PHOTOS Courtesy Herman Cornejo
Next year, Herman Cornejo will celebrate two decades as Principal of the American Ballet Theater (ABT), where he joined in 1999 and made (and makes) a wonderful career. At 41 he is still one of the best dancers in the world, who has performed practically all the roles, has won applause on the most important stages, has worked with the most outstanding choreographers and has shared the stage with the most dazzling figures. A couple of years ago, in parallel, he began to deepen his creative vein and with it, to build a new stage whose first fruit is Ánima Animal, a work created from scratch that he stars in and directs, which he shaped together with team that he put together: the choreographer Anabella Tuliano and her Grupo Cadabra, the composer Noelia Escalzo and the DJ and electroacoustic musician Uji. That Opera Prima will have its world premiere in December and it will be at the Teatro del Bicentenario de San Juan, as the finishing touch of the 2022 season.
Warm and very excited about this debut, from New York -where the artist born in Villa Mercedes (San Luis) resides with his wife María José Lavandera and their little son Nicolás- Herman spoke with DIARIO DE CUYO about this great commitment, which reflects concerns personal and professional.
– What is Animal Soul?
– In the end, it turned out to be a turning point in my career, being on the side of creation, being the director, contributing ideas, creating from scratch a new process that was very, very nice for me. It started when I saw a writing where Nijinsky was offered to do a play, in 1917, about the Guarani legend of the urutaú bird. I was fascinated to learn that he was excited about creating this work for Argentina, he had appointed Stravinsky for the music, but it did not materialize due to his illness. I always felt admiration and a very strong connection with him, the greatest icon of dance and more so for men, who opened the doors for men to do ballet and be recognized. Also because I did his roles in the ABT, like Petrushka and The Specter of the Rose, which is one of my favorites, for which I was nominated for the Benois de la Danse. Well, during the pandemic, as ugly as it was, there was a light: having the time to think about this work and create a project; prompted by my wife who told me “Give it, you can” and encouraged me to present it to the University of New York, which has a dance program. I began to write, I presented the project and won the prize to do an investigation, which would end with a work, thinking what Nijinsky would do today with this story, where there is a very strong connection between the indigenous people, the earth, the stars, the universe. , I wanted to do something where that connection could be seen…
– And you launched into the great adventure…
– Although I had choreographed some solos for myself, I didn’t feel ready to do an entire work, so I started looking for choreographers from all over the world and watching videos I found a work by Anabella and I was fascinated. And it was an emotion that it was Argentine. As in the old days, my idea was to do the work with new music and she proposed a classical and folklore composer for orchestra, Noelia, and I loved it. Before, I had listened to an electronic composer who uses sounds of nature and I had the madness to ask them both if they could work together and they did. The idea was to give the earth a voice through music, as if the earth were speaking.
– And as for the dance?
– The characters on stage are stars. When a star dies, it falls to earth and a human being is born. His time on earth is to evolve, purify his soul, become light again and return to heaven. On that journey an animal soul is designated to him, but when he makes a mistake, a transformation begins and there is the legend of urutaú. Here the man kills his beloved by mistake and begins his transformation to purify himself, he becomes the urutaú, my role. It is also a tribute to Nijinksy, who was considered “the man with bird tendons” because of his jumps. It is a one-act play, 55 minutes, where we see that the earth has a voice, we see the evolution of the human being and it ends when the man turned into a bird jumps into the air, into life… But thinking that there is going to be an Ánima 2 and even an Ánima 3. I would like to advance with what happens next with him and with Yvy, the protagonist, a name that means Earth, as a metaphor of how we are killing her.
– Is there a fusion of languages?
– It is a work that can attract different people, for example those who like the contemporary because of Cadabra, those who like the classic because they know me, and they will find a lot of different people watching the same work. That will be nice too, to see the reaction of each one at the end of the work.
– How was working with a team from Argentina and you in the US?
– Zoom meetings. Anabella worked in Buenos Aires with Cadabra, an incredible group, as the music was being created. And then I made little holes in my calendar and traveled three times to Argentina to join the group. It was very exciting to have achieved this remotely.
– The work has a lot of mysticism, spirituality. Does it reflect a personal stage?
– It could be… Something very crazy happens, I always imagined that 40 was the retirement age, it was very marked in my generation, as it was with Paloma (Herrera) and Julio (Bocca); but I don’t feel that way. My body works 100% to do the classics and I’m wired to create.
– A merger into a new Dogwood?
– Yes, completely, the Cornejo of a new dance is merging -it could be said- with the demand it has for the classic. Ánima is a contemporary but very physical choreography that I love to see on stage; and it is also this stage of producer, of having ideas and putting them on stage.
