Emory alum’s choreography set for festival curated by ballet icon Misty Copeland

One of Ilo’s stand-out memories from their time at Emory is a heartfelt hug from Misty Copeland, former principal dancer of American Ballet Theatre. 

Ilo, who goes by their first name only, vividly recalls when Copeland visited campus in 2025. In addition to holding an onstage public conversation with members of the Atlanta community, Copeland met privately with Emory students, faculty and staff. Copeland watched a performance of Ilo’s senior honors thesis, a piece called “Queer B/being,” and joined in a discussion led by Ilo. 

“We were getting ready to pose for a group photo,” says Ilo, who graduated in 2025 with a double major in dance and movement studies and women’s, gender and sexuality studies. “And when I hugged Misty, the thing she whispered in my ear was, ‘I’m very proud of you and I can’t wait to see what you do next.’ And it’s really funny how that has come back around.”

In February, Copeland invited Ilo to choreograph a new piece for The Joyce Ballet Festival, which takes place Aug. 4-16 at The Joyce Theater in New York City. The festival, celebrating dance’s best and brightest from around the world, is curated this year by Copeland. 

“I was excited to include Ilo because they represent the kind of emerging artistic voice the festival should make space for,” says Copeland, who became the first Black woman in American Ballet Theatre’s 75-year history to be promoted to principal dancer. She left American Ballet Theatre last year. “Their work feels personal, current and open to new possibilities within ballet. The Joyce Commission gave Ilo an opportunity to create something new and to bring together dancers from different backgrounds and companies, which speaks to the larger spirit of the festival.”

Ilo will perform their piece “Melt: From the Inside Out” with a cast of five other dancers. Rooted in the traditions of house dance and inspired by Ilo’s Afro-Caribbean heritage, Ilo calls the piece “a journey of liberation through the African diaspora.” Ilo began researching connections among these dance traditions as a student at Emory. 

“I’m just so proud and excited for Ilo,” says Julio Medina, Emory assistant professor of dance and movement studies. “The Joyce Theater is one of the prominent theaters in the nation, attracting the top artists, including international artists. And the fact that Misty Copeland came to Emory in 2025 and then thought about Ilo for this festival — that means a lot.”

A ‘direct and personal’ invitation

The magnitude of the invitation wasn’t lost on Ilo when Copeland first reached out.

“Oh, my god. It was insane,” says Ilo. “Misty followed me on Instagram on the very last day of February.” 

After a brief “freak-out,” Ilo followed Copeland back. Then she messaged with the invitation to take part in the festival.

“And it was just this really heartfelt message that was like, ‘Hey, I want to use Black, brown and queer choreographers and I would love for your voice to be there,’” Ilo says. “You know, it wasn’t an invitation to fill out an application. It was something very direct and personal from Misty.” 

The months since have felt a bit like a rollercoaster of nerves to Ilo, who is an introvert at heart. Speaking in mid-July, Ilo had just begun to work with their cast of dancers. The pleasure of the rehearsal process worked to still those butterflies. And the festival felt like a triumphant return to New York, where they grew up.  

“I think first and foremost, I feel a lot of pride in this,” says Ilo. “It has been honestly wonderful thus far.” 

Bridging the divides of dance

Ilo spent their childhood “making my younger sister learn choreography that I made up to some song, or dancing with my shadow in my living room for hours.” 

Growing up in a largely Afro-Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn, Ilo started dance classes reflecting that heritage at age five—becoming immersed in the dance traditions of their community, including performing at events around the city with CarNYval Dancers, whose work celebrates Caribbean creole culture. Meanwhile, at Ilo’s performing arts middle school, “I’d be [learning] dances of European origin, like ballet.”

At that time, “I felt this weird separation,” Ilo says, between the Western forms they studied at school and the dances of their heritage. “But I couldn’t find the language for it.” 

That changed the summer after Ilo’s sophomore year at Emory. A Friends of Dance Summer Scholarship through Emory’s Dance and Movement Studies Program offered them the chance to study at Bates Dance Festival in Maine. 

One day, Ilo recalls, a teacher at Bates sat the students down. “He said, ‘All of these things we’re doing, hip-hop, house, jazz — even going as far back as the ring shout, which is something enslaved Africans did — all of these things are a continuum. They’re not separate.’” 

That discussion sparked a passion to “better understand connections among the dance traditions of my community,” says Ilo.

Transformative experiences

Medina first took note of Ilo’s aptitude and hard work onstage. Ilo’s initial campus performance took place their first year in Emory Dance Company’s fall concert, under Medina’s direction. 

The company allows anyone to audition, regardless of major. At the time, Ilo was a dance major, but they were on the pre-med track and planning a future as a physician of osteopathic medicine. 

Their third year, Ilo choreographed their first piece, “Janus-Faced,” which they performed at that year’s spring concert.

“Ilo spent just hours in the studio and got really creative with the movement,” Medina recalls. “There’s a real spiritual depth to their work.”

Medina also noticed Ilo’s talents as a speaker and recruited them to be a teaching assistant for his “Beginning and Intermediate Hip-Hop” and “Intermediate and Advanced Hip-Hop” classes. By their senior year, they were leading some class sessions independently.

At the same time, Ilo was connecting with concepts from their women’s, gender and sexuality studies courses, such as popular culture’s hyper-sexualization of Black bodies. “Melt” ties the idea of liberation, a principal tenet of house culture, with the act of reclaiming one’s body through movement.

Ilo credits Mara Mandradjieff, assistant teaching professor in dance, for the methods they use to communicate historical and cultural context to dancers while teaching choreography.

“She is a huge mentor,” says Ilo. “Without her, I just wouldn’t have that practice.”

Experiences at Emory changed Ilo’s perception of what “academia” means. 

“These two mentors, Julio and Mara, showed me: It’s not just being in a classroom; it’s continuing your own research in the community,” Ilo says. “It’s using that research to lead powerful lectures changing the ways people perceive something.”

Ilo says they want to teach at the university level one day, “but I’m in no rush to get there.”

Reflecting on Ilo’s upcoming performances in New York, Medina says, “I’m just so joyful. Because this festival is not just a milestone; it could be a major turning point. And the beginning of something great.”