Ismael Ivo, born 1955 in São Paulo/Brazil, was given the Trofeu Pirandello São Paulo, the prize for the best solo dancer already in 1983. A scholarship for Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York followed in 1983/84 before he moved to Berlin where he has been living since. Ismael created numerous solo pieces including "Phoenix" (1985), "Under The Skin" (1986), "Delirium of a childhood" (1989), "Die kreisrunden Ruinen" (1991) and "Apocalypse" (1992). He got internationally wellknown through the choreographies "Francis Bacon" (1993) and "Othello" (1996), both productions directed by the German dance theater choreographer Johann Kresnik. He has cooperated closely with Johann Kresnik and the Japanese choreographer Ushio Amagatsu, who has been the director of the recognised Sankai Juku Ensemble. These different experiences have merged with his Afro-Bazilian roots.
From 1996 to 2000 Ismael Ivo was heading the dance theater company at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar where he choreographed eleven pieces. Particularly in the 1990ies he cooperated with theater directors including George Tabori, for several groupworks. 1999 he started his artistic cooperation with Marcia Haydée. The duets "Tristan und Isolde" (1999) and "M.- wie Callas" (2002) were created as well as choreographies for Ankara, Rio de Janeiro and Vienna. 2006 the production "Die Zofen", created with Koffi Kôkô and Yoshi Oida in 2001 and based on the text of Jean Genet received the Time Out Live Award of London.
Ismael Ivo has been the artistic advisor of ImPulsTanz Workshops since the beginning in 1984 until today. Since 2005 he is also the artistic director of the Biennale di Venezia Settore Danza. 2010 he was awarded the Ordem do Merito Cultural do Brasil, the highest cultural award of Brazil.