Isaac Hernández is 1st from Mexico to win prestigious ballet prize
Moscow, Russia — “I am that child who danced in the patio of his house in Guadalajara and who arrived at the Paris Opera,” said Isaac Hernández in a newspaper interview two years ago. And that huge jump was not his last.
On Tuesday he received the highest award in the world of dance, winning the Benois de la Danse prize at the Bolshoi Theater.
Hernández, 28, has been honored by the International Dance Association as the best male dancer in the world.
The award is like an Oscar for the world of ballet, and Hernández is the first Mexican dancer to win one.
Hernandez, who had become the first Mexican to step on the boards of Paris, is with the English National Ballet in London, where he lives.
“It is an honor and a great pride for me to be able to represent Mexico with dignity in the world. Being the first Mexican in history to win this important prize is proof that everything can be achieved if we persevere in our dreams. I dedicate this achievement to all the Mexican public that always accompanies me, to all those people who have been part of my life and my path, to all those who have supported me, who have believed in me and have impelled me to be better as a person and as a professional,” he said.
His initial training was provided at home by his father, the dancer Héctor Hernández.
Hernández was twice nominated for the rendition of the classic Don Quixote, first performed by the Russian dancer and choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov.
The London Evening Standard raved when he first ascended in the UK:
… audiences will soon be falling in love with Hernández, the latest hot young dancer to land in London, and the new lead principal at English National Ballet. Critics have called him “exhilarating,” a “consummate showman” and an audience favorite who is “totally alive to each moment.” He’s one of a wave of Latin American dancers who are making it big in ballet, impressing with their technical prowess and charisma.
The dancer will return to his homeland in August to present a new edition of “Awakenings” in Mexico City with dancers from the companies of London, Paris, New York and San Francisco.
Source: El País
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