SEASON

Elusivity, WCD's Emerging Artist Initiative

Thursday, October 23 1:30 pm
Friday, October 24 7:30 pm

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 "Happyland" and "All You Can Eat/The Top?":
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

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Zambia Pankratz

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Zambia Pankratz

Lighting

Photo: Rayan Boyes

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Julious Gambalan

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Julious Gambalan

Additional Rehearsal Director

Photo: Mark Dela Cruz

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Susan Chafe

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Susan Chafe

Original Sound for “Happyland” and “All You Can Eat/The Top?”

Photo: Leif Norman

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Willow Harvey

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Willow Harvey

Stage Manager

Photo: Brady Corps

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Sienna Denys-Peters

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Sienna Denys-Peters

Dancer

Photo: Ross Jordan

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Lee Frketich

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Lee Frketich

Dancer

Photo: Joanna Frketich

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Zeus Gonzales 

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Zeus Gonzales 

Dancer

Photo: Photo Xena Gonzales

 

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Thomas Oberlin

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Thomas Oberlin

Dancer

Photo: Natalie Sluis

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Emma Petit

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Emma Petit

Dancer

Photo: Ross Jordan

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Sontje Skabo

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Sontje Skabo

Dancer

Phohto: Sontje Skabo

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Chan Le Yenn (Claire)

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Chan Le Yenn (Claire)

Dancer

Photo: Camryn Spyksma

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Croquis by Ralph Escamillan

November 21-22 7:30pm
November 23 4:00pm

 

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, Julious Gambalan, Zeus Gonzales (understudy)

Artist Talk Moderator:
Aria Evans

Photo (above):
Simone Chnarakis

Choreographer

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Choreographer

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

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Lighting Designer & Stage Manager

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Lighting Designer & Stage Manager

Lighting & Stage Management

Photo: Anika Binding

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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.

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Carol-Ann Bohrn

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Carol-Ann Bohrn

Dancer

Photo: Susanne Middelberg

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Reymark Capacete

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Reymark Capacete

Dancer

Photo: Jordan Nepon

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Julious Gambalan

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Julious Gambalan

Dancer

Photo: Mark Dela Cruz

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Zeus Gonzales

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Zeus Gonzales

Dancer (understudy)

Photo: Photo Xena Gonzales

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Aria Evans

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Aria Evans

Artist Talk Moderator

Photo: Liliana Reyes

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MÆ – Motion Aftereffect by Freya Olafson

January 30-31 7:30pm
February 01 4:00pm

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

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Emma Hendrix

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Emma Hendrix

Sound Design

photo: Unknown

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Hugh Conacher

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Hugh Conacher

Lighting Design

Photo: leif Norman

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Wanda Farian

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Wanda Farian

Wardrobe

Photo: Wanda Farian

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Wllow Harvey

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Wllow Harvey

Stage Manager

Photo: Brady Corps

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Accumulation by Jolene Bailie

April 17-18 7:30pm
April 19 4:00pm

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

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Hugh Conacher

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Hugh Conacher

Lighting Design

Photo: Leif Norman

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Emma Hendrix

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Emma Hendrix

Original Sound

Photo: Unknown

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Willow Harvey

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Willow Harvey

Stage Manager

Photo: Brady Corps

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Carol-Ann Bohrn

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Carol-Ann Bohrn

Dancer

Photo: Susanne Middelberg

 

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Reymark Capacete

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Reymark Capacete

Dancer

Photo: Jordan Nepon

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Julious Gambalan

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Julious Gambalan

Dancer

Photo: Mark Dela Cruz

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Margaux Labossière

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Margaux Labossière

Dancer

Photo: Jonathan Froese

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