10 Famous Mexican Dancers In The World

 Like most Latin American countries, Mexico has a thriving community of dancers. Every year, new names are added to the list of famous Mexican dancers to watch, and in the past, there have been plenty of Mexican dancing legends worth watching or reading about.

No matter what genre you prefer, from ballroom to ballet and Latin dance, there’s a name of someone in Mexico that can wow you with their skills.

In today’s list, you’ll find the names of the top Mexican dancers and their bios. If you’re searching for inspiration, then the success stories of these people may very well be able to give you a boost of confidence in pursuing dancing!

10 Famous Mexican Dancers In The World

1. Amalia Hernández

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Amalia Hernández Navarro, born on September 19th, 1917, was a Hispanic ballet dancer who developed the Baile Folklorico (folkloric ballet). She’s also the founder of the Ballet Folklórico de México, a dance ensemble that’s still performing today!

She was born in Mexico City to a military officer and politician named Lamberto Hernández and his wife, Amalia Navarro. Growing up in a wealthy family, she had far more opportunities to approach the arts than other children around the country.

But there’s another factor in her early life that set her on the course to becoming one of the greatest dancers that Mexico has ever known: her parents completely supported her pursuit of dancing.

Amalia’s mother – also a Hispanic female dancer – fostered her talent by putting her through classes where she learned in detail about art, music, and dancing.

Her father even went as far as constructing a dance studio in their home and was quoted as saying: “there is no other alternative but to accept the career Amalia was born to have”.

She entered the National School of Dance when she turned 17. Clashes with the instructors at the school pushed her to drop out and marry, effectively putting her career on hold.

But because the urge to dance was too strong, she later rejoined the Fine Arts National Institute as a teacher and choreographer for modern dance.

However, Amalia was unfulfilled with modern dance styles. Instead, she looked into the traditional dances of Mexico, which eventually led to her founding the baile Folklorico – a perfect blend between traditional Mexican dances and ballet.

In 1952, Amelia founded the Ballet Folklórico de México in Mexico City to further help promote baile Folklorico. The company still operates to this day. If you ever get the opportunity to visit Mexico City, they give performances every Sunday morning and Wednesday evening at the Palace of Fine Arts!

Amalia passed away at age 83 on November 4th, 2000.

2. Elisa Carrillo – Famous Mexican Ballet Dancer

Today, Elisa Carrillo is the top name in the Mexican classical ballet community.

Born in Texcoco, the State of Mexico, in 1981, Elisa studied at the Artistic Initiation School No.1 at the Mexican National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura) from 1988 to 1990. There, she learned all the basic skills that would make her an A-class ballet dancer.

In 1997, Elisa moved to the United Kingdom and enrolled in the famous English National Ballet School. Between 2001 and 2003, she moved again to Germany and completed her ballet education at the John Cranko Schule Stuttgart. This is also where she was designated a Master of Ballet.

But her professional career started well before she completed her education. Elisa joined the Stuttgart Ballet in 1999 as part of the corps de ballet. She stuck with the company until 2007. By that time, she had already made the rank of soloist.

After she departed from the Stuttgart Ballet, she joined the Berlin State Ballet as a demi-soloist. But by 2011, Elisa was already promoted to principal dancer for her technical skills and excellent stage presence.

Described as “emblematic and innovative” by critics, her performances in popular ballets like Giselle, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty were universally beloved.

3. Vicente Romero – Best Mexican flamenco dancer

Flamenco has been in the blood of many generations of Mexicans. So, it’s not surprising that some of the best flamenco dancers in the world all came from Mexico.

Among the most famous of them must be Vincente Romero (1937-1995). He’s credited with being the person that revitalized the flamenco dancing scene in northern New Mexico, which is still vibrant and active today.

Vicente wasn’t born in Mexico. Rather, he’s a native of Santa Fe, California. From a young age, he’s already fascinated with Spanish culture, which eventually led him to discover Spanish dances.

After seeing the movie Sombrero by José Greco, Vicente decided to become a Spanish dancer for real and traveled to Spain with the hope of learning this exotic art. He studied and toured extensively in Spain before returning home, bringing with him the knowledge of flamenco.

It’s because of this that many people called him the “Grandfather of Flamenco” in New Mexico. Vicente brought in gitano (Gypsy) dancers when people in New Mexico were still practicing folkloric dances and obsessed with fandangos.

He not only brought flamenco to New Mexico, but he also kickstarted the career of many famous artists.

4. Isaac Hernández

Like Elisa Carrilo, Isaac Hernández is part of the younger wave of Mexican dancers that managed to prove themselves on the world stage. Born on April 30th, 1990, he’s currently a lead principal for the English National Ballet and is one of the most famous Mexican male dancers out there.

Isaac is part of a very large family, being one of the 11 children of Hector Hernández. His father was a former dancer and one of his brothers, Esteban Hernández, was a principal dancer with the San Francisco Ballet.

As a result, it’s not surprising that Isaac developed the potential for being a great dancer at a young age.

His parents taught him how to dance when he was 8. The family regularly practiced together in their backyard in Guadalajara, Mexico. Isaac was then sent off to The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia for further training.

Isaac debuted with the American Ballet Theater II. In 2008, he joined the San Francisco Ballet – the same trope that his brother Esteban was working at – as part of the corps de ballet. Two years later in 2010, Isaac was promoted to soloist.

After his stints in the US, Isaac moved to Europe and danced with many high-profile ballet companies on the continent, such as the Dutch National Ballet in 2012 and the English National Ballet in 2015.

Other than being a principal dancer at the trope, he was also heralded by the papers as the “hottest ballet boy to hit London since Carlos Acosta.”

His repertoire was fairly diverse, but still has all of the classic ballets Swan Lake, La Corsaire, Romeo & Juliet, and Cinderella. But the most impactful ballet that he had starred in was quite probably Sleeping Beauty, in which he expectedly starred as Prince Désiré. It’s in this role that he was promoted to the rank of principal dancer with the Dutch National Ballet in 2012!

Read more: https://citydance.org/famous-mexican-dancers-from-classic-ballet-to-breakdance/