Ralph Escamillan (Kiki Legend Posh Gvasalia Basquiat)
Choreographer & Performer

Ralph Escamillan is a queer, Canadian-Filipinx performance artist, choreographer and teacher based in Vancouver, BC. His work questions notions of identity, tradition and clothing, and the influence of pop culture in a globalising world. As the artistic director of FakeKnot, he develops collaborative performance works that have been presented both nationally and internationally. Having ancestral roots in the Philippines, he’s fascinated by inquiries into what it means to be North American, especially within the context of cultural traditions, dance, music and costume in an increasingly interconnected global community. The exploration of how culture is created through the accumulation of ideas and concepts is at the center of his work. He has found the body to be a powerful vessel through which these ideas can be investigated—incorporating music, costume and new media design. Ralph was recently awarded the Inaugural Miriam Adams Bursary fund at the DCD Hall Of Fame in October 2022 in Toronto, as well as the Inaugural RBC Emerging Artist Award at the 2023 Governor General Performing Arts Awards in Ottawa.

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.