Ilham Lahardi was born in Paninggahan, a quaint village on the edge of Lake Singkarak, West Sumatra, in 1992. Before studying in Indonesian Institute of The Arts – ISI Padangpanjang from 2011 to 2016, Ilham was a martial artist and a randai (a folk theater tradition of the Minangkabau) actor who actively participated in various randai festival in West Sumatra. Since his formal education in ISI Padangpanjang, Ilham has been known as a dancer who has always been involved in the choreography processes of some choreographers in West Sumatra such as Ali Sukri, Sherli Novalinda, Susasrita Loravianti, and Wardi Metro. Ilham is currently pursuing his Master’s degree in Dance Creation, ISI Surakarta.
Ilham keeps honing his intuition and knowledge on dance by participating in various workshops, such as dance workshop in ISI Padangpanjang with Arco Renz (2014), in which later on he was involved in the collaboration work of Arco Renz and Ali Sukri, titled Kris Is, performed in Indonesian Dance Festival in 2014, also contemporary dance workshop with Eko Supriyanto and Didik Nini Thowok in ISBI (Indonesian Art and Culture Institute) Bandung (2015). In the same year, Ilham took part in the creative process of Ali Sukri’s piece titled Tonggak Raso, which was performed together with Eko Supriyanto’s Trajectory in Silek Jawa Minang tour (2016). In 2016, together with choreographer Sherli Novalinda, he was working on the piece titled Meniti Jejak Tubuh, performed in World Dance Day in ISI Surakarta and Kaba Festival in Ladang Tari Nan Jombang Padang.
As a choreographer, Ilham has also created several works performed in different festivals such as Ciek Tigo in Contemporary Dance Market in Pekanbaru (2014), Takilek di Nan Kalam in Dance Dialog at ISBI Bandung (2015), My Body in Innovative Competition in ISI Padangpanjang (2016), and Contemporary Dance Solo in Bandung (2017), and Horizontal in Tidak Sekedar Tari Festival in Wisma Seni Solo (2016).
