Our friends at American Ballet Theatre, which under the guidance and decision-making of new Artistic Director Susan Jaffe seem to have awakened from a long Sleeping Beauty-like slumber, have stirring news to share. The company’s highest ranks will have a new addition. It’s a long, slim, classically trained dancer of Mexican origin — and that is a first. Isaac Hernández most recently of San Francisco Ballet, has joined as American Ballet Theatre’s first Mexican Principal Dancer.
A dancer of talent and versatility, Hernández has garnered international acclaim for his technical prowess and dramatic abilities. Jaffe states, in a press release, “He is a dancer of remarkable skill and artistic depth, and his ability to convey profound emotion through dance makes him a truly unique and compelling performer.”
Hernandez’s career has been marked by numerous standout performances, most recently at San Francisco Ballet as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Prometheus in the world premiere performances of Mere Mortals, Prince Guillaume in Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella, and his dynamic interpretation of Albrecht in Akram Khan’s Giselle at English National Ballet. He has received numerous accolades in his career, including the prestigious Prix de Benois de la Danse in 2018.
Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, Hernández trained under his father, Hector Hernández, in the backyard of his house in Mexico before continuing his studies at The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hernández participated in ABT Summer Intensives as a National Training Scholar from 2003-2007.
I cannot imagine that Southern Californians will not see Isaac Hernandez appear on the Segerstrom Center stage in ABT’s just-announced performances of Christopher Wheeldon’s balletic treatment of Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” in April 2025.