Riley Skworoda
Riley Skworoda is an accomplished international performer, dynamic and innovative dance educator and highly respected, original choreographer with many awards to her credit. She is based in Alberta, Canada, having attained a Bachelor of Arts recreation sports and tourism degree from the University of Alberta, with a focus in dance and drama. Dancing and teaching from a young age, she also endured the rigours of completing AG tap exams as well as becoming a fully certified and qualified ADAPT dance educator. Although a well respected, successful teacher and choreographer in many disciplines, including; contemporary, lyrical, and jazz, but her true passion and focus is Tap.
With a voracious appetite for travel and for training with today’s biggest names in the tap dance community, Riley travelled to NY City in 2013 to attend the Big Apple Tap festival, soloing to great accolades in the BATF Showcase. During the summer of 2013 Riley travelled to the Rhythm Summit by Tapmotif in Lefkada, Greece, to train intensively with Heather Cornell, Max Pollak and Thanos Daskalopoulos, which sparked a passion for working with live musicians.
Riley set her sights on the international tap dance scene, applying to and accepted into the Escola Luthier advanced professional tap training program under the direction of Guillem Alonso in Barcelona, Spain, where she spent 9 months living, training and performing. Although a North American art form, Riley discovered a dedicated European tap dance community. During her time in Spain she was also most honored to receive training from and be mentored by the internationally renowned tap innovator, Roxane Butterfly, at Roxane’s Jimmy Slyde institute in Barcelona. As a fully fledged member of the Barcelona Tap family, Riley was thrilled to be a part of the year round gazebo Sunday tap jams in the stunning Ciutadella Park, a weekly event which delights locals and tourists alike.
While living in Europe, Riley preformed as part of an ensemble throughout Spain at many events, as well as appearing as guest performers at the Montpellier Tap Festival in France. She attended the 12 day Stockholm Tap festival in Sweden, Europe’s biggest tap festival, where she completed a performance residency with Jason Samuel Smith as well as a teacher’s choice residency with Joseph Wiggan. Most recently Riley attended Nicholas Young’s Institute for The Rhythmic Arts in Chicago, Illinois, where she studied in not only tap dance but also rudimentary drumming, hand percussion, and body percussion.
As her adventure continues, Riley is eager to stop along the way to share her passion and to inspire and be inspired by budding tap talent as they too become members of the global tap family.
Why You Should Be Tap Dancing:
- Improve your musicality. Understanding rhythm and groove is extremely imporant to all styles of dance.
- Become a well rounded dancer.
- Gain coordination.
- Work on memorization and picking up new steps quickly.
- Take on an exciting challenge