Riley Watts

Riley Watts is a multidisciplinary dance artist, teacher, choreographer, and researcher based in Portland, Maine. Since 2010, he has danced with William Forsythe as a member of The Forsythe Company (2010-2015), performing more recently in Forsythe’s A Quiet Evening of Dance and on Sylvie Guillem’s Life in Progress farewell tour. Riley has also danced with the Netherlands Dance Theater 2, Bern Ballet, Cedar Lake, and Adam Linder, and performed or taught in more than 30 countries worldwide over 15 years.

Riley is a frequently invited guest teacher of Forsythe Improvisation and Physical Thinking, including The Juilliard School, Princeton University, and CLI Conservatory to name a few. Alongside dancing, Riley has collaborated on interdisciplinary dance/neuroscience research projects, co-publishing an article for Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, and contributing PhD level knowledge for dance researchers at universities in Switzerland, UK, Germany, and Australia. He makes sculpture, digital art, and electronic music, and has spent much of his energy connecting artists and producing dance in Maine. Riley is a graduate of The Juilliard School and has been the recipient of multiple artist residencies, grants, and awards, including a Princess Grace Award and the Leonide Massine / Positano Prize, Italy.

Class Description

Riley’s teaching practice is a hybrid of Forsythe Improvisation Modalities, dance meditation, and Authentic Movement Practice. Classes vary depending on the group, but typically include a guided body scan, fundamental principles of Forsythe modalities, and a moving/witnessing structure borrowed from Authentic Movement, a therapeutic dance practice rooted in Jungian psychology and being moved from one’s subconscious mind.

Photo: Luis Rodrigues