– Did it come naturally or did you propose it in the face of 40?
– In a pandemic there was nothing else to do but write, because I really trained for the first three months and then I got very depressed; I couldn’t conceive of taking classes holding on to the kitchen. Then I had doubts about whether I could dance again, because when we were finally able to step on stage, I really didn’t feel good, I felt like I had lost a lot and seeing myself like this at just 40… But there was something very strong inside me, I couldn’t leave the stage, especially not like that, so I focused and came back. I think I took a weight off my back, retirement. It was not thinking about that anymore, but about the day to day; and today I feel better than before.
– We continue with the birds… You are like the Phoenix Bird reborn from that anguish…
– Completely and it is reflected in the tattoo I have on my arm, a Phoenix Bird, for when I was in a coma when I was little and when everything was about to end, my father kissed me on the forehead and I opened my eyes. I feel like one always reinvents oneself.
– Are you the best version of yourself today?
– One always tries to be a better version than the day before, but the truth is that I don’t focus on being better than yesterday, I just feel that I have to do things well every day, with love, that’s enough. There is a bit of stress in life, in the boys who are in dance, to be the best… You don’t have to be the best, you have to do things well, because you love doing it. And knowing that there are days that are worse and others better…
– With Monday’s newspaper, what wouldn’t you have done?
– I think if I had known where I was going to be today, if they had told me, they would have ruined my race, because I wouldn’t have pushed like I did. I think fears and doubts are important. I got to where I got in ABT because I had many doubts about whether the director was going to see me with the eyes that I wanted him to see me, I pushed every opportunity I had thinking that it was the only one. Not knowing what was going to happen is what made me work so hard. And now I have other doubts, such as those generated by Ánima, the eagerness for the premiere, the public’s reaction… I think that this way you experience things better, with more intensity.
– Yes or yes you wanted to premiere it in Argentina?
– There was no other way. The legend was presented to Nijinsky to be made in Argentina and I wanted the debut to be in Argentina. Thank God Anabella contacted me with the Bicentennial Theater and from the moment the Zoom was opened they understood the proposal and opened the doors for us. I am very grateful. In all the legs of this creation there is a lot of emotion, we all feel pleasure working together, including the Theater.
– Do you feel that San Juan is the right place for your world premiere?
– If things happen it’s for a reason and that’s the lane I’m on. When it flows it’s because it has to be that way, so yes, I think it had to be in San Juan.
The DATA
With integral production of TB, Ánima Animal will be seen on December 2, 3 and 4, at 9:00 p.m. Together with Cornejo and the team, dancers from San Juan will go on stage, selected through an internal audition among participants of the Training Program for TB dancers; and there will be open classes the week before the premiere.
Tickets on sale from Monday, October 31: $800, 1,500, 2,500, 2,800 and 3,000. Youth Ticket (under 24) at 50% of its value.
> Ten out of ten (and yapa)
1- Your health: being born without a pectoral and having been in a coma as a child
They were that little fire that lit me up. Many times weaknesses are your strength to push.
2- Vasil Tupin, who – while Herman watched his sister Erica’s class with deep attention – saw in him the dancer
The one who opened the door for me, literally. That little honey candy that he left on the table…
3- The Colon Theater
The basis of who I am now.
4- Julio Boca
I see it as a hand, figuratively, as if you are in the dark and you see a hand that comes out with a light. He gave me his hand to join his group and was the springboard that made me jump from student to professional.
5- Mikhail Baryshnikov
A great world.
6- Moscow 1997, Gold Medal. It is, in the history of the contest, who obtained it youngest
The first thing that comes to mind is Lidia Segni. Without her I would not have succeeded, she was key in training, in the position that she took: We are going to compete, we have to do it well. And discover that behind that rudeness as a director there was a super sweet person. I have a great affection for Lidia.
7- ABT
My dream. And it still is… Counting from the Studio Company, it’s been almost 25 years. It fills me with pride to remain in a company for so long, I think there is nothing that can be compared, it becomes your family, with its good and bad things.
8- Bayadere
My favorite, as a ballet and for some reason, in the key moments that happened.
9- Benois de la danse 2014, created and awarded at the Bolshoi
An acknowledgment of those that one sees on television, when they give actors the Oscar… It’s like ‘Wow, do they really give me the Oscar?’ A very nice feeling.
10- Animal Soul
Uf, my chest swelled (laughs) I breathed and I kept the air inside my lungs… It’s looking to the future.
And Nicholas (his son)
Ooh, everything! Nico is the reflection of my wife, mine, it is the generation that is going to carry out, if possible, the changes that must be made in life to improve humanity, to be able to live on this planet. It’s that generation.