Ihaiah, formerly Carlos, Miller is a native of Jacksonville, Florida where he trained at the Douglas Anderson School for the Arts and Jacksonville University’s Dance with Distinction program. In addition to their training in Jacksonville, they have also attended various intensive studies at American Ballet Theater, the Florida Ballet, Florida Dance Festival, the Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts, and the Shirley Rock School as a full scholarship student. In 2004, they graduated from the Joffrey Ballet School/ New School University program with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ballet and Choreographic Studies.

Their training in ballet has been primarily in the Vaganova methodology, as well as the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) and French techniques, with some work in the Balanchine style. In modern dance, Ihaiah has trained in the Horton and Paul Taylor techniques. Additionally, they have also been trained in flamenco, ballroom, smooth and Latin styles, African dance, and many other ethnic dance styles, as well as in hip-hop, vogue, popping and locking.

As a professional dancer, Ihaiah has performed with the Eugene Ballet/ Ballet Idaho, the Dance Theatre of Harlem Dancing through Barriers® Ensemble, Coastal Arts Project, the Florida Ballet, and most notably, with the Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. They have toured nationally and internationally and performed on stages across North and South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Australia.

They have performed many principal and leading roles in many ballets including Swan Lake, the Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Taming of the Shrew, Cinderella, La Bayadere, Le Corsaire, Raymonda, Paquita, Pas de Quatre, The Little Humpbacked Horse, Flames of Paris, Sarah, Plain and Tall, and Giselle. In their contemporary work, Ihaiah has performed in many neoclassical works such as Harold Lander’s Etudes, Billy Wilson’s Ginastera, and Gerald Arpino’s Italian Suite. They have also performed in many contemporary and modern works such as Glen Tetley’s The Rite of Spring, Robert Battle’s Circle, Line, Square, Norbert Vesak’s Belong Pas De Deux, The Spring Waters Pas de Deux, The Father in Mark Bogaerts’ Full Circle, the pas de quatre from Arthur Mitchell’s Fete Noir, the “I’m Sorry” Pas De Deux from Septime Weber’s Shoogie, the featured duet in Joao Carvalho’s Pleniuno, and a featured solo titled Libera Me in Laurie Picinich-Byrd’s Requiem.

In 1999, Ihaiah was invited to participate in the Human Kinetics Software’s Interactive Beginning Ballet 1.0 CD-Rom, and 2005, they were invited to compete at the New York International Ballet Competition. In addition to this, Ihaiah has performed at many prestigious festivals and showcases throughout the world including the “Works in Progress” series held at the Guggenheim Museum with the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Ravello Festival, 35 degree Festival La Verssiliana, the Nuits de Fourviere, Vaison Dances, White Bird Dances, XIII Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogata, and Jacob’s Pillow. He was also seen in the PBS special “In Performance at the White House presents the Dance Theatre of Harlem”, and can be seen in the award-winning documentary about the Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, “Rebels on Pointe”.

Throughout their training and career, Ihaiah has been fortunate to work with many great artists, coaches, and teachers such as Daniel Baudendistel, Jon Selya, Phillip Otto, Michael Owen, Lawrence Pech, Clinton Lucket, Valerie Madonia, Jolinda Menedez, George De La Pena, Eleanor D’Antuono, Rebecca Wright of the American Ballet Theatre, former ABT ballet Mistress and Kirov Ballet dancer Elena Tchernichova, Trenet Singleton of the Joffrey Ballet, Victor Trivino of Les Ballets Grandiva, Deborah Wingert of New York City Ballet, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar of Urban Bush Women, Roxane D’Orléans Juste of the Limon Dance Company, Robert Battle of Battlewerks and Alvin Ailey, Diedre Miles-Burger, Michelle Lucci of the Pennsylvania Ballet, internationally renowned Ballet Master and coach Hector Zaraspe, world famous teacher David Howard of the Royal Ballet, Valentina Kozlova of the Bolshoi Ballet, Arthur Mitchel, Robert Garland, Augustus van Heerdan, Endalyn Taylor, and Virginia Johnson of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Illiana Lopez and Franklin Gomero of the Miami City Ballet, Fabrice Herrault and Francois Perron of the Paris Opera Ballet, artistic director of Mobile Ballet Winthrop Corey, and other great teachers and coaches such as Alexi Tchernichov Sharon Dante, Kevin Martin, Ginger Thatcher, and John Magnus, and world renowned ballerina’s Eva Evdokimova, Charla Glenn, and Gina Goetchius Bugatti.

Choreographically, Ihaiah’s work has been showcased throughout Florida and New York, and has been performed at many festivals, benefits, and concerts including the 2005 and 2006 Downtown Dance Festival, the Women’s Professional Conference, the 2005 Black Expo, the 2005 Young Artist’s Festival, the 2007 Rhythms: Choreographers of NYC Showcase, 2008 Florida Dance Festival on Tour, the 2010 Emerging Choreographer’s Festival, and the Quigley House Benefit hosted by the Arts Edge School of Dance and Theater. In 2003, Ihaiah was privileged to create his ballet, Les Plaisirs Suite on the Manhattan Youth Ballet and in 2007, they choreographed the SDIII music video “1 Potato, 2 Potato, 3 Potato, Knish” for the Neoworld Productions Sketch Comedy Show. He is also very competent in the re-staging of the romantic and classical repertoire and has set many ballets and variations from La Bayadere, Giselle, Les Corsaire, Raymonda, Don Quixote, The Sleeping Beauty, Paquita, and the Nutcracker. In 2005 they founded a small dance company, Diesel Dance, which later became Diesel | Fusion Dance Theatre (DFDT) and was based both in New York City and Jacksonville, Florida.

Throughout their touring and performance schedule, Ihaiah has maintained strong ties to his home and the community of Jacksonville, Florida. When not performing or choreographing, Ihaiah actively teaches throughout North Florida and New York. He has taught at the Kingdom School of Dance, the acclaimed Studio Maestro in New York, Sandra Cameron Dance Center in New York, Jacksonville Christian Arts Center, the Episcopal High School of Jacksonville, Jacksonville Center for the Arts, La Villa School of the Arts, and the Florida Ballet Training center to name a few. Ihaiah is currently employed as the Principal Faculty for Contemporary & Choreography at the Cincinnati Ballet’s Otto M. Budig Academy for Dance.

In addition to his choreography and teaching, Ihaiah also maintains talents in design and has designed several posters, invitations and other publicity for The Joffrey Ballet School, Coastal Arts Project, The Cooper- Morgan Dance Theater, The North Florida Ballet Theater, and The Florida Ballet. They also regular designs and creates costumes for his ballets such as Melodic Noise, Stabat Mater, Stigmata, Rites of Passage as well as many others. His costumes designs have also been used in Coastal Arts Project’s Sleeping Beauty, Duane Cyrus’ Venus, and Jason William’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.