Photo by Michael Lindon

Croquis (2024)

Friday, May 31: 7:00 PM

Saturday, June 1 & Sunday, June 2: 12:00 PM

Exhibition Park, 81 London Rd W

Inclement Weather Location: Quebec St Mall, 55 Wyndham St N

ABOUT THE WORK

Croquis is a durational performance that explores the idea of a “croquis”—a quick, expressive sketch of a garment, often the first step towards bringing an idea into tangible reality. Within the context of this work, the pencil is the body and the paper a modular canvas—dissecting the desire to imprint and archive oneself into physical space. 

This solo pulls inspiration from Ralph Escamillan’s personal memories, his ongoing fascination with codes of fashion, and his appreciation for the act of crafting and constructing objects and materials by hand.

Central to this work is a garment constructed entirely out of paper. The physicality of this solo is entirely reactionary to this garment, inspired by the silhouette of the historic ball gown skirt, the duality of which has been synonymous with ideas of celebration, femininity and pomp, while also representing a type of confinement and mourning.

CHOREOGRAPHER & PERFORMER

Ralph Escamillan

SOUND DESIGNER

Stefan Seslija

COSTUME CONSULTANT

Jill Laxamana

ABOUT THE COMPANY

FakeKnot is the umbrella entity for collaborative performance works that play with the complexities of identity and culture through costume, sound, technology, and movement. FakeKnot is grounded in street, commercial, and contemporary dance techniques that honours the queer, POC, Philippine diasporic identity of Artistic Director, Ralph Escamillan. Collaboration as a practice of knowledge co-creation is essential for FakeKnot in the ways it can generatively bring differences together. The company is a non-profit and registered charity, and gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, and the City of Vancouver.

ABOUT THE CHOREOGRAPHER

RALPH ESCAMILLAN is a queer, Canadian-Filipinx performance artist, choreographer and teacher based in Vancouver, BC. Ralph started his training in street dance styles, and is a graduate of Modus Operandi—a Vancouver-based Contemporary Dance program. He has danced/toured/created with Vancouver-based companies, Film and TV as well as a beacon for the Vancouver Ballroom Scene since 2017, through his other nonprofit VanVogueJam. Ralph is the artistic director of FakeKnot.

ACKNOWLEDGEMTS

Croquis is produced by FakeKnot. FakeKnot gratefully acknowledges the support of the City of Vancouver. A special thanks to the Vancouver Art Gallery for their support during its creation.