Herman Cornejo
Herman Cornejo was born in Mercedes, San Luis province, Argentina, and began his ballet studies at the age of eight at the Instituto Superior de Arte of Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires. In 1995 when he was fourteen he received a scholarship from the School of American Ballet, the dance school of New York City Ballet. On his return to Buenos Aires he was invited to join Julio Bocca’s Ballet Argentino.
At the age of 16, Herman was the Gold Medal winner of the VIII International Dance Competition in Moscow (1997), the youngest dancer ever in the history of the competition. On that occasion he was also awarded the prize granted by the competition’s Foundation for the best La Sylphide.
After his return, Herman was soon promoted to Principal Dancer with Ballet Argentino, alternating with Julio Bocca in all the principal roles of the repertoire during the company’s worldwide tours. In 1999 Herman joined American Ballet Theatre, New York, and was appointed Principal Dancer in August 2003.
His roles with American Ballet Theatre and as a guest artist with others companies, include, Basilio in Don Quixote, Romeo and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Franz in Coppelia, Siegfried in Swan Lake, Jean de Brienne in Raymonda, Solor and Bronze Idol in La Bayadère, Ali, and Lankedem in Le Corsaire, Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty, Lescaut in Manon, Albrech in Giselle, James La Sylphide, the Prince in The Nutcracker, Puck in Sir Frederick Ashton’s The Dream, the Joker in Jeu De Cartes, Cassio in Lar Lubovitch’s Othello, 1st Sailor in Jerome Robbins’s Fancy Free, George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, Symphony in C, Tarantela, The Suite of Who Cares? and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Michel Fokine’s Le Spectre de la Rose and Petrushka, Yellow Couple in Martha Graham’s Diversion of Angels, Spring Water Pas de Deux, Diana and Acteon Pas de Deux, Flames of Paris Pas de Deux, Christian Spuck’s Le Grand Pas de Deux, Mark Morris’s Gong and Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes, Kirk Peterson’s Amazed in Burning Dreams, Natalie Weir’s Jabula and HereAfter, David Parson’s The Pied Piper, Jiri Kylian’s Petite Mort and Sinfonietta, William Forsythe’s Workwithinwork, Clark Tippet’s Bruch Violin Concerto, Robert Hill’s Marinba, Twyla Tharp’s In The Upper Room and Sinatra Suite, and Peter Quanz’s Kaleidoscope.
Protagonist roles were created for him in Robert Hill’s Baroque Game and Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Twyla Tharp’s Variations on a Theme By Haydn and Rabbit and Rogue, Stanton Welch’s Clear and Carmina Burana, Natalie Weir’s His Weeping, Trey McIntyre’s Pretty Good Year, Jorma Elo’s Glow-Stop and Close to Chuck, Mauro Bigonzetti’s Sinfonía Entrelazada, Margarita Fernandez’s AmaDuo, Graham Lusting’s Medrano, inspired in Pablo Picasso’s pictures and Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison. 
Herman is also Principal Dancer of Corella Ballet where he made his debut in September 2008 performing Solor in Natalia Makarova’s La Bayadère at the Teatro Real de Madrid. Herman has participated in numerous galas and performed as Principal Guest Dancer with the Ballet del Teatro Argentino de La Plata, the Compañía de Danza Contemporánea de Cuba, Boston Ballet, New York City Ballet and Sapporo Ballet.
Since the age of ten, Herman has received multiple awards and distinctions from international ballet organizations and festivals, international institutions, publications and governments. Recently Pointe magazine distinguished Herman in its 2008 Pointe VIP LIST of Very Impressive Performances.
