The Riley Project

Solo:Alone

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:27:19 +0000

We are born alone and we die alone. Everyone has a unique experience of traveling through this life; no two are the same. In the peace and calm of our own home, we are free to dance in the kitchen while the music is blasting, or quietly read a book on the sofa. Out in urban life when things get hectic around us, we may put on our “urban armor” of headphones and sunglasses to keep out the world. Even when we share time with people we know everyone remembers different details or interprets events one way or another. How much can we really connect to the people in our lives? Others can empathize based on their own histories, but they can never truly experience our individual perspectives. The Riley Project presents Solo:Alone, a mixed-media performance piece performed by Leigh Riley, combining video and live performance that depicts this aloneness of daily life, from times spent in literal solitude, to isolation in a public arena, and finally culminating to being alone with one’s self. It challenges the audience members to take on someone else’s point of view and really see what the performer sees both in life and in dance. Solo:Alone is both a meditation on solitude and an opportunity for the audience step into someone else’s shoes.

All You Need

admin — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:29:33 +0000

A suite of four duets titled All You Need, each stemming from one of the four Greek words for love will premier in January 2011. As a whole, these dances present scenes from life; from childhood and family, school and work rivalries and friendships, the fiery passions which burn bright and fast and hard, and the true romance in finding a partner and mate, all based on real relationships from Ms. Riley’s life.

i. Our Hospitality – “Philia” meaning friendship

ii. Charade – “Éros”, a passionate fire

iii. Sandbox – “Storge”, a natural familial affection

iv. Second Chances - “Agápe”, romantic love

Charade

admin — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:21:28 +0000

Charade is the third installment in the suite All You Need. “Éros” is passionate love, with sensual desire and longing. Its correlating piece, Charade will be a short fiery passionate dance, reflecting those romances that quickly grow intense and overwhelming, but then just as abruptly fizzle out.

Charade will debut at our January 2011 Home Season.

Sandbox

admin — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:18:58 +0000

Part three of the suite All You Need, this duet is based on the Greek word “storge” which is a natural affection, used almost exclusively as a descriptor of relationships within the family. Set on two women, Sandbox will depict scenes from childhood and adolescence, going through the process of growing up and defining oneself while still maintaining a relationship and growing within it.

Sandbox will debut at our January 2011 Home Season.

Home Season at CounterPULSE

admin — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 18:07:18 +0000

The Riley Project and Aura Fischbeck Dance in a Home Season Co-Production

Friday and Saturday, January 21 – 22, 2011 at 8pm and Sunday January 23 at 2pm
CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission Street @ 9th in San Francisco

TICKETS: $10-20 in advance, $12-20 at the door
INFO/RESERVATIONS: brownpapertickets.com

The Riley Project and Aura Fischbeck Dance present new and beloved contemporary dance works in their 2nd home season co-production. With potent and distinct physicality, these works investigate the human condition through the lens of social politics, misbehavior, and love in all its many forms, developed by a collaborative cast of some of San Francisco’s finest dance artists. The show features choreography by Leigh Riley and Aura Fischbeck, and performances by Caroline Alexander, Andi Clegg, Leah Curran, Aura Fischbeck, Gretchen Garnett, Julie Potter, Travis Rowland, Stacey Swann, Katharine Vigmostad
and Andrew Ward.

The Riley Project will be presenting All You Need, a suite of duets, each stemming from one of the Greek words for love. The second premier will be DuBeUs takes a look at the fine balance between individual and group dynamics; when group assimilation is natural and beneficial, and when it swallows or distorts the individual.

Aura Fischbeck Dance will present the world premier of their newest work, Bodies that Won’t Behave. Proposing that the body has a “mind” of its own, this piece examines the ways in which our bodies betray our attempts at good behavior, and the dialogue between freedom and control that exists as a fundamentally human experience of the body.

October Showing at The Garage

admin — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 18:01:53 +0000

Come see excerpts of The Riley Project’s newest work, DuBeUs.

Oct 15-16 @ 8pm $10-$20 @ 975 Howard Street @ 6th Street, San Francisco • (415) 518 1517 • Look for the red door!

Raw (Resident Artists Workshop) presents Aura Fischbeck and Guests in:
Show and Tell

Show and Tell is an inspiring program of new works and works in progress by some of the Bay Areas most exciting dance/theater/performance makers. The list of artists include Ashley Burnett, Abby Crain, Jessica Damon, Aura Fischbeck, Margit Galanter, Gretchen Garnett, Natalie Green, Paul Larey, and Leigh Riley.

For more info, go to 975howard.com

DuBeUs

admin — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 18:47:46 +0000

DuBeUs takes a look at the fine balance between individual and group dynamics: when group assimilation is natural and beneficial, and when it swallows or distorts the individual. DuBeUs will examine some of these dynamics, and ask when is conformity crucial and when is it detrimental, when does it happen naturally and when is it forced upon the individual. Even countercultures conform to social strata; unique individuals come together to create communities and the “underground” or “alternative” slowly become the norm. In some situations, religious people are shunned or persecuted because of their beliefs and end up hiding a part of who they are in order to live a peaceful life. Under the law known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, it has been necessary to hide a part of one’s life merely to keep one’s job. Counterbalancing groups and unison with individuals and solos, DuBeUs explores how people naturally follow and organize, when rules keep people from fully expressing
themselves, and what happens when people bend or break those rules, or are simply not willing to follow.
Caroline Alexander, Jennifer Bennett, Leah Curran, Stacey Swann, and Katharine Vigmostad will be collaborating and performing in this new piece.

Movement ideas will be shown at The Garage in October, and the full piece will debut in January 2011 at CounterPULSE.

Packing House Center for the Arts in Denver

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 18:49:25 +0000

The Riley Project performed audience favorites Our Hospitality and Second Chances, alongside Leigh’s new improvisational performance Denouement in a show with works by Aura Fischbeck and Nathan Montgomery. Denver’s Packing House Center for the Arts presented the show and hosted the two San Francisco-based dance companies for a weekend in April 2010. Much thanks to Patrick and all who made the shows a success!

Photo by Rob Kunkle

Pilot 55: Flights of Fancy

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:31:21 +0000

The premier of Second Chances

November 21 & 22, 2009 at ODC Dance Commons

New works by Bay Area dance artists Julie Caffey, Jessica Damon, Erin Derstine, Antoine Hunter, Ara Glen-Johanson and Leigh Riley.

photo by Matt Haber

Second Chances

admin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:44:35 +0000

Audience favorite Second Chances, was developed through support of the Pilot program at ODC Theater and premiered in November of 2009. It is the fourth duet of the suite All You Need based on the word “Agápe”, meaning romantic love in modern day Greek, primarily used to denote romantic feelings of love for a spouse or partner. Dance-legend Barbara Dilley of Judson Church & Grand Union movements called it “beautiful, a classic pas de deux in a contemporary context”. Choreographic mentor Lizz Roman praised Ms. Riley’s talents at having “crafted a wonderful dance” and affirmed that she has “a natural ability, and hope [she] continues to make dances.”
Second Chances was originally developed and performed by Andi Clegg and Andrew Ward.

Second Chances from Leigh Riley on Vimeo.