Riley
Cooper
Bryson

Riley Bryson is an engaging, energetic, articulate dance teacher, choreographer, company director, and Exercise Science scholar with excellent interpersonal skills. She is a business-minded professional with a minor in Business Administration. Her students have ranged all ages and abilities. She has been honored to to have experience working with a diverse body of students, including teaching individuals with special needs, leading master classes for refugee communities, and setting full length works on pre-professional & professional companies.

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Riley has been described as passionate, fun, and empathetic. She loves challenging her students to pursue excellence and to be mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy while doing so. She directly applies her courses in Biomechanics, Exercise Psychology, Exercise Physiology, and Nutrition to how she approaches the dance space. Ms. Bryson has trained, taught, and performed across the United States in Atlanta, Colorado, California, Nashville, and more. She founded the Gwinnett Dance Project in 2019 with the purpose of seeing performing arts continue to flourish in Gwinnett County, Georgia.

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"My teaching philosophy, which extends into how I choreograph, is that teachers are to empower and equip students to embark on their own journeys of discovering who they are as individual artists. When students feel autonomy, competence, and relatedness in their environment, they are more motivated to achieve their goals. I've seen more efficacy in this individualized approach to learning as compared to environments where students feel they need to hide their true selves in order to "fit in". I remind dancers that they dance for more than just whoever is standing at the front of the room, that they are humans before they are dancers, and what is going on internally will be reflected externally."

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Riley graduated with honors from Georgia Gwinnett College and was the Vice-President of the Student Dance Association. She was thrilled to be invited to present her undergraduate research under the advisement of Dr. Joshua Wludyga at the 2020 C.R.E.A.T.E. symposium. Ms. Bryson has been invited to be a guest lecturer at many dance schools and enjoys sharing her passion for health with young pre-professional dancers. She leads seminars in overall dancer health & wellness, body positivity, and anatomy for dancers.

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In her free time, she loves getting coffee with her husband, going to the gym, and spending time in her local community in Lilburn, GA.