Lil Buck Goes to Princeton

Art of Life — Produced by Karen Smyles

In January, Memphis Jookin’ dancer Charles “Lil Buck” Riley, the current Artist in Residence at the Aspen Institute Arts Program, and Damian Woetzel, former New York City Ballet dancer and the Arts Program’s director, came to Princeton University to give a master class and lecture to students. Lil Buck has made Memphis Jookin’, once just a popular street dance among young people, into a cultural treasure.

Woetzel and his wife, Heather Watts, former New York City ballerina, discovered Riley’s talents on a web video and formed a creative partnership that has introduced Jookin’ to audiences around the world. Art of Life takes you into the master class and talks to the two dancers to find out why this creative collaboration of dance styles has been so enormously successful.