In-Class Lecture | Riley Watts

Thursday, September 3, 2026, 3 - 4:30pm

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Image: Riley Watts Courtesy of Ben Clay.

Image: Riley Watts Courtesy of Ben Clay.

The lecture is part of Brad Samuels, Julian Palacio, Samuel Anderson, Pamela Cabrera, Hannah Kassem and Guido Zuliani’s ARCH 131A Design III Course. 

 

Riley Watts is a dance artist, educator, and Director of Concert Dance at the CLI Conservatory in Southampton, Massachusetts where he specializes in teaching Ballet and Improvisation. Since 2010, Riley has worked with choreographer William Forsythe, performing his ballets in theaters, festivals, and museums worldwide, and more recently staging “Duo (Extended)” for the Venice Biennale and The Juilliard School as a resident faculty artist. In addition to teaching Improvisation masterclasses across the USA, Europe, Asia, and Australia, Riley has danced professionally with The Forsythe Company, Netherlands Dance Theater 2, Bern Ballet, and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, and performed in visual art spaces including LACMA, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Venice Architecture Biennale in collaboration with Brooklyn based architectural firm So-il. Riley is a Positano Prize and Princess Grace Award recipient. 

 

For zoom attendance, please register here. 

 

The in-person lecture is open to current Cooper Union students, faculty, and staff only. The virtual Zoom lecture is open to the public, registration is required.

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