User:David Fernandez

David Fernandez is a choreographer, dancer, and ballet teacher based in New York.


Born in Mexico City, David Fernandez studied at the Centro de Arte y Ballet. He immigrated to the United States in 1989 after winning a scholarship to Giordano Jazz Dance in Chicago, where he performed with the company and received the Jeffrey Mildenstein Award. David began choreographing while studying at the Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre, creating contemporary works for performance in art galleries and alternative spaces.

David’s work has been featured in festivals and competitions including the Youth America Grand Prix, the Jackson Competition, and the New York International Choreographer’s Festival. In January 2009, two of his works premiered at Lincoln Center’s Dance on Camera Festival; Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear starring New York City Ballet Principal Daniel Ulbricht, and Icarus APR, a contemporary choreography created for New York City Ballet Soloist Ask La Cour. Objects in Mirror has been selected for performance as part of Ballet Builders 2010.

Most recently, David was commissioned to create a solo for New York City Ballet Principal Joaquin de Luz for the celebrated Kings of the Dance Tour (2009-10). The solo, Five Variations on a Theme, has been performed on tour in Europe and will be performed at New York’s City Center in February 2010. David has also choreographed for companies across the US including Opera North, Staten Island Ballet, and Westchester Ballet Company.

During his dance career, David performed with Chicago’s Boitsov Classical Ballet dancing roles in Le Corsair, Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Specter de la Rose, and Pinocchio. He danced with the Lyric Opera of Chicago for several years, performing in Aida, Faust, Ghost of Versailles, and as a soloist in Un Re in Ascolto. David was also a guest artist with the Ballet Theatre of Chicago and in Indiana University’s production of Don Quixote, directed by Susan Jones of the American Ballet Theatre. A highlight of David's later career was performing alongside Mikhail Baryshnikov in the play The Doctor and The Patient at the 2004 Lincoln Center Festival.

David lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two sons.