Daniel Riley
Daniel is an Indigenous choreographer whose bloodline runs through the Wiradjuri clan of Western NSW. He is a graduate of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and in 2005 received Making Tracks, an Australia
Council initiative, which allowed him to perform with Leigh Warren & Dancers in new works by Leigh Warren & Gina Rings (Petroglyphs – Signs of Life), and Antony Rizzi (Like No One Is Watching).
Daniel joined Bangarra Dance Theatre, Australia’s leading Indigenous contemporary dance company, in 2007 and has toured and performed throughout Australia’s capital cities and regional centres, as well as remote Indigenous communities and international stages.
In 2014 Daniel joined Irish dance theatre company, Fabulous Beast, for a UK tour of Rites of Spring and Petrushka. He was invited to take part in the initial development for a new work produced by Sadlers Wells and choreographed by Damien Jalet and fashion designer Hussein Chalayan and was also a guest artist with London based New Movement Collective, performing in Casting Traces and the world premiere season of Please Be Seated at The Southbank Centre.
Daniel made his choreographic debut in 2010 with a work commissioned by Stephen Page for Bangarra Dance Theatre titled Riley. In 2013 he created his second work for the company titled Scar, and collaborated with Stephen Page to create Keepers, which came from the work Blak. His other choreographic credits include QL2 Dance (2013), QUT (2013), Third Row Dance Company, UK (2014), Louisville Ballet, USA (2015) and Canberra Dance Development Centre (2015).
In 2015 Daniel makes his feature film debut, in Stephen Page’s Spear, where he also worked as Directors Attachment. Later in the year he will rejoin Bangarra Dance Theatre for international and regional tours and perform in the 21st anniversary performance of Ochres at Carriageworks, Sydney.
In both 2010 & 2013, Daniel was nominated for an Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer, and is a multiple Deadly Award nominee in the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Excellence Awards (2010, 2012 and 2013).
Daniel will create a new piece for Sydney Dance Company’s New Breed 2015 season at Carriageworks, showing 8-13 December.