However, he began to realise the cultural significance of dance for Aboriginal Australians, including men.
[3] When he was 13, Riley's family moved to Canberra when his father got a job at Queanbeyan South Public School.
His father met and introduced Riley to Elizabeth Cameron Dalman, who recommended the new youth dance studio Quantum Leap[3] (now QL2[4]).
He got the idea that he wanted to do this work after seeing an exhibition of his photographs at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, while on tour with Bangarra in 2007.
During this time, he choreographed shows for the Third Row Dance Company, a student-led group at the University of Roehampton in south London.
[6][7] In June 2021, Riley was appointed as artistic director of Australian Dance Theatre (ADT), Australia's oldest contemporary dance company,[7] based at the Odeon Theatre in Kaurna country in the eastern Adelaide suburb of Norwood.
[2] In September 2022 Riley presented his first major work, at the Dunstan Playhouse in the Adelaide Festival Centre, called SAVAGE.
[5] In 2021 he choreographed a piece called WAX, one of three in Atlas | gadhaba kurrawan - weaving and bringing together at the university, performed in November 2021.
[5] He also has film credits:[5] performing in the music video of Dan Sultan's 2014 song "Under Your Skin",[11] and for Bangarra's Spear (2015), in which he acted and worked as director's attachment.
[12] As of September 2024[update] Riley is on the board of Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute.