Charles “Lil Buck” Riley is a world-renowned and award-winning performing artist, entrepreneur, and advocate for the arts and humanities. Lil Buck’s dance repertoire includes a multitude of styles including Memphis Jookin’, ballet, hip-hop, and modern, just to name a few.
Over the course of his career, he has performed and collaborated with some of the world’s finest artists and brands including Yo-Yo Ma, Madonna, Alicia Keys, Janelle Monáe, Lizzo, Nike, Chanel, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Apple, Jordan, Lexus, Gap, and many others.
Outside of dance, Lil Buck is a true creative and has provided a unique skill-set to top-notch projects which include being a choreographer on the Starz TV series Blindspotting, Season 1 and 2, a guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance, and roles in both the movie Emperor and the feature film Her. Lil Buck designed a capsule collection for Versace and provided artistic consultation to many brands over his lengthy career. Recently, Lil Buck’s story and creative process were captured in the documentary Lil Buck: Real Swan which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and in the Netflix documentary series, MOVE.
Lil Buck has always had an entrepreneurial spirit. In 2014, Lil Buck was presented with the Wall Street Journal’s Innovator of the Year award. His strong business acumen is ever present in the many projects that he is involved in outside of dance which include ventures related to food and beverage, brand management, fashion and production.
Currently, Lil Buck is personally producing multiple major stage shows which culminate the essence of dance as a tool to change the world. One of his newest productions in development transforms Lil Buck back to his home-town roots. Entitled Memphis Jookin’: The Show, this awe inspiring production brings Lil Buck’s career full circle.
As an Emmy-nominated director, movement artist, and choreographer, Jon Boogz seeks to share with audiences of all backgrounds an appreciation of the melding of art forms while inspiring and bringing awareness to social issues.
He most recently co-directed, choreographed and was featured in Louis Vuitton’s tribute to designer Virgil Abloh. Other directing projects include the Emmy-nominated Where I’m From, part of the NFL’s Inspire Change Campaign; and the Banana Republic’s campaign No Boundaries, celebrating people, style and community through the lens of black artists and visionaries, which Boogz co-directed, choreographed, and was featured in.
First motivated to dance by the work of Michael Jackson, he has choreographed for icons including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Naomi Campbell, Gloria Estefan, and for Pharrell’s Adidas Originals campaign. He creative directed, choreographed and performed in Adidas Standing Rock campaign at ComplexCon; and has directed and choreographed campaigns for Louis Vuitton, Banana Republic, NFL, Apple and Lexus.
Boogz’s collaborators include TriBeCa Film Festival, Dom Perignon, Terrence Malick, TEDx, Lil Buck, and Flying Lotus; and his choreography has been used in Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance; Cirque du Soleil’s MJ ONE; and he was featured at the Geffen Playhouse’s Backstage at the Geffen with his dance company Control Freakz, Lil Buck, and spoken word artist Robin Sanders to honor Morgan Freeman and Jeff Skoll.
His choreography was recently featured in all eight episodes of the Lionsgate/Starz 2021 hit TV series Blindpsotting, created by Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, which has been renewed for a second season.
As a pioneer of street dance, Netflix featured him in the documentary series Move, exploring his journey as a creative, how he’s championed the art form of street dance and changed audiences’ perception of the stories this medium can tell.
Boogz is currently in the process of developing a commercial theater show for the Broadway stage with Hamilton producers The Public Theater; developing a first of its kind action-adventure dance series and a dance feature film, both with Serial Pictures and Anonymous Content; and a biopic feature with A24.