About Us
The Riley Project is an exploration in forging new movement concepts and embedding them in common settings and images that translate across all cultural lines of distinction, as interpreted by the artistic vision and work of Leigh Riley. The company's projects seek to engage audiences, always with the promise of an intimate experience.
Leigh Riley made her choreographic debut in 2004 at the Chevil Até Theater in Oakland, where she presented three works as part of an evening of art, music and performance which brought multiple communities together. The next project brought her work to the ODC stage through the Pilot Program. Following that venture, Ms. Riley partnered with playwright Sequoia Nagamatsu to add dance elements and assist directing an original play at CounterPULSE. In fall of 2007, she founded The Riley Project and embarked upon creating The Doll Series, a sequence of dances that explore an evolution from inanimate to animate, from restraint to freedom. Since then, she has held two residencies at The Garage, and shown work as part of the 2nd Sundays Series at CounterPULSE.
Leigh Riley received her foundations in dance at Omaha Academy of Ballet and at University of California, Berkeley. In the Bay Area, she has performed in the work of Alma Esperanza Cunningham, Corinne Blum, Patricia Banchik, Sarah Moss and Aura Fischbeck.