Lil Buck

At 36 years old, Lil Buck physical status not available right now. We will update Lil Buck's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Charles "Lil Buck" Riley, born May 25, 1988) is an American dancer, singer, and model from Memphis, Tennessee, who specializes in a style of street dance called jookin.

Spike Jonze's cell phone became famous after director Spike Jonze recorded an interpretive version of "The Dying Swan" by Lil Buck and Yo-Yo Ma. Jonze posted the video on YouTube, and it had over three million views as of November 2015.

Early life

Lil Buck was born in Chicago and raised in Memphis. He discovered jookin dance moves in his living room when his older sister showed him some basic jookin dance moves. Since learning more about the dance from neighborhood mentors, he spent less time on his other hobbies, including drawing and basketball, so he could concentrate solely on improving his dancing. When he was 17, he appeared in Memphis Jookin Vol., a locally produced jookin DVD. 1.: 1.

Lil Buck studied ballet for two years at the New Ballet Ensemble (NBE) in Memphis, on scholarship. He accepted the scholarship under the understanding that he would not have to wear tights, but he eventually relented so that he could continue to work with the organization. Riley first performed "The Dying Swan" at NBE, an artistic partnership with his mentor Katie Smythe (CEO / Creative Director - NBE). She talked about the piece's history in West Memphis, Arkansas, on the way to a NBE school success.

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Personal life

Lil Buck is a vegan and has seven brothers and sisters. Despite the fact that he identifies himself with Memphis jookin', he is a fan of flexing's Brooklyn-based street dance style.

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Career

Lil Buck left Los Angeles when he was 19 to pursue a career in dance. 2 In 2010, he appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and co-choreographed the music video for Janelle Monáe's song "Tightrope" on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and co-choreographed the music video.

Damian Woetzel, the director and former ballet dancer, met Lil Buck and paired him with Yo-Yo Ma in "The Swan" performance on YouTube in 2011. In a New Ballet Ensemble (NBE) school performance in West Memphis, Arkansas, Woetzel heard about Lil Buck from his wife Heather Watts, who watched an old YouTube video clip of Lil Buck freestyle dancing to Camille Saint-Sains' Le cygne (The Swan). Katie Smythe, the NBE's director, introduced Buck to Saint-Sa's music and the possibility of applying jookin' to classical music. Watts demonstrated the clip to her husband Woetzel, who then showed the clip to Yo-Yo Ma. They all met with Katie Smythe (Lil Buck's ballet instructor) who facilitated the introduction via Facebook.

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Woetzel's work with Lil Buck continued after his appearance on "The Swan." Lil Buck was invited by Woetzel to be the artist in residence at the 2011 Valiant International Dance Festival. Lil Buck and Yo-Yo Ma were paired again for a Beijing appearance at the 2011 United States-China Forum on the Arts and Culture. Lil Buck was the first member of his family to leave the United States. His trip was chronicled in Lil Buck Goes to China, a short independent film. Ole Schell, the son of Orville Schell, an American journalist based in China who arranged the Beijing forum, was the film's producer. Lil Buck was photographed by Bruce Weber for an interview in the Spring 2011 issue of VMAN magazine.

Lil Buck performed for Madonna at her Super Bowl XLVI halftime show after winning the "Dance for Madonna Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange Competition" in addition to working with Woetzel and Yo-Yo Ma. He appeared on The MDNA Tour as one of 22 dancers. Dance Spirit magazine named him one of "The Most Influential People of 2011" based on all of his contributions during the year.

Lil Buck was named one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch" in 2012. In two NOWNESS videos, one of which was directed by ballet choreographer Benjamin Millepied, he participated in a national GAP ad and danced. Jacob Sutton, a filmmaker who made a longer version of Cinedans, a Dutch film festival that showcases films based on dance, was involved in the other video.

Lil Buck spent the majority of 2013 dancing in the Cirque du Soleil show Michael Jackson: One. In an 8-page spread in GQ magazine titled "How to Kick Your Jeans Habit," he modeled men's clothing. He has appeared on The Colbert Report and spoke at the Aspen Ideas Festival.

Lil Buck appeared with Yo-Yo Ma for the third time at an event directed by Woetzel and held at (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York City. For their efforts, he and his cousin Ron "Prime Tyme" Myles received a Bessie Award. Lil Buck appeared in the Spike Jonze film Her as a busker/dancer later this year.

Lil Buck appeared at the TEDxTeen conference in New York City in March 2014. He appeared in another Jacob Sutton dance film sponsored by Diesel in April, and he performed in the New York City Ballet's Spring premiere, choreographed by artist JR and scored by musician Woodkid. Lil Buck was a guest judge on season 11 of So You Think You Can Dance. In the opening credits for Spike Lee's 2014 film Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, he appeared in the first credits.

Lil Buck appeared in Versailles in May with dancers from Benjamin Millepied's ballet company. He went on tour with Madonna to promote her album Rebel Heart later in the year. Lil Buck appeared in a three-and-a-half minute rag & bone commercial with classical dance artist Mikhail Baryshnikov, extending his fascination with modern dance. He modeled for French jeans chain Kaporal and collaborated with Versace to produce a line of sneakers exclusive to internet and at Versace's New York City store. He appeared on the Wall Street Journal's "Innovators Issue" in November 2015 as a result of his contributions.

Lil Buck coproduced "Color of Reality" in 2016, a film addressing gun violence from dancer Jon Boogz and artist Alexa Meade. The video was compared to "...van Gogh," according to the New York Times, implying that one of his works could be brought to life as a performative protest.

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