BWDC Master Class with Ralph Escamillan 

News

GWDC has once again partnered with the Brian Webb Dance Company to provide an opportunity for local dance practitioners to learn from artists featured in BWDC’s 2019/20 season.

The first Master Class of the season will be with Ralph Escamillan (Vancouver).

October 10 @ 10-11:30am
October 11 @ 10-11:30am

in the Muriel Taylor Studio
at the Ruth Carse Centre for Dance
11205 107 Ave NW

Master classes are open to all levels.
$25 Regular
$20 CADA Members
Class cards cannot be used at Master Classes.

Ralph Escamillan is a queer, Canadian-Filipinx performance artist/choreographer/teacher and community leader based in Vancouver, BC. His arsenal of performance skills include a variety of street dance styles, ballroom, contemporary, circus, and drag. He graduated after 4 years in Modus Operandi, Vancouver’s contemporary dance training program, in 2015. He’s apprenticed with Kidd Pivot and worked with Vancouver companies: Company 605, Co.Erasga Dance, Kinesis Dance Somatheatro, Out Innerspace Theatre and is currently on contract with Wen Wei Dance. In the commercial industry, hes worked with choreographers including AJ Aakomon, Luther Brown, Paul Becker and Tucker Barkely, as well as artists Victoria Duffield and Zendaya Coleman, and was a guest dancer for Janet Jackson’s “Unbreakable” tour in 2015. With his company FAKEKNOT he creates work that strives to understand the complexities of identity using sound, costume and technology. The founder of VanVogueJam, Ralph shares his passion for Vogue/Ballroom culture at his weekly by-donation class and vogue balls, acting as a beacon for the queer dance form in Western Canada.

Drawing from my experiences as street, commercial, and contemporary dancer, this class is a full exploration of movement and the dynamics of the body. Working with the plethora of pathways and weights of the body, we explore the nuances and explosively movement to foster both play and control. To begin, we awaken our bodies’ special awareness with improvisation, followed by patterns across the floor inspired by traditional contemporary/ modern technique and street dance technique. As the class progresses, we move onto group, partner, and improvisation tasks, finishing off with a small phrase.