Various Works By FakeKnot

Feature image. Still image from Whip (premiering Fall 2021)

Image Description: Two figures dressed in white are spotlighted on a black stage. They are leaned all the way back so they are “walking” on both their hands and feet with their bodies arched. The featured image above is a still from a video taken of ‘whip’, which is premiering this fall (2021) in Montreal. The videos shared in the Past Echoes in the Present exhibition showcase not only ‘whip’ but also a multitude of works by FakeKnot: HINKYPUNK (2018), BLUSCRN: BLUrm (2019) (images from each of these are also featured below).

Video description: Various works: HINKYPUNK (2018), whip (Premiering Fall 2021), BLUSCRN: BLUrm (2019). Video Transcript PDF

FakeKnot

FakeKnot creates inclusive performance works that strive to understand the complexities of identity and culture through costume, sound, technology and the body. Artistic director Ralph Escamillan gathers his breath of experience as a dancer in street, commercial and contemporary dance to create a truly unique choreographic perspective, while also questioning his identity as a queer person of color.

Artist Statement

My name is Ralph Escamillan – dancer, choreographer and community leader – Canadian born, Queer, Filipino/a/x diasporic creator based in Vancouver, BC. The work I create questions my fascination with identity, traditions, clothing and the influence of pop culture in a globalising society. My experience has lent me the opportunity to see the discrepancy of privilege in society, and hope to shift this narrative through my work. I believe the body is powerful and important in communicating these ideas, and we should support the body’s autonomy/agency, political values, and ancestral legacy. My goals now are to create more spaces to foster artists like myself, to speak about stories that can connect to people like myself, so that I am not speaking by myself anymore.

  • HINKYPUNK (2018)
  • Faux Solo (2016)
  • BLUSCRN (2019)
Image descriptions from left to right – Left image: Two figures stand close together facing the camera, the one on the left and slightly forward is in a dark blue button up shirt his hands touching his stomach and shoulder, the other is in a dark blue hoodie and standing behind, one hand in his pocket and the other touching its fingers to the top of the other person’s head. Their heads and hands are covered in blue glittery material. They are in front of a glittery blue backdrop. Middle image: A Filipino man in a stylish dark grey jacket and light brown pants stands in front of a white wall with his arms backand with his head tilted downward and his eyes closed. Right image: A figure clad from head to toe in a blue spandex is prone with one arm stretched forward and one back, with his legs raised (almost as if swimming). He is on a blue sheet on the floor in front of a crowd of people in a well-lit, white room. You can see the lights on the ceiling and a television on a stand in the background.
Artist website
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CMHC Granville Island Exhibition (May 24th – 31st)

Image Descriptions: From left to right – Left image: A photo of FakeKnot’s installed piece taken at an angle, from the left. FakeKnot’s video piece is showing on a screen situated behind a grided window of a storefront. A QR code and white text reading “FakeKnot” and under it, “Works by FakeKnot” are decaled on the windows to the left of the screen. Another QR code is decaled to the right of the screen.
Middle image: A photo of FakeKnot’s installed piece taken from the front.
Right image: A photo of FakeKnot’s installed piece taken from the right.

Exhibition Access, Site Maps, and Audio Tours

Visit our accessibility page for information on how to access CMHC Granville Island and our on-site exhibition. Video tours are available in spoke English with English captions and subtitle files in: Tagalog, Hindi, Simplified Chinese, and Punjabi. Audio tours are available in English, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Tagalog.

Take a Tour of the Exhibition

Various Works by FakeKnot Credits:

HINKYPUNK (2018)
HINKYPUNK is a 50 minute dance work based on the notion of how identity is conflated with iconography and pop culture.

Choreographer/Dancer: Ralph Escamillan

New Media Projection & Lights:

Chimerik 似不像

Sammy Chien – New Media Artist

Andie Lloyd – Assistant Designer, production assistant and operator for lights, sound and video.

Composer/ Sound design: Stefan Seslija

Dramaturge: Justine Chambers

Costumes: Sonja Maus

Set Design: Peter Boulanger

Interpretive Contributors: Kevin Fraser, Rachel Meyer, Sara Formosa, Ted Littlemore, Cassandra Naud

Voice Actor: Kirk Wilson

Music Credits:
Shirley Scott “Corcovado”
Elvis Presley “Devil In Disguise”
Marilyn Monroe “I wanna be loved by you”
Frank Sinatra “I’ve got you under my skin”
Michael Jackson “Don’t stop til you get enough”

FUNDING: Co-Produced by Push Festival (2018) and funded by the Canada Council for the Arts.

