Elusivity, WCD's Emerging Artist Initiative
Happiness: something that appears to be easily reached, but is notoriously slippery to hold on to. Is it a state one can “live in”, a fleeting experience, or all smoke and mirrors? Audiences can expect laughter, energy and athleticism! The future is bright as WCD showcases up and coming local talent!
More info about works and artists to be announced soon!
WCD’s Emerging Artist Initiative is in partnership with the School of Contemporary Dancers.
ELUSIVITY:
Choreography:
Jolene Bailie
Additional Rehearsal Director:
Julious Gambalan
Lighting:
Jolene Bailie and Zambia Pankratz
Original Sound for "Feedback":
Susan Chafe
Stage Manager:
Willow Harvey
Dancers:
Sienna Denys-Peters, Lee Frketich, Zeus Gonzales, Thomas Oberlin, Emma Petit, Sontje Skabo, Chan Le Yenn (Claire)
Photo (above):
Leif Norman
Jolene Bailie
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Jolene Bailie
Choreographer
Photo: Kristen Sawatsky
Zambia Pankratz
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Zambia Pankratz
Lighting
Photo: Ryan Boyes
Julious Gambalan
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Julious Gambalan
Additional Rehearsal Director
Photo: Mark Dela Cruz
Susan Chafe
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Susan Chafe
Original Sound for Feedback
Photo: Leif Norman
Willow Harvey
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Willow Harvey
Stage Manager
Photo: Brady Corps
Sienna Denys-Peters
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Sienna Denys-Peters
Dancer
Photo: Ross Jordan
Lee Frketich
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Lee Frketich
Dancer
Photo: Joanna Frketich
Zeus Gonzales
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Zeus Gonzales
Dancer
Photo: Photo Xena Gonzales
Thomas Oberlin
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Thomas Oberlin
Dancer
Photo: Natalie Sluis
Emma Petit
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Emma Petit
Dancer
Photo: Ross Jordan
Sontje Skabo
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Sontje Skabo
Dancer
Phohto: Sontje Skabo
Chan Le Yenn (Claire)
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Chan Le Yenn (Claire)
Dancer
Photo: Camryn Spyksma
Croquis by Ralph Escamillan
We open the subscription series introducing award-winning artist, Ralph Escamillan! Escamillan will work with WCD dancers to create a brand-new expansion of his acclaimed work, Croquis!
Croquis, originally created through Escamillian’s dance company, FakeKnot, is performed in a garment constructed entirely out of paper and dissects one’s desire to imprint and archive themselves into physical space. Inspired by Escamillan’s memories, fascination with fashion, and appreciation for constructing materials by hand, Croquis comes to WCD after acclaimed performances in Revelstoke, Vancouver, Saskatoon, Prince Edward County and Guelph!
More info to be announced soon!
Artist Talk to follow Sunday matinee
Croquis:
Choreographer:
Ralph Escamillan
Lighting Design & Stage Management:
Anika Binding
Costume Assistant:
Aldeneil Española Jr
Dancers:
Carol-Ann Bohrn, Reymark Capacete, Ralph Escamillan, Julious Gambalan, Zeus Gonzales (understudy)
Artist Talk Moderator:
Aria Evans
Photo (above):
David Cooper
Ralph Escamillan
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Ralph Escamillan
Choreographer, Performer
Ralph Escamillan is an award winning queer, Canadian-Filipinx performance artist, teacher and community leader based on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh Nations – on so called 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 had the pleasure of working and touring with Company 605, Co. Erasga Dance, Kinesis Dance Somatheatro, Out Innerspace Theatre, Wen Wei Dance, Mascall Dance, apprenticed with Kidd Pivot in (2014) and was a guest dancer with Ballet BC (2020).
As the artistic director of FakeKnot, he develops collaborative performance works that have been presented both nationally and internationally – with a current focus on textile and clothing as choreographic narrative. Drawing from Ralph’s multiplicity of dance cultures and his identity as a second-generation Philippine-Canadian, his work hopes to remember the bridges woven between cultures and communities, while also knotting new ones with care. 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, embodied and proliferated.
Under the Ballroom alias “Posh Gvasalia Basquiat” has been in the Ballroom Scene since 2014, founding his own Kiki House of Gvasalia in Vancouver + now Legend in Kiki Scene after his deaming in 2024, and is the Canadian Mother of the Mainstream House of Basquiat since 2024. The founder and Artistic/Executive Director of the non-profit organization VanVogueJam, Ralph shares his passion for Vogue/Ballroom culture at his weekly pay-what-you-can classes and vogue balls, acting as a beacon for the queer dance/culture in Western Canada.
