Artist Archive

Ismael Ivo (BR)

"Ismael Ivo studied drama and dance in Brazil and performed there as a solo dancer, before being invited to New York by Alvin Ailey in 1983. There he continued creating and performing solo works [...], in which the charismatic intensity and sculptural power of this style brought him an international reputation. [...]"
(Oxford Dictionary of Dance, Oxford University Press)

Important impulse for the development of his distinctive style was the close collaboration with Márcia Haydée, Japanese Butoh dancer Ushio Amagatsu, leader of Sankai Juku Company, and with Johann Kresnik, the pioneer of German Dance Theatre.

Worldwide premieres and tours with his 50 feature-length choreographies until now made Ismael Ivo a protagonist of European Dance Theatre. His artistic interest in the research of the Performative Body concept resulted in joined projects with artists like Heiner Mueller, George Tabori and Marina Abramovic. His work with Yoshi Oida was awarded Outstanding Performance of the Year in London. Besides substantial work as choreographer and dancer, his activities as director of festivals and cultural institutions are further creative focal points.

In 1984 Ismael Ivo and Karl Regensburger founded ImPulsTanz – Vienna International Dance Festival, in the meantime Europe's largest dance festival, which he is still leading as representative and artistic director. For this activity he was honoured with the Golden Cross of Merit of Vienna, Austria.

The German National Theatre in Weimar appointed Ismael Ivo as chief-choreographer and director of the dance company from 1997 to 2000.
Between 2005 and 2012 he was director of the International Festival of Contemporary Dance and the Dance Department of La Biennale di Venezia in Venice. His innovative festival programme and activities were multiple-awarded in Italy. He introduced the Golden Lion for Dance at La Biennale di Venezia, which was presented to Pina Bausch, Jiří Kylián, Carolyn Carlson, William Forsythe and Sylvie Guillem. With the task to upgrade professional formation on a national base in Italy, in 2009 he founded the Contemporary Dance Research Centre Arsenale della Danza, which was included in the constitution as a permanent activity of La Biennale di Venezia in 2011. From 2013 onwards the project for the Formation of Excellence in Dance will is continued in Vienna and São Paulo under the name Biblioteca do Corpo. In 2013 Ismael Ivo was appointed visiting professor by Max-Reinhardt-Seminar, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

Ismael Ivo's cultural achievement was acknowledged by the presentation of The Order of Cultural Merit of the Federative Republic of Brazil in 2010.
Since 2017 Ismael Ivo is the artistic director of Balé da Cidade de São Paulo.

In November 2017 he was appointed a co-Intendant of the São Paulo Opera House together with the music conductor Roberto Mischung. Also in November 2017 he was awarded with the Medal of São Paulo and Trofeu Bleck Race.