BIOGRAPHY
My name is Helen Reilly, but I model and perform under the stage names Apocalyptic Royalty and Chimera. I am a dancer and beginner contortionist with a newfound passion for circus arts, and a long time love of performance and somatic art. I have been modeling (figure, boudoir, and fashion) for approximately eight years. I have been dancing for a decade. My background is in yoga, contemporary dance, Odissi, and cabaret-style bellydance, which all in turn led me to pursue contortion starting in 2021.
I began my movement arts journey when I was fourteen and started taking yoga and bellydance. I became more seriously invested in yoga when I was sixteen, and spent nine months training to become a teacher and refining my skills while I completed high school. When I was seventeen I began attending Evergreen State College where I took courses in Odissi dance, health studies, biology and performance art to deepen my knowledge of the body. I joined a dance collective which hosted weekly classes in contemporary dance, and resulted in me taking part in a cumulative performance in the spring of 2014. From 2016-2019 I took some time off from dance to pursue a biochemistry degree and begin my career in the sciences, however my passion for dance never diminished. In 2020 I moved from the Seattle area to San Francisco, where I found myself surrounded by a community of incredible circus performers, rekindling my interest in performance art. In February 2022 I decided to pursue a three-month contortion residency in Mexico with my current teacher, Ash Rexford, which concluded with a contortion choreography crafted by myself for both a live and virtual audience. Since then I have made the decision to further aspire to become a professional movement artist.
I will soon be opening up my books for both performance and modeling. Please see my contact page if you would like to collaborate, hire or just to say hi!