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.
Full-length works created through FakeKnot include HINKYPUNK (2018), whip (2021), BLUSCRN (2022) and PIÑA (2023), Croquis (2024). His upcoming full length work, based on his 10 years in the Ballroom Scene, MY HOUSE is slated to premiere in 2026.
Photo: Simone Chnarakis
Anika Binding
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Anika Binding
Lighting & Stage Management
Photo: Anika Binding
Aldeneil Española Jr
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Aldeneil Española Jr
Costume Assistant
Aldeneil Española Jr. is a queer, first-generation Filipinx-Canadian multidisciplinary artist living and creating on Treaty 6 Territory, Saskatoon. Their practice investigates themes of memory, queerness, and third culture identity through painting, printmaking, wearable art, performance,
and community-based projects.
Española’s work is deeply rooted in storytelling and transformation. Childhood rituals of “bakla-baklaan” (queer street pageantry) inform their exploration of play, spectacle, and resilience. Clothing and textiles often serve as central motifs, not only as tools for self-presentation but also as vessels of memory and cultural continuity. Using narrative driven installations, Española reimagines materials as carriers of lived experience and community archives.
Their projects extend into collective practice, curating and facilitating spaces for dialogue and queer expression. Española has collaborated with Remai Modern, Nuit Blanche YXE, Dance Saskatchewan, The 525, and is currently facilitating Saskatchewan Ballroom’s ongoing
educational workshops and gatherings, where they continue to build opportunities for queer visibility, safe spaces and belonging.
Currently in development is Paraluman, an exploration of the queer Filipino identity called Bakla through makeup, costume, performance and installations. These developing works pose the Bakla as a muse worthy of reverence, intertwining personal narrative, cultural memory, and the
politics of care.
Carol-Ann Bohrn
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Carol-Ann Bohrn
Dancer
Photo: Susanne Middelberg
Reymark Capacete
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Reymark Capacete
Dancer
Photo: Jordan Nepon
Julious Gambalan
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Julious Gambalan
Dancer
Photo: Mark Dela Cruz
Zeus Gonzales
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Zeus Gonzales
Dancer (understudy)
Photo: Photo Xena Gonzales
Aria Evans
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Aria Evans
Artist Talk Moderator
Photo: Liliana Reyes
MÆ – Motion Aftereffect by Freya Olafson
MÆ – Motion Aftereffect, an award-winning work by local artist, Freya Olafson.
Delving into the impact of technology on our perceptions of the body and reality – the work explores the impact of virtual reality, pornography, video games, psychedelic drugs and more, to create a hybrid, intermedia performance that addresses the perceptual and embodied implications of technologies associated with XR – Extended Reality. This relevant and local work comes to WCD after successful tours to Ottawa and Montreal!
More details about creative team to be announced soon!
Artist Talk to follow Sunday matinee
MÆ – Motion Aftereffect:
Creation + Performance + Video:
Freya Björg Olafson
Co-presence:
TBC
Sound Design:
Emma Hendrix
Lighting Design:
Hugh Conacher
VR Motion Capture & Environment:
Freya Björg Olafson
Artistic Consultant:
Tedd Robinson
Wardrobe:
Wanda Farian
Stage Manager:
Willow Harvey
Photo (above):
Josh Dookhie
Freya Björg Olafson
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Freya Björg Olafson
Creation + Performance + Video
Freya Björg Olafson is an intermedia artist whose practice spans video, audio, animation, motion capture, XR, painting, and performance. Her work explores identity and the body, shaped by the influence of technology and the Internet. Olafson’s work has been presented and exhibited internationally at venues such as the Bauhaus Archiv (Berlin), SECCA – SouthEastern Center for Contemporary Art (North Carolina), Ochoymedio (Ecuador), The National Arts Center / Canada Dance Festival (Ottawa), and LUDWIG museum (Budapest). Their video work has screened in festivals and galleries internationally, and is distributed by Video Pool Media Arts Centre. A frequent collaborator; Olafson has worked with Will Pappenheimer, Praba Pilar, Wanda Koop, Sarah Anne Johnson, Noam Gonick, Grant Guy, and Mark Neufeld, among others.
Olafson has benefitted from residencies, most notably through EMPAC – Experimental Media & Performing Arts Center (New York), Oboro (Montréal) and Atlantic Center for the Arts (Florida). Olafson has been commissioned to create new work by Counterpulse in San Francisco (2017), Jazz Winnipeg (2021), Pix Film / Artificial Museum (2023), as well as Dancemakers / Fado Performance Art Center (2024). In 2021, Olafson’s solo performance ‘AVATAR’ (premiered in 2009) was published as a score / script for Playwrights Canada Press’ anthology on digital theatre. Olafson has written a short chapter about virtual animation and motion capture techniques in her work ‘MÆ-Motion Aftereffect’ for the Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Animation Studies to be published in late 2025.
