Speaker 1: Hi.
Speaker 2: This is Christopher Soudo, writer and prison abolitionist. I'm currently
Speaker 2: in the hills of San Salvador and wanted to wish
Speaker 2: a happy thirtieth anniversary to Latino USA.
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Speaker 3: Curture Latino USA. Latino Latino USA. I'm Maria Inojosa. We
Speaker 3: bring you stories that are underreported but that mattered to you,
Speaker 3: overlooked by the wrestler media, and while the country is
Speaker 3: struggling to deal with these, we listen to the stories
Speaker 3: of black and Latinos. Do United Latino Front, a cultural
Speaker 3: renaissance organizing at the forefront of the movement. I'm Maria
Speaker 3: ino Jossayan.
Speaker 1: Decision making is so important to be able to put
Speaker 1: your ego aside and in a way to reshape your
Speaker 1: dreams as you go, and to be willing to listen
Speaker 1: to people that are trying to look out for you.
Speaker 3: From Futuro Media and BrX, It's Latino USA. I'm Maria Rosa.
Speaker 3: Today a conversation between Isak and Istevan Ernandez, the first
Speaker 3: siblings to become principal dancers for the San Francisco Ballet.
Speaker 3: Brothers Isac and Estevan Ernandez have performed on some of
Speaker 3: the most prestigious stages in the world, but their journey
Speaker 3: to the top rank of their industry had a pretty
Speaker 3: unique start. Originally from Guadalajara in western Mexico, Isaq and
Speaker 3: Estevan's first ballet teacher was their dad, Ector, and their
Speaker 3: first ballet studio was their own backyard. Ecto had a
Speaker 3: fourteen year career as a professional ballet dancer in Mexico
Speaker 3: and in the US, so he taught his eleventh children
Speaker 3: in his own makeshift studio, but it was his son
Speaker 3: Isak who was the first one to really fall in
Speaker 3: love with the art of ballet.
Speaker 1: He was really exciting when we would do something new.
Speaker 1: I remember the first time I did a triple tour,
Speaker 1: my dad came out running to look for my mom
Speaker 1: so that she could see it happen.
Speaker 3: Isak's younger brother is Stevan, soon shared in that passion.
Speaker 1: I would watch my siblings and my dad in our
Speaker 1: backyard doing classes, and then through that I think something
Speaker 1: sparked in me that made me want to also learn.
Speaker 3: Both brothers would go on to develop successful careers on stage,
Speaker 3: even surpassing their mentor Stevan continued his education at the
Speaker 3: Royal Ballet School in London. In twenty thirteen, he joined
Speaker 3: the San Francisco Ballet, which is the oldest professional ballet
Speaker 3: company in the US, and in twenty nineteen he was
Speaker 3: promoted to principal dancer in the company. Isak continued his
Speaker 3: training at the Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia.
Speaker 3: He's danced for the American Ballet Theater in New York City,
Speaker 3: the San Francisco Ballet, the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam,
Speaker 3: and the English National Ballet in London. In twenty twenty two,
Speaker 3: Isak returned to the San Francisco Ballet as a principal dancer,
Speaker 3: where he joined Estevan, marking the first time in the
Speaker 3: San Francisco Ballet's ninety year history that siblings reached the
Speaker 3: rank of principal dancer.
Speaker 1: I admire how good my brother became so quickly. I
Speaker 1: had the luck also to have him around seeing me
Speaker 1: perform in different places, and then it made me want
Speaker 1: to do.
Speaker 4: It better as well.
Speaker 3: Today, thirty three year old Isak twenty nine year old
Speaker 3: is Steban sit down for a conversation at the San
Speaker 3: Francisco ballet in the city's bustling Civic Center neighborhood. They
Speaker 3: reflect on learning ballet from their father, the decisions young
Speaker 3: dancers face, and their work expanding access to ballet in
Speaker 3: their native Mexico. Here's izach Ernandez starting the conversation with
Speaker 3: his brother is Steban.
Speaker 1: My parents got the house when it was not finished yet.
Speaker 1: They set up in the garden this like circus tent,
Speaker 1: and then it had a backyard that was covered with
Speaker 1: wires to hang clothes, and then it had a slight
Speaker 1: slow towards draining for the water, and my dad set
Speaker 1: up a bar there. And then on the other side
Speaker 1: they had sliding doors that would go into the dining.
Speaker 4: Room, and we used to close those curtains to.