RESIDENCIES: 

BOCA DEL LUPO, KARMA TEACHERS, PLASTIC ORCHID FACTORY and RSPACE

PREMIERED AT CLUB PUSH JANUARY 26TH, 2018

whip (2021)

PREMIERING 2021 AT THE MAI (MTL)

‘whip’ is a 60 minute duet performed entirely in leather hoods, leaving performers blind for the duration of the performance. Inspired by the virtuosic head-whip motion found in a multitude of dance forms, the duality of the leather being both soft/hard are revealed through the work. Bodies explore images of consent through a range of physical touch, with the support of interactive new media light and originally composed sound design.

Artistic Direction/Choreography – Ralph Escamillan (FakeKnot)

Dancers – Daria Mikhaylyuk, Ralph Escamillan

Leather Hoods – Five Left Leather (Lincoln Heller)

Costumes – Robyn J. Laxamana

Sound – Stefan Nazarevich

Original New Media/Lighting by Chimerik 似不像 Collective

Motion Tracking System & New Media Design – Sammy Chien

Lighting Design Advisor/Mentor – Jonathan Kim

Lighting co-designer/operator and New Media assistant designer – Andie Lloyd

Dramaturge –  Su-Feh Lee and Josh Martin

Fabric Sponsor – Lululemon 

Photos – Marchel B. Eang

Video – David Cooper 

Trailer Edit – Daria Mikhaylyuk

RESIDENCIES:
Vancouver – 45 West, KW Studios, BLOOM (Mascall Dance), The Dance Centre “Dance Lab”

SUPPORT:
Montréal, Arts Interculturels – MAI (Co-Producer)
Canada Council for the Arts “Concept to Realization”
National Arts Center

BLUrm (2020)

Co-Created by Ralph Escamillan (FakeKnot) and Milton Lim

Directed/Produced/Choreographed Ralph Escamillan (FakeKnot)

Director of Photography David Cooper  

New Media Milton Lim

Sound Design Stefan Seslija 

Assistant Daria Mikhaylyuk

Performers Daria Mikhaylyuk, Elya Grant, Ralph Escamillan

Costume Linda Chow

FUNDING: 
Canada Council for the Arts – Digital Original 2020 
Premiered at the Festival Of Recorded Movement 2020

Music 
Nat King Cole “When Sunny Gets Blue”
Billie Holiday “Blue Moon” 
Elvis Presley “Blue Christmas”
Don Davis “The Matrix Reloaded”
Ray Charles “Am I Blue” 
Marty Robbins “Love Is Blue”

Video 

British Pathé “Clounds (1950)” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gScVvWQSO0o or British Pathé “Shots of Clounds” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw1RqDHqTTY

Handy (Jam) Organization “Consuming Women (Women as Consumers)” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxS8kzD03-0

Shirley Temple “Oh ! My Goodness” Poor Little Rich Girl (1936) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW3vrbKZUUQ

1950s – CAMEL CIGARETTE commercial – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOSKtkWYexw 

Lucio Tucci cocktail 1950s – It’s Martini
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wqwx0p7tkiM

Funny Face (1957)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ_QkwexvYc

Mae West
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJS670okmZc

Le Voyage Dans la Lun (A Trip to the Moon) by Georges Méliès (1902)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNLZntSdyKE

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC1ikwQ5Zgc

“Our Boys Are Home” – American Soldiers Returning Home (WW2 Footage, New York) 1945
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYB4mo2JUz4

The Nicholas Brothers’ tap dance scene from the movie “Stormy Weather” (1943)
https://youtu.be/IoMbeDhG9fU

Miles Davis – So What
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqNTltOGh5c

Duke Ellington – Satin Doll
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrytKuC3Z_o&list=PLGDSZpUkfxjTtsHsrvEgIVT-xCJbAUXJK

Mommi Dearest, Dynasty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCCQwxEbkhk&list=RDOWkq2UOTdO0&index=4

30 Greatest WrestleMania Moments: WWE Top 10 Special Edition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHAHS27D-s8

Charlie’s Angels (through 2000 to 2003 films)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PROUSuvYKhM

Youtube: BEST EXPLOSION caught on tape Collection
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezmqd42xLyA

Clouds through a top floor window of Kalamazoo’s Masonic Temple.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi8hLldU0H8

50’s & 60’s Toy Gun Commercials
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8fU3_VMeL8

Opening (Trinity escapes) | The Matrix Reloaded
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnRM1nni51M

Am I Blue – Linda Ronstadt | Karaoke Version | KaraFun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9RXKQXXpe8