Cuba's economic isolation. The Ballet Nacional de Cuba became one of the most celebrated ballet companies in the world, and its founding is considered one of Alonso's most enduring legacies, extending her influence far beyond her own performing career into the institutional development of dance in Latin America.