Speaker 1: Use the windows mirrors as the reflect and then we
Speaker 1: would move out all the loading out to the side,
Speaker 1: and we would bring blightwood together tape it in the middle,
Speaker 1: and we would do class there every day, and sometimes
Speaker 1: when it was too hot, we could go on the
Speaker 1: roof and hang some plastic bear or if it was raining,
Speaker 1: we would go inside to the living room and do
Speaker 1: class there. And when my father's former students from like
Speaker 1: twenty years before that heard that he was training us
Speaker 1: in ballet. They decided to put together some money and
Speaker 1: my dad to be able to redo the ballet studio.
Speaker 1: I mean, I definitely think having a more suitable space
Speaker 1: for dance rather than our patio where we hang the
Speaker 1: laundry really didn't make a difference. You're obviously older.
Speaker 4: Than I am.
Speaker 1: Obviously Obviously, Whenever you first started, I think I was
Speaker 1: around four years old maybe, and so when I was
Speaker 1: around seven, I asked my dad to teach me as well.
Speaker 1: I feel like by that point it had been what
Speaker 1: three years of you studying under him, and I feel
Speaker 1: like most of my other siblings had been like, it's
Speaker 1: not for me. Yeah, So it was really helpful when
Speaker 1: you came and joined us. He kind of gave us
Speaker 1: continuity to the classes. But at the same time, I
Speaker 1: know that it was hard, obviously because we were at
Speaker 1: a place already after three years, and you were having
Speaker 1: to catch up, And it was amazing also to see
Speaker 1: how quickly you caught up. You know, at that point,
Speaker 1: we had barely any access to any sort of videos
Speaker 1: or any sort of context. Yeah, I remember that because
Speaker 1: the first time we got a VHS of a professional
Speaker 1: ballet company was abt Let, and also that other documentary
Speaker 1: they made, Born to Be Wild.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's right. That was really funny.
Speaker 1: That was mind blowing because up until then it was
Speaker 1: my dad just describing steps and then trying to make
Speaker 1: it happen. Yeah, making it up as he went, using
Speaker 1: my dad's stories and his ideas of how ballet should be.
Speaker 1: My dad sometimes would start class and then after two
Speaker 1: combinations would give you a philosophical conversation that would take
Speaker 1: about an hour about how you needed to be responsible
Speaker 1: for your actions, or how the world was not the
Speaker 1: place that he thought it would be, or it could
Speaker 1: be anything really about politics or for morals, or so
Speaker 1: many things. So it was really interesting period because I
Speaker 1: had the chance to spend a lot of time with
Speaker 1: him and to get to know a little bit more
Speaker 1: of his past and his life in New York. He
Speaker 1: lived for fourteen years in New York when he was
Speaker 1: working for Dancity of Harlem, and then he had a
Speaker 1: really rough life in general. I got to really learn
Speaker 1: about resilience a sense from his stories, and how dance
Speaker 1: could also be so fulfilling to someone that they would
Speaker 1: be willing to leave everything behind. I think my dad
Speaker 1: was a very demanding teacher because he knew what he
Speaker 1: was talking about, and he knew that, but actually he
Speaker 1: said it from the beginning. He said, if you want
Speaker 1: to be a valid dancer, you have to be one
Speaker 1: of the best. If not, you're going to really struggle,
Speaker 1: and you're going to have a really hard time. And
Speaker 1: it's a very competitive feel and the life of an
Speaker 1: average dancer can be quite tough. So he said, if
Speaker 1: you really want to do this, you really need to
Speaker 1: be good, and we really need to take this seriously.
Speaker 1: When we decided with my parents that it was time
Speaker 1: to go and study abroad, I took it quite lightly.
Speaker 1: I thought I'll be back in a few weeks or months.
Speaker 4: It didn't really.
Speaker 1: Feel like that decision would mean that I would never
Speaker 1: again live with my parents or under my parents in
Speaker 1: a sense, because from then on I was making all
Speaker 1: my decisions professionally and personally, and I was all of
Speaker 1: the side and exposed to the United States of America.
Speaker 1: Teenage years in Philadelphia. Yeah, I definitely think that people
Speaker 1: don't always tend to consider the amount of a big
Speaker 1: decision making that dance can often require of the people
Speaker 1: that pursue it, especially the people that pursue professionally. You
Speaker 1: left home when you were what thirteen? I left home
Speaker 1: when I was thirteen as well, And yeah, again, I
Speaker 1: think at the time, like you say, it seems like
Speaker 1: something that is trivial. It's not really going to affect
Speaker 1: the rest of your life in the way that it has.