Olafson’s commitment to lifelong learning and interdisciplinary thinking led to work as Assistant Professor in Screendance within the Department of Dance at York University in Toronto (2017 – 2021). This work continues at the University of Manitoba’s School of Art where Olafson is an Assistant Professor in Digital Media (2021-ongoing). Olafson holds an MFA in New Media from the Transart Institute / Donau Universität (Austria), a BA Honors in Dance from School of Contemporary Dancers / University of Winnipeg this work compliments her six years of training in the Professional Division of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, one year in the School of Art BFA program at University of Manitoba, and three summer training programs with Springboard Danse Montréal. Olafson maintains ongoing professional development; most recently attending the Choreographic Coding Lab in Chatham, UK which was facilitated by Marlon Barrios-Solanos, Motion Bank, and A&E Lab in April 2025. Olafson has sought the opportunity to learn from senior artists such as Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Charles Atlas, Coco Fusco, Shawna Dempsey / Lorri Millan, and Tedd Robinson.
A recipient of numerous grants and awards, highlights include the OFFTA Prize in 2025, Sobey Art Award / National Gallery of Canada longlist in 2020, Lumen Prize for Art & Technology longlist in 2021, York University Research Award (2021) and the Buddies In Bad Times Vanguard Award / Summerworks Theatre Festival in 2010. Additionally, In 2017 Olafson’s work ‘CPA [Consistent Partial Attention]’ was selected to represent as part of Team Canada at Les Jeux De La Francophonie in Ivory Coast. From 2006 – 2018, Olafson was a member of the curatorial committee for the núna (now) festival and served as president from 2010 onward, in this role she oversaw and facilitated projects in dance, theatre, visual, and public art. Olafson was a board member for Video Pool Media Arts Center (2012 to 2022), FADO Performance Art Center (2019 – 2023) and a member of the executive committee for Sensorium: Centre for Digital Art and Technology at York University from 2019-2021. Additionally, she serves(ed) as research collaborator for two SSHRC funded initiatives the Canadian Consortium for Performance and Politics in the Americas (2013 – 2019) as well as the current Hemispheric Encounters: Developing Transborder Research-Creation Practices (2021-ongoing). www.freyaolafson.com
Photo: Courtesy of York University
Emma Hendrix
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Emma Hendrix
Sound Design
photo: Unknown
Hugh Conacher
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Hugh Conacher
Lighting Design
Photo: leif Norman
Wanda Farian
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Wanda Farian
Wardrobe
Photo: Wanda Farian
Wllow Harvey
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Wllow Harvey
Stage Manager
Photo: Brady Corps
Accumulation by Jolene Bailie
Accumulation, a new work by WCD’s Artistic Director, Jolene Bailie, showcasing an all-Winnipeg team! Featuring an ensemble of spectacular dancers – several of whom have danced with WCD since Bailie was appointed Artistic Director!
Known for highly physical and complex work, Bailie creates experimental works that are visual, abstract, and reflective. Always athletic, Bailie has presented new creations for Winnipeg audiences annually for over 20 years! This new work delves into the impact of accumulation, and how accumulation impacts our perceptions and desire.
More info, more artists, and more dancers to be announced soon!
Artist Talk to follow Sunday matinee
Accumulation:
Choreographer:
Jolene Bailie
Lighting Design:
Hugh Conacher
Original Sound:
Emma Hendrix
Stage Manager:
Willow Harvey
Dancers:
Carol-Ann Bohrn, Reymark Capacete, Julious Gambalan, Margaux Labossière
Photo (above):
Leif Norman
Jolene Bailie
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Jolene Bailie
Choreographer
Photo: Kristen Sawatsky
Hugh Conacher
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Hugh Conacher
Lighting Design
Photo: Leif Norman
Emma Hendrix
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Emma Hendrix
Original Sound
Photo: Unknown
Willow Harvey
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Willow Harvey
Stage Manager
Photo: Brady Corps
Carol-Ann Bohrn
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Carol-Ann Bohrn
Dancer
Photo: Susanne Middelberg
Reymark Capacete
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Reymark Capacete
Dancer
Photo: Jordan Nepon
Julious Gambalan
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Julious Gambalan
Dancer
Photo: Mark Dela Cruz
Margaux Labossière
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Margaux Labossière
Dancer
Photo: Jonathan Froese