Isaac Hernández

Photo: Chris Hardy, courtesy of SFB.

Isaac Hernández was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, and began his ballet training under the tutelage of his father, Hector Hernández, in the backyard of his house in Mexico. At the age of 12, he was awarded the Youth Grand Prix at the 2003 Finals of the Youth America Grand Prix in New York and furthered his studies at The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Hernández won a number of awards at a young age, including the National Youth Award the President of Mexico in 2002, first place at the Cuba International Competition in 2004, a bronze medal and special award from Kirov Ballet at Moscow’s International Ballet Competition in 2005, and a gold medal at the USA Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi, in 2006.

Hernández participated in ABT Summer Intensives as a National Training Scholar from 2003-2007 before becoming a member of ABT II (now ABT Studio Company) in 2007.

In 2008, Hernández joined the corps de ballet of San Francisco Ballet and was promoted to soloist in 2011. He continued his career in Europe, where he joined Dutch National Ballet as a soloist in 2012 and was promoted to principal in 2013. In 2015, he became a lead principal at English National Ballet, following his guest appearance with the company as Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake earlier that year.

Hernández returned to San Francisco Ballet as a principal dancer in 2022. His repertoire with San Francisco Ballet includes Blake Works I, Prince Guillaume in Cinderella, Concert Grosso, a poet in Gateway to the Sun, Kin, Armand in Marguerite and Armand, Prometheus in Mere Mortals, the Divertissement pas de deux in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Nutcracker Prince, Grand Pas de Deux, and the Russian, Spanish, and Chinese Dances in Helgi Tomasson’s Nutcracker, Resurrection, Romeo and Benvolio in Tomasson’s Romeo and Juliet, The Man in Song of the Earth, and Prince Siegfried in Tomasson’s Swan Lake.

Hernández has appeared as a guest artist with the Paris Opera Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet, Opera de Roma, Teatro Colón, Kremlin Ballet, Shanghai Ballet, and Lithuanian National Opera. In 2018, he performed at the World Ballet Festival in Tokyo, Japan.

Hernández has received multiple nominations, awards, and distinctions throughout his career. He has been a speaker at forums including The Economist Summits in the United Kingdom and Mexico, at Cambridge University, Harvard University, Liberatum, Comex, Citibanamex, BNP Paribas, and GNP, and is the artistic airector and producer of the international ballet gala  Depertares.He was recognized twice as one of the 1,000 most influential people in London, England, by a media survey of the Evening Standard. He received the Leonide Massine Award in Italy (2014), the Alexandra Radius Award for Most Outstanding Dancer (2015), and the Medal of Fine Arts from the President of Mexico (2018). In 2018, he was named Best Male Dancer at the Prix Benois de la Danse.