Kendall Rileigh Residency

Tomorrow the Sun Shines for You is a Supported Research Residency

There will be a class on Thursday 14 August at 11am: Book here >>>>>>>

There will be a Sharing on Friday 15 August at 6pm: Book here >>>>>>>

Kendall Rileigh’s interest in aerial work is influenced by her background in theatre and storytelling. She began experimenting with combining text and aerial in 2007, and has been searching for those moments when aerial and acrobatic work can (literally) elevate the physical and emotional stakes of the story ever since. She is drawn to the newness of aerial theatre as an art form, especially aerial theatre that incorporates actors’ live voices, and she is excited to further explore the possibilities in this realm. She began envisioning Tomorrow the Sun Shines for You in 2016 as a BLANK CANVAS artist at Dance Cork Firkin Crane. She experimented with embodying excerpts from Ulysses. She was drawn to Ulysses because she saw a challenge in trying to demystify and physicalise the text: to mine the words, clarify the action, illuminate the character’s thoughts, and heighten the drama by staging it using the airspace. The residency culminated in a rough sketch of Molly Bloom’s final monologue using aerial silks and live voiced text. That experience fueled her desire to stage other peak moments from Molly’s inner life. Several scenes particularly lend themselves to heightened storytelling, and her residency will begin by exploring those. Kendall intends in time to present a full-length aerial piece inspired by Ulysses. Her work on the text and on the choreography happen in conversation with each other, so her process includes time to work on text and other design elements in between choreography rehearsals. Because this experiment straddles several genres, much of the task involves figuring out how to modify and structure the creative process itself. She is grateful for the opportunity to dig deep, take risks, and invite others to share in the conversation that emerges from this experiment.

Kendall Rileigh is a New York City-based aerial performer, choreographer, and actor who is most excited by the fusion of storytelling and aerial acrobatics. A former competitive gymnast, she graduated summa cum laude from Duke University, continued acting and movement work with the Moscow Art Theatre, and trained aerial and acrobatics at Circus Warehouse. She was a LabWorks artist at the New Victory Theater in NYC, and in 2011 she co-founded Only Child Aerial Theatre, which produced ASYLUM (Circus Now), Story Hour, UPROAR, and other productions of heightened, acrobatic storytelling.

Her acting work includes the Broadway tour of one-woman show Golda’s Balcony (performed as understudy), other national tours and off-Broadway productions, and the TV show 30 Rock. Her aerial director and aerial choreography / performance credits include Yonder Window’s The Dream Project (Mexico and NYC); Hetty Feather (Delaware Theatre Company); ASYLUM (Skirball Center NYC); BAUBO (Neo-Political Cowgirls); Story Hour (The Muse); Trenches; and Mystery Ballet Theater 3000 (Constellation Moving Company).
www.kendallrileigh.com