Isla has been expressing herself through movement from the time she could walk on two feet. A native of Avondale/Logan Square, Isla has been dancing at Visceral since the age of six, when she walked mid-season into a Saturday-morning pre-jazz class. Later that year, she was asked to join the Visceral Youth Ensemble (VYE), expanding her repertoire to ballet, lyrical, contemporary and jazz. VYE gave Isla a forum to challenge herself and expand her abilities. Every year she set new goals for herself, and every year VYE helped her to reach even beyond what she had envisioned. Isla has won many awards at various dance competitions throughout Chicagoland, participated in numerous dance intensives during summer, held her own alongside older and more experienced performers, and danced in many solo and group performances. When she was 10, Isla was the first recipient of an award from the Visceral Scholarship Fund, in which she worked with Nick Pupillo on a competition solo piece. Isla was inspired by the experience of working with Nick and from that moment made a serious personal commitment to excellence in the art of movement. At 12 years old, this is Isla’s first year dancing with the Visceral Studio Company. Isla would like to thank all her teachers for cultivating a love for dance. She is thankful for all the friendships, memories and magical experiences that performing together can create. Most of all, she is grateful and honored by the opportunity to dance with VSC.