“I think people fall in love with it because it’s a joyous dance,” he says. It’s easy to pick up on Lil Buck’s own joy, whether he’s seemingly gliding on air in slow motion or simply speaking about what Jookin means to him as a form of expression.
Lil Buck, born Charles Riley, first learned of Jookin after watching his older sister dance in their Memphis living room when he was 11. He soon devoted all of his energy to developing his own dance style, strengthening his core moves through two years of classical ballet training. When he was 19, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue dance as a career, initially performing on the street to make ends meet.
Now, he’s bringing a new energy into today’s dance scene. I caught up with Lil Buck at the Aspen Ideas Festival last week in Colorado, where he and former New York City Ballet dancer Damian Woetzel led a conversation on arts education. Buck’s enthusiasm for movement is contagious, so it’s no wonder that his session ended with the entire audience breaking into dance. Just a few minutes into our interview, he already had me on my feet.