Speaker 1: I also didn't think much about it. When I first
Speaker 1: got that chance to go study and live abroad. I
Speaker 1: was really excited about it. I was so yes, let's
Speaker 1: do it. It was what I wanted to do. But then, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think when you look back at it, you definitely
Speaker 1: realize that it was a much bigger decision than you thought.
Speaker 1: I remember before accepting my scholarship to London, to the
Speaker 1: Royal Balley School, I didn't even think about it. I
Speaker 1: was just like, yes, that's what I'm going to do.
Speaker 1: I want to see it through. But I remember having
Speaker 1: that conversation with my mom, her being kind of torn
Speaker 1: about it, and she was like, are you really going
Speaker 1: to go? Is this something that you really want to do?
Speaker 1: She was like, you've already moved to Philadelphia. Now you're
Speaker 1: going to move to a different part of the world
Speaker 1: where we're going to be truly responsible for yourself at
Speaker 1: age sixteen, you know, even though it's basically a boarding
Speaker 1: school and you're responsible for yourself in every way. One
Speaker 1: of the first things that I experienced there, and it
Speaker 1: was kind of like a big reality check, was first
Speaker 1: night at the dorms. You know, there's a big communal kitchen,
Speaker 1: and I arrived a week late, so everybody was already
Speaker 1: established and I was like, okay, so what time is
Speaker 1: dinner someone coming? And are they going to make dinner everybody?
Speaker 1: Or how does this work? I don't know, And so
Speaker 1: everybody just cut their food from their lockers, made food,
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, I guess I'm supposed to
Speaker 1: do that too, So exactly went grocery shopping. It's like, okay,
Speaker 1: I think pasta seems easy enough that at the time,
Speaker 1: I was sorry, water first, water and pasta first together.
Speaker 1: I cooked that pasta for maybe thirty minutes, and it
Speaker 1: was still hard.
Speaker 4: It's a reality check. Yeah, it's hard to take on that.
Speaker 1: And then you are growing as a person and learning
Speaker 1: survival skills at the same time that you have to
Speaker 1: be fully committed to the valid and it's a really
Speaker 1: demanding schedule and you are constantly exhausted. I remember that
Speaker 1: something similar happened to me here in San Francisco, but
Speaker 1: for me was the amount of workload that I had
Speaker 1: my first season. I couldn't even make it back to
Speaker 1: my apartment.
Speaker 4: I had to take minute breaks to sit down.
Speaker 1: I was living in Russian Hill here, and then I
Speaker 1: would get home, and you're to do You're too tired
Speaker 1: to cook, You're too tired to do anything, and you
Speaker 1: have to kind of find a structure and a routine
Speaker 1: that allows you to continue to perform your best year.
Speaker 1: And I think people don't usually see that side of yeah,
Speaker 1: or don't consider that side of life when you're making decisions.
Speaker 4: You just want to be a start, yeah.
Speaker 1: And also the fact that these decisions are being made
Speaker 1: by people that are developing as human beings, you know,
Speaker 1: like seventeen eighteen.
Speaker 4: Year old kids.
Speaker 1: Literally that often they're not thought of as kids because
Speaker 1: they're maybe brilliant on stage. Decision making is so important
Speaker 1: to be able to put your ego aside and in
Speaker 1: a way to reshape your dreams as you go, and
Speaker 1: to be willing to listen to people that are trying
Speaker 1: to look out for you. Yeah. But I also have
Speaker 1: to say I think one thing that I feel like
Speaker 1: always made a difference was also the support around you
Speaker 1: for the decisions that you make. I remember actually wanting
Speaker 1: to leave school a year early before finishing my three
Speaker 1: years of school over there in London. I remember when
Speaker 1: I started my second year, was like, let's say I'm
Speaker 1: ready to be a professional. I actually went to Russia
Speaker 1: at seventeen years old. I went to Saint Petersburg to
Speaker 1: audition for the Marine Ski and for the Mikailovski Theater.
Speaker 1: Ended up a whole week of not knowing what was
Speaker 1: going on because I didn't speak the language and nobody
Speaker 1: spoke English to me, and taking classes with the school
Speaker 1: and taking classes with the company, and everybody referring to
Speaker 1: me as a kid, being like what is this kid
Speaker 1: doing here? And the one conversation that I had in
Speaker 1: English throughout my entire trip was with the director of
Speaker 1: the Marine Ski, Judifateev, and he said, Okay, so I've
Speaker 1: been hearing throughout the week that there's this Mexican kid
Speaker 1: that is one thing to audition for us. And he
Speaker 1: was like, Russia does not feel like it's a place
Speaker 1: for you. You have to understand that I would offer
Speaker 1: you a job, but I don't want to limit you
Speaker 1: to doing only certain roles or certain things. I'm five seven,
Speaker 1: I'm not particularly considered tall in the ballet world, or
Speaker 1: I think tall in.
