Deborah Riley Dance Projects
About the Company
Deborah Riley Dance Projects is a modern dance company which
presents performances and workshops that illuminate the landscape
of emotions, ideas, perspectives and concerns of women. The company
performs the choreography of Director, Deborah Riley who joined
Dance Place as an Artist-in-Residence in 1987 and now serves as
the Dance Place Co-Director.
Ms. Riley provides a sure touch through the landscape of a woman's
world. Sometimes the view is sparse and open like the desert,
and sometimes it is a close up on the detail of human emotions,
but always it is a celebration.
A component of Ms. Riley's work is focused on community workshops
called Moving Affirmations. Using meditation, breath, positive
imaging and movement these workshops have been useful to men and
women alike. She has worked with many groups including those in
recovery, smoking cessation, formerly homeless, chronically mentally
ill and healing from trauma. The workshops themselves are a demonstration
of the power of the arts in bringing transformation, inspiration
and healing to individual lives.
Company Programs
Performances
Evening length concerts in theatrical settings. Proscenium
or studio theater, site specific work.
Moving Affirmations
Workshops for adults focused on relaxation, stress reduction and
healing through a combination of meditation, yoga, and movement.
Great for small and medium sized groups.
Classes
Modern dance technique for adults, beginning to professional level
offered.
About Deborah Riley
Deborah Riley is the Co-Director of Dance Place after serving
as Associate Director from 1994-2004 and as artist-in-residence
and faculty member since 1987. As a professional dancer, choreographer
and teacher she has been instrumental in the training and development
of dancers for over thirty years.
Ms. Riley also appears as a guest artist in numerous universities
around the country, most recently at The American University.
Her work has been presented in the U.S., England, France, and
has been funded six times by the NEA Choreographer's Fellowship
Program, by the Jerome Foundation, and in 1990, '91, '93, and
'95 by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. She was nominated
for a Mayor's Arts award for "Excellence in an Artistic Discipline."
Deborah Riley was awarded one of the first Local Commissioning
Grants from the Kennedy Center for the Millennium Stage. In 2001
she received the inaugural award of Distinguished Alumni in Fine
Arts from Ohio University and in 2002 was honored with the Pola
Nirenska Award for distinguished leadership in the field of dance.
From 1978-87 she was based in New York City where she performed
and toured extensively with Douglas Dunn & Dancers throughout
the U.S. and Europe, and where she created collaborative choreography
with dancer Diane Frank.
In service to the field of dance she has served as a panelist
for Pennsylvania Arts on Tour panel 2003; the American College
Dance Festival/Capezio Awards '96, '98 and 2000; Scholarship Awards
'94 -American College Dance Festival Adjudicator; DC Commission
on the Arts and Humanities - Artist Fellowship 2000, 2001; "Women's
Words/Women's Works," Mt. Vernon College; "Meet the
Artists," Reston Community Center; "Dialogue With the
Artists;" "Lavender Language" American University
Linguistics Conference; Philadelphia Repertory Development Initiative
- Artist Awards Adjudicator; Dance Place - Choreographer Adjudication;
and as a consultant to Gina Gibney Dance outreach to domestic
violence shelter 2000. Her article, "Helping the Healing/On
Community Partnerships," was published by Dance/U.S.A in
Spring 1993.
What The Critics Have Said
"Her ideas are mature, her style distinct and her voice
sure."
-The Washington Post
"Saturday evening's Dance Place performance of her work
was like another layer of fine lacquer on the oervre of this quietly
productive, gentle dancer.....Riley's relaxed, grace-conscious
modern movement style, her usual precise distancing between abstraction
and narrative, and the ineffable femininity that pervades all
of her work like a floral scent."
- The Washington Post
"Riley...classic, ethereal, mysterious and somber."
- The Washington Post
"What I saw was beautifully crafted art which spoke to and
from the heart on many levels, satisfying both viscerally and
cognitively. Like Riley herself, her work is elegant and eloquent,
delivering poignant messages with verve and humor, and an extraordinary
poetic sense of spatial dimension."
- Washington Dance View
Booking Information
Contact Deborah Riley through Dance Place at 202-269-1600.
To download photos in high resolution suitable for newspapers,
magazines, or print, click here.
Top photos by Enoch Chan.