Isaac Hernández joined San Francisco Ballet as a principal dancer in December 2021 following his appointment as a lead principal with English National Ballet (ENB) beginning in 2015.
Hernández was born in Guadalajara, Mexico in April 1990 and first trained with his father, Hector Hernández, followed by training at Philadelphia’s The Rock School for Dance Education. He performed with ABT II prior to joining San Francisco Ballet in 2008 where he was promoted to soloist in January 2011. In 2012, he went on to join the Dutch National Ballet in Holland as a second Soloist, and in 2013 was promoted to Principal Dancer before joining ENB.
Lead roles at ENB have included Ali and Conrad in Le Corsaire, Romeo in Nureyev’s Romeo & Juliet, Franz in Ronald Hynd’s Coppélia, the Nephew/Prince in Eagling’s Nutcracker, Aszure Barton’s Fantastic Beings, and Albrecht in Akram Khan’s Giselle, a role he created. Hernández has also danced Albrecht in Mary Skeaping’s Giselle, the Man in MacMillan’s Song of the Earth, James in La Sylphide, the Young Man in Roland Petit’s Le Jeune homme et la Mort, William Forsythe’s Approximate Sonata 2016, Prince Désiré in MacMillan’s Sleeping Beauty, Des Grieux in MacMillan’s Manon, Prince Guillaume in Wheeldon’s Cinderella, Harald Lander’s Etudes, and Basilio in Baryshnikov’s Don Quixote.
He has appeared as a Guest Artist with the Paris Opera Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet (Russia), Opera di Roma, Teatro Colon (Argentina) Kremlin Ballet, Shanghai Ballet, and Lithuanian National Opera.
Hernández received the Prix Benois de la Danse 2018 in the category “Best Male Dancer,” the world’s most prestigious dance award which is given at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, for his performances in La Sylphide and Baryshnikov’s Don Quixote. Other honors include the Alexandra Radius Award for Most Outstanding Dancer (Holland), the Medal of Fine Arts from the President of Mexico in 2018, Gold Medal at the USA International Ballet Competition, Bronze Medal and special award from Kirov Ballet at Moscow’s International Ballet Competition, and first place in the Cuba International Competition.