Melissa Riker

Melissa Riker is Artistic Director / Choreographer of Kinesis Project dance theatre. She is an NYC dancer and choreographer who emerged as a strong creative voice in the NYC performance world in the late 00s. Riker is the Executive Producer of the EstroGenius Festival, Founder and Co-Director of Women in Motion and Founder, and Collective Member of Dance Rising. Riker’s dances and aesthetic layer her training in ballet, modern dance, martial arts, theatre, and circus. She invents large-scale out-door performances and spontaneous moments of dance for public spaces. “Melissa Riker explores ideas about how vulnerability exists both in people and structures; it comes to life within an immersive environment of movement and whispers.” -NYTimes. Melissa is thrilled to be back with NYCCT and part of lifting Dory Fantasmagory to the stage. She is grateful to the performers and all of NYCCT for their willingness to be big, brave, and fantasmagorical.