Speaker 4: Under any circumstances.
Speaker 1: But in Russia, you know, he said, all of the
Speaker 1: ballerinas are very tall. He was like, I could hire
Speaker 1: you right now, but he was like, I'm going to
Speaker 1: have to limit you to certain roles, soloist roles where yes,
Speaker 1: you're going to get to dance, but you're never going
Speaker 1: to get to fully develop your abilities to do the
Speaker 1: things that you should get to do. So he said,
Speaker 1: find a place that is going to appreciate you for
Speaker 1: who you are and what you can bring to the company,
Speaker 1: and dance everything. He said, dance everything that's as much
Speaker 1: as you can, which I really appreciated it because I
Speaker 1: was like, ah, yeah, maybe I am being impatient also
Speaker 1: about what it is that I need to do right now.
Speaker 1: I think I need to see through my education and
Speaker 1: finish my training as a dancer. I remember arriving in
Speaker 1: many places and so of being like, you're here from Mexico,
Speaker 1: but are you?
Speaker 4: Are you sure you don't really look Mexican?
Speaker 1: Excuse me, how am I supposed to look like, and
Speaker 1: so it was definitely uncomfortable sometimes having to be the
Speaker 1: only one, often also feeling responsible for representing a whole
Speaker 1: country in a professional ballet school. But it was also
Speaker 1: good whenever you were able to find people from similar
Speaker 1: backgrounds other Spanish speaking countries. I had classmates from Colombia
Speaker 1: from Spain, and even just being able to speak the
Speaker 1: same language in a country that often wouldn't feel super
Speaker 1: welcoming was really refreshing. And also feeling like that you
Speaker 1: were not the only one that had gone through the
Speaker 1: challenges to get to these places was comforting and supported
Speaker 1: the idea you've been talking about that even though there
Speaker 1: might not always be the opportunities so obviously present for
Speaker 1: people that were, there's a will there. There often is
Speaker 1: a way to make it happen. I took it in
Speaker 1: a more aggressive way in a sense. I was really
Speaker 1: happy to be the first one there, and I was
Speaker 1: really happy when people wouldn't believe me that I was Mexican,
Speaker 1: and I was like, yeah, and I trained in my
Speaker 1: backyard yeah as well. And I really enjoyed that, especially
Speaker 1: when I went to Paris, for example, that it's this
Speaker 1: huge amazing school, and there is a code of conduct
Speaker 1: that is really strict, and everybody has these uniforms. And
Speaker 1: I realized earlier on that all of that was protocol,
Speaker 1: that it didn't influence you being a better dancer or not.
Speaker 1: So I really understood that it was not about being
Speaker 1: at a place like that, but it was down to
Speaker 1: individual work, work that you would put in every day.
Speaker 1: And actually, I am not officially valid graduated from any organization.
Speaker 1: That didn't prevent me from having a great career and
Speaker 1: dancing for the best theaters around the world. And like
Speaker 1: my brother was saying, you start meeting people that share
Speaker 1: some of the stories or challenges that you've faced, and
Speaker 1: you really learned to appreciate companionship. And that's really important
Speaker 1: in the valid world, because I feel like Hollywood has
Speaker 1: really damaged a reputation in that sense and how awful
Speaker 1: valid dancers are to each other, and that hasn't been
Speaker 1: my experience, and true excellence really has to be accomplished together.
Speaker 1: Like I am a really good dancer because I had
Speaker 1: really good colleagues and because we all wanted to be
Speaker 1: really good and we would learn from each other, and
Speaker 1: one day somebody would come up with a new step
Speaker 1: and we would be like, Oh, I'm going to come
Speaker 1: up with my new step, or I'm going to do
Speaker 1: your step and.
Speaker 4: I'm going to add my step.
Speaker 1: And that really is what makes a brilliant dancer, the
Speaker 1: ability to share, to see, to copy, to be inspired by.
Speaker 1: And then at the end, I've loved to see how
Speaker 1: my generation has gone into having careers and doing all
Speaker 1: of this, and then you realize that it is them
Speaker 1: that will be running the organizations by the time you retire,
Speaker 1: that they'll be teaching the new generations of dancers.
Speaker 4: So I really am.
Speaker 1: Hopeful that the future of dance it's being shaped by
Speaker 1: people that are passionate about it.
