Meet the Artist: Ralph Escamillan
MascallDance catches up with Ralph Escamillan just as he premieres a new trio, All for You, at the EDAM Choreographic Series. Don’t miss this opportunity -
Ralph is also currently in rehearsal for MascallDance’s Privilege At Home.
Privilege At Home brings the performance to you, mobile dance solos choreographed by Jennifer Mascall and accompanied by Beethoven: Sonata in C Major Op. 53 "Waldstein" (excerpts) with dancers Ralph Escamillan, Eowynn Enquist and Erika Mitsuhashi choreographed by Jennifer Mascall. We bring the performance to you, transported by pick-up truck. Click the link to book!
Here’s Ralph, in conversation with Susan McKenzie.
Q you’ve just been at a Ball where?
A In Philly. It’s expensive flying to America, but in June I’m actually going back, this time to a big New York ball called the Latex Ball – it’s the 30th anniversary and I’m excited. I’m part of the House of Basquiat (after Jean-Michel), a mainstream house. It’s like family. Going to a ball is a lot about meeting people – especially after being so much online time in the past few years. (The Americans carried on having live balls…)
The New York and NY ballroom energy is so different – it’s where the whole thing was conceived - the homeland; like any community or society that has cultivated a culture, there’s an automatic awareness of how to be a part of it. I acclimatize quickly - even how I speak the language of it, and the little nuances. I think ballroom culture is seen as very inclusive. everyone gets along. But in reality, it’s many people’s livelihoods. There are very high standards. People are more cutthroat in a way that’s meant to be positive. It’s not considered mean. It's part of the culture if you want to survive. These cultural forms are beautiful - Vogue is beautiful runway, all categories are beautiful - but they all derive from necessity. For a lot of people, this is how they survive in the world that they live in. They have to look binary to get through their worlds. Balls happen five, seven days a week. It’s no weekend thing. It serves a function.
The approach to ballroom culture here is relaxed by comparison, just because lots of people haven’t experienced the real ballroom. I would say I'm the only person in the city who's really making a name in the mainstream community. I’ve had privilege - to travel through dance touring. But I also thirst for it, yearn for it and even with debt, I find a way. I fly and travel because I need to - that's part of the culture - or else no one knows who I am or what my community is.
Ralph Escamillan in BLOOM, December, 2021. Photo credit: Bea Orbegoso
Q Talk about your appetite in relation to Privilege @ Home.
A My appetite is to explore working with classical music. I don't come from that lineage or history or culture. Beethoven and Bach weren’t in my ears growing up. I heard Janet Jackson and Earth, Wind and Fire. I was interested in seeing how I could use my movement practice and my interest of moving, coming from a different background than a classically trained, balletic or modern or contemporary origin. I reflect that the idea of classical masters can be quite historically fraught – we know Beethoven had mentors he looked up to, who inspired him, and in his time many were also doing music very similarly. But just through the grace of whatever, maybe also his network or his pull, who he knew, he came to the forefront. I always think about that when I think of these icons, and of cultural forms in general.
Q Tell us about a memorable audience interface when you performed Privilege@Home last season.
A Performing for (choreographer) Sarah Chase, her friends and family last year. I was dancing on the street, on the asphalt, great to perform on. I felt her energy and the crowd’s. Working with Sarah, I’d felt a connection quite quickly, and sharing this Privilege movement we're building with Jennifer was nice. There’s that interesting pressure performing in front of someone you’re building a history with. Plus, they gave me a drink afterward!
Q What is your challenge with Privilege@Home?
Memory. The process of building that body memory. In privilege, each dancer has their own individual alphabet – a move for every single note in the music. I created an Excel sheet that tracks every single note with each dancer’s alphabet. When you input a different dancer’s alphabet, the whole equation completely changes. It turned out to be the visual anchor I needed; once I could equate the movement to the sound and know it rhythmically, I could set it to a certain extent, then memorize it.
Q What’s your go-to quote?
A Touch Me, Hold Me, Let Me Go.
Lee Su Feh said it. I think it applies to everything - objects, people, yourself. It speaks to performance; the ephemerality we have in performance, that in-between moment when the music and my body kind of meet, and the audience. Touch is that first interaction. Hold is the space of the performance itself. And letting go - the fleeting ephemerality of the performance or that moment.
Q What’s your after show go-to?
A Food. I love to eat. I have a bone broth - a soup broth, ramen or pho. I really believe the collagen in those broths have helped me sustain my elasticity, and the salt and the heat regulate my body. I eat the soup with noodles and I always get a side of rice.
Q Do you cook your own bone broth?
A I don't have a proper kitchen, so I can't really. But I could if I had one. I have an easy go-to my neighbourhood, But I have favourites, too. My favourite ramen place is KINTARO in Denman, where I had my first ever taste of ramen. For pho, I’ve gotten into ANH AND CHI on Main – a bit pricey but they do a great job – they have a tomato crab thing that’s so good. Privilege@Home is short outdoor performances in warm weather, so before, I eat light and cool – like sandwich and salad. But really, if it’s an hour show, I have to fuel up, really eat a lot beforehand.
Q In Privilege@Home, what’s your sweet spot? What makes you happy?
A The melody. I can ride it out of the intensity of the rest of the score, and chill.
Ralph Escamillan in Privilege@Home 2021 Photo credit: Darryl Ahye (still from video)
Q What do people not realize about Privilege@Home?
When we perform it, people are always surprised – mesmerized - by how much we can remember as performers - text, spatial orientation, choreography, whatever. But across all genres and disciplines of dance, the skill we have is physical memory. At least that’s my experience, coming from many different dance forms.
I think about memory a lot. I ground choreographic works through clothing. I’m fascinated by fabric - a garment, say - the specific way it has a snap on one side, the understanding of where the seam is. It contains memory and it is a vessel for movement. Once the garment is given to someone a tangible dialogue begins - a structure (how you’ve built the garment so it can be moved in) and an interpretation. When a person inhabits it, whoever made sees it a new way. But it doesn't detract from its original design. I think of the garment as memory, imbued as it is with so much history. It contains the memory of its’ production – of being made, of how it was processed.
My father spoke of a woven cotton fabric called Piña I know nothing about, but I’m really interested in it. It kind of looks checkered but the weave is meant to visually encapsulate whirlwinds or whirlpools. The fabric is supposed to be a form of protection from these naturally recurring things. I want to explore that in my Philippines textile research. I never got to know my father – so I get to learn from him through the fabric, I guess. Filipino weavers creating hand-loomed, pure piña fabric are down to a handful now, the fabric is quite precious and scarce. it takes eight hours to produce a single meter of pure piña cloth.
Q Tell us something about Jennifer.
A Jennifer is like hot sauce. You’ve got to have it. You always want it. And powerful, so you need just exactly enough - not too much!
Q And your growing association with MascallDance.
A Absolutely. Privilege@Home is one element of a larger Privilege project. I was commissioned by BLOOM this winter, and I’m also part of another large creation project called Lurch.
For me, the connection evolved when work wasn't happening. By opening up her process and pushing and continuing to work during the pandemic, Jennifer created this really interesting relationship - one that I feel is really unique.
She has just been so inspiring. I'm forever grateful to be able to continue working with her.
Join Ralph and MascallDance for delivery dances -
PRIVILEGE AT HOME
June 9,10,11,12,13,14 / 2022
All shows are pay-whatever-what-you-decide
and COVID-safe.
Questions about this event? Please contact Tobias Macfarlane: production@mascalldance.ca