We were lucky to catch up with Riley Bryson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Riley, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

My career kind of had a “false start”. I wanted to be many things as a kid – a marine, a writer, an actress, and more. When I was around 14 I started taking my dance training very seriously and there was no looking back, it seemed! I went all in with classical ballet. Moving away from home after high school and joining a trainee program, I was hopeful that things would progress in the conventional way, but things started to not go as anticipated. Many mental and emotional challenges started to arise. Call it divine intervention, call it life, call it whatever you’d like – I wasn’t meant to pursue the traditional path of classical ballet. After audition season, even after getting several “yesses”, I decided to pursue college. This was how I fell into teaching, freelancing, and choreography.

I discovered such a huge passion for coaching and choreographing. Through college, I made many connections that opened many doors. One of the doors was the opportunity to start a nonprofit dance company, called Gwinnett Dance Project. Along with a group of friends and colleagues, I started choreographing and presenting work at a professional caliber.

Teaching, once a part time job in high school and college, became my full time profession. I never imagined I would be a significant income contributor in my household by working in the arts, but here we are! I am so very grateful that the path set out before me has led to this career.

I started teaching at 16 years old, and it was a very valuable experience! I gained a great appreciation for my teachers by being in their shoes. If I could have changed anything, I would have learned time management sooner. I am a high capacity person, but poor time management can lead to lots of unnecessary stress. It is always a good idea to have better boundaries with time.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Riley Cooper Bryson, and I am a dance teacher, choreographer, and company director in Gwinnett County. I started teaching dance at Northeast Atlanta Ballet, and have had the opportunity to teach at many studios, schools, summer programs, and workshops since then. I have taught at En Pointe School of Dance, Sawnee School of the Arts, The Studio School of the Arts, Atlanta Professional Dance Academy, Artios Academies, and more. Some of my favorite classes to teach are Choreography Essentials, Classical Ballet, Pointe, and Variations, Modern & Contemporary. I have presented work at competitions, 3 Contemporary Project, Fall for Fall Dance Festival, Spring for Spring Dance Festival, and at Gwinnett Dance Project shows.

I studied Exercise Science in college, and focused my research on dancers. Because of this background, so I am also qualified and enjoy doing seminars in Dance Wellness, Strength & Conditioning for Dancers, and Injury Prevention.

Gwinnett Dance Project is the non-profit dance company that I run locally in Gwinnett County with a team of other artists. Our mission is to create community in Gwinnett County through dance and we do this by hosting classes for local dancers as well as curate full length shows. We love collaboration! We see our community as a close-knit family.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Come watch shows! Donate if you are able to. Arts enrich our society, and give us an outlet for emotions and social commentary! Arts need to be prioritized in our economy.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Choosing health, choosing faith, choosing trust. These are all things that I struggle with. Part of my story includes having two special needs siblings (who are amazing) and even though I love them, many times over my life I felt pushed to the side. This, along with other factors including some rough patches in my dance training, meant that my childhood was pretty turbulent. Over the years I developed coping techniques that my body thought were keeping me safe. These techniques – codependency, perfectionism, anxiety, people-pleasing, and a persistent eating disorder. My resiliency has been developed over the years the more that I lean into self-confidence, the Holy Spirit, and my community. It is hard, but I want to gain the tools I need to nurture my students as well as my future children. I’m learning every day how to set and maintain the boundaries I need. Healthy self-discipline. My experiences have led to my compassion expanding for others, which makes me a better leader.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://gwinnettdanceproject.wixsite.com/gwinnettdanceproject
• Instagram: @riley.cooper.atl // @gwinnettdanceproject
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rileycooperatl/

Image Credits
Ariane Reina; Cody Jacques Photography; T’Shauna Henry / CreativiTEA