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WHO'S WHO IN THE FESTIVAL? MISTY COPELAND (Curator) is a former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, and in 2015, she became the first Black woman to be promoted to the position in the company’s seventy-fiveyear history. Copeland first joined ABT’s Studio Company in September 2000, joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in April 2001, and in August 2007, became the company’s second African American female Soloist and the first in two decades. 25 years later, Copeland officially retired from the American Ballet Theatre with her final performance on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025. She is the New York Times bestselling author of several books, including Life in Motion, Ballerina Body, Black Ballerinas, The Wind at My Back, and the picture books Bunheads, Bunheads, Act 2: The Dance of Courage, and Firebird, with her next book, Firebird Waltz, set to be released on Tuesday, August 25th. In 2022, she launched the Misty Copeland Foundation with its first signature program, Be Bold, which aims to bring greater diversity, equity, and inclusion to dance, especially ballet. Also in 2022, Copeland created her production company Life in Motion Productions and produced her short film Flower, telling a powerful story through dance and movement to highlight intergenerational equity in the community of Oakland, California. Flower premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2023. Copeland has been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People and was named one of Glamour’s Women of the Year. Most recently, she performed “I Lied to You” at the 2026 Academy Awards with the cast of Sinners, a Best Original Song nominee. BABATUNJI is a dance artist, choreographer, and creative innovator based out of Oakland, CA. Though never formally trained as a child, Babatunji was always moving his body to the beat. At the age of 15, he discovered the art of hip hop. Following this epiphany of love, he grew up through his teens breaking and popping on street corners in Hilo, Hawai’i. After being “discovered” by a local dance instructor, he began his formal training at Center Stage Dance Alliance in various styles of dance, including ballet. This training would inevitably lead him to Lines Ballet’s Training Program, and from there, into LINES Ballet company. For over a decade he has worked with one of the greatest American choreographers, Alonzo King. Throughout their time together Babatunji originated many roles, including the acclaimed Lift Every Voice solo in which he’s been blessed to share the stage with Grammy Award-winning vocalist, Lisa Fischer. As a freelance dancer, Babatunji has worked with Post:ballet, SFDanceworks, Ballare Carmel; as well as performed works by choreographers and artist such as Adji Cissoko, Yue Yin, Danielle Rowe, Brett Conway, Rich and Tone Talauega, David Harvey, and Mike Tyus. Additionally, his work for film includes features in Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs’ Blindspotting on Starz. Most recently he co-starred alongside Misty Copeland in her short art film Flower, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2023. The San Francisco Chronicle profiled Babatunji’s journey from street performance to the big screen. Over the past 15 years, Babatunji has developed a unique movement language, blending his background in ballet, contemporary, breaking, and hip hop. He has choreographed for Berkeley Ballet Theater, Boston Dance Theater, Post:ballet, Trolley Dance, SFDanceworks, San Francisco Dance Film Festival, among other Bay Area companies. As a solo artist, Babatunji has performed internationally, collaborating