Speaker 4: That like the art.
Speaker 1: Form in Mexico, and there is a lot of people
Speaker 1: that believe if you're an artist, you're going to starve,
Speaker 1: that if you're an artist, you are wasting your life,
Speaker 1: your time, etc. Yeah, it's like that's great as a hobby,
Speaker 1: but what are you going to really do. We wanted
Speaker 1: to create and portray an idea that the arts are important,
Speaker 1: and they are important too for social mobility. We were
Speaker 1: able to create a platform that creates those opportunities. My
Speaker 1: dad and my mom started this project in Mexico of
Speaker 1: free balot schools around our state and they have seven
Speaker 1: locations and they have three hundred kids studying balid for free.
Speaker 1: So we made a deal with English National Ballet School
Speaker 1: to come to Mexico to audition for free. For the
Speaker 1: first time ever, we had over five hundred people apply
Speaker 1: for the audition. They had the intention of giving five
Speaker 1: scholarships and they gave out about nineteen scholarships. We also
Speaker 1: focused on skill development. We wanted people to learn how
Speaker 1: to make costumes and to tos and make a living
Speaker 1: out of it, and to learn about stage management and
Speaker 1: even with the motion captioning and stop motion workshops all
Speaker 1: around creative industries and so we've had thousands of people
Speaker 1: participating that. And what I loved about that it was
Speaker 1: that all of it was free of charge. I do
Speaker 1: think that, like they say, it takes a village. Yes,
Speaker 1: we have worked very hard and developed ourselves as dancers
Speaker 1: and artists, and we have also developed our technique with
Speaker 1: the help of our colleagues or teachers, but also our parents,
Speaker 1: are friends, the people that have supported the decisions that
Speaker 1: you've made, or maybe also the ones that have said actually,
Speaker 1: I think that was not right and.
Speaker 4: Maybe you should try something else.
Speaker 1: All of those things have helped shape who we are
Speaker 1: and that eventually gets put out on stage and you
Speaker 1: see it. It's a recollection of everyone that has been
Speaker 1: a part of our lives that eventually people get to
Speaker 1: see on stage. And I think that's what makes an artist. Essentially,
Speaker 1: like you were saying, you are trying to build yourself
Speaker 1: as a person, as an artist, and you need experience
Speaker 1: for all that happened. And it's quite a visual art form,
Speaker 1: and it's about creating feeling, and it's about exposing yourself,
Speaker 1: about being able to be at a place that sounds
Speaker 1: a little bit weird, but that very few people can
Speaker 1: achieve because it requires an understanding of space, a rhythm, coordination, strength,
Speaker 1: but also it requires you to expose yourself to another
Speaker 1: person to be able to create something on that moment
Speaker 1: that exists only for a few seconds for the audience
Speaker 1: to experience in the most personal way.
Speaker 4: And now when I come back.
Speaker 1: To San Francisco, can I get to see achieve those
Speaker 1: moments on a stage that go beyond technique and the
Speaker 1: practicalities of dance and create this amazing experience.
Speaker 4: I realize that we are incredibly.
Speaker 1: Lucky to have shared this profession so closely and learned
Speaker 1: from each other and also live through it.
Speaker 4: It's quite quite remarkable.
Speaker 3: That was Isac and Estevan Ernandez the first siblings to
Speaker 3: hold the top rank of principal dancers at the San
Speaker 3: Francisco Ballet. This episode was produced by Elizabeth loandl Torres
Speaker 3: and edited by Andrea Lopez Gruzado. It was mixed by
Speaker 3: gabriel Le Biez special thanks to Tamilo Garson. The Latino
Speaker 3: USA team also includes Marta Martinez, Mike Sargent, Daisy Contreres,
Speaker 3: Victoria Strada, Renaldo Leanos Junior, and Patris s Lubran, with
Speaker 3: help from Grii mar Marquez. Our editorial director is Fernanda Santos.
Speaker 3: Our director of engineering is Stephanie Lebau. Our senior engineer
Speaker 3: is Julia Caruso. Our associate engineer is jj Carubin. Our
Speaker 3: marketing manager is Luis Lunap. Our theme music was composed
Speaker 3: by Sean Ruinos. I'm your host and executive producer Maria
Speaker 3: no Josa. Join us again on our next episode and
Speaker 3: in the meantime, find us on social media and remember
Speaker 3: yes Este La Proxima.
Speaker 5: Chao Latino USA is made possible in part by California Endowment,
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Speaker 1: This is the way, and I will live my dream
Speaker 1: and this is the way.