Jurgita Dronina and Isaac Hernandez in pas de deux from Don Quixote

Jurgita Dronina and Isaac Hernandez (English National Ballet) in pas de deux from Don Quixote, music by Ludwig Minkus, choreography by Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky. Benois de la Danse 2018, World Ballet Stars and Nominees to the Prize concert, shot on 5.6.2018 in the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow.

Jurgita Dronina (born 1986, Saratov, Russia) is a Russian-Lithuanian ballet dancer, currently Lead Principal with English National Ballet. Dronina moved to Lithuania when she was four. From 1996, she attended the Čiurlionis School of Art in Vilnius where she trained in ballet under Jolanta Vymerytė. She then spent a year (2004–05) at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich studying under Konstanze Vernon. In 2005, Dronina joined the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm becoming a soloist in 2007, in 2009, when she was returning from Verona where she had danced Kitri in Don Quixote, she was invited at the last minute to perform Odette/Odile in Swan Lake as the scheduled performer was ill. She completed the assignment so successfully that she was promoted to principal dancer. In 2010, after she had again performed the role of Kitri as a guest artist in Amsterdam, artistic director Ted Brandsen was so impressed he offered her a contract with the Dutch National Ballet. Joined English National Ballet in 2017 having previously appeared with the Company as a guest artist.

Isaac Hernández (born 1990) is a Mexican ballet dancer, a lead principal with English National Ballet. Hernández was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, one of 11 children of Hector Hernández, a former dancer. He trained at Philadelphia’s The Rock School for Dance Education. Hernández joined English National Ballet (ENB) in 2015, as a lead principal, having previously been with San Francisco Ballet and a principal with Dutch National Ballet. In 2015, he was called “the hottest ballet boy to hit London since Carlos Acosta”.

Photos by Jack Devant Ballet Photography with kind permission of the Benois de la Danse and Bolshoi Theatre, special thanks to Nina Kudriavtseva-Loory.