Bio Riley McCallum is a queer, interdisciplinary performance artist originally from rural Texas. He earned his BFA at the University of Louisiana and MFA at Texas Woman’s University. During his time as a student, he has presented and performed work for various concert series and at the American College Dance Association Conference. Outside of the collegiate setting, he has performed and trained with a variety of performance ensembles, such as Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps, Cypress Independent Winter Guard, the Kiki House of Moschino, Basin Arts Dance Collective, and Lafayette Ballet Theatre. Additionally, he has performed in musicals, films, ballets, and concert dances throughout his career. He has also produced performance events in partnership with local businesses in Louisiana and universities in Texas and Louisiana. He has a broad background of movement experiences, ranging from martial arts, musical theatre, and color guard to concert and street dance forms. In the final year of earning his BFA in Performing Arts from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, he was the artist in residence at the Acadiana Center for the Arts. At this time, he began exploring the integration of dance, technology, and immersive theatre. While earning his MFA at TWU in the dance program, starting in 2019, he furthered his research into immersive theatre by incorporating extended reality technology into his work with a focus on audience interactivity. As a member of the Kiki House of Moschino, Riley is an active member of the Ballroom Culture community. He has organized ballroom events such as workshops, classes, and balls throughout the Dallas and Acadiana area. In the scene, he is known for walking Old Way Vogue and Butch Queen Vogue Fem. The Kiki House of Moschino is known for its community involvement, often partnering with community organizations such as voting initiative groups, universities, and community resource centers throughout Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Artist Statement Movement is how I understand the world, and my world is made up of the communities I live with. Movement is my language and commerce of choice. Dancemaking, for me, is a conversation with the community I am sharing it with. The movement language of each community is unique, valued, and intricate. I am a polyglot of movement languages. I can speak in the language of academia when I share dance on a university stage, change to flag on a football field when spinning with a color guard, and speak the language of cunt when I Vogue the house down at the Kiki. Learning the nuance of each is my greatest challenge and my greatest joy. I pay for my time in this world with my spins, tricks, and teaching. Pulling from all of my experiences across my communities, I have a steady supply to meet demand. With my earnings, I continue the traditions and culture of my communities. My dancemaking has its form and functions thanks to the amalgamation of cultures that make up who and what I am. A mix of musical theatre camp, balletic grace, Latin heat, the power of martial arts, dexterity from color guard, and personality from Ballroom Culture are a few of the contributions given to me by my cultural experiences. With these parts, I make dance that speaks many languages. Language is about connecting and understanding, and that is what my dancemaking is all about. Creating connections between ideas across cultures in a language that my audience can understand, whether they are in a seat in the theatre or next to me on the dance floor.