MY HOUSE: PROGRAM

Choreographer & Performer  Ralph Escamillan (Kiki Legend Posh Gvasalia Basquiat)
Performers  Brian Mendez (Kiki Legend Besos 007), Jocelyne Cajamarca (Father Jaws Siriano Balenciaga), Matthew ‘Snoopy’ Cuff (Kiki Icon Snoopy Fubu Basquiat)
DJ  Simone Chnarakis (Simone Gvasalia) 
Commentator  Max Morales (Princess Pegasus Pink Lady) 
Costume and Styling  Ralph Escamillan & Robyn Jill Laxamana
Black Dance Vernacular/ Decolonising Practice Consultant  Justine Chambers
Video & Projection Designer  Nancy Lee
Lighting Designer & Technical Director  Andie Lloyd
Executive Producer  Francesca Piscopo
Associate Producer  Kevin Soo-Locsin
Marketing and Communications Manager  Jonathan James
Accounts Manager  Ann Hepper

Produced by FakeKnot, and co-produced by the National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Urban Ink, and The Dance Centre.

FakeKnot gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, the City of Vancouver, Lululemon, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Vancouver Ballroom Arts, and the Health Initiative for Men (HIM). A special thank you to all the individual donors who made this production possible. 

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.

Brian Mendez (Kiki Legend Besos 007)
Performer

Born in Montreal to Panamanian parents, Brian Mendez is a dancer and choreographer working at the intersection of voguing, pole dance, and urban dance forms. He began his training in hip-hop, waacking, and dancehall at Urban-Element Zone, before completing a contemporary dance program at the École de danse contemporaine de Montréal. It was during this time that he discovered voguing, a form born within Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ communities in Harlem, which has since become central to his artistic practice. Active in the Montreal ballroom scene since its early development in 2016, Brian Mendez is recognized as a key figure and holds Legendary status. Since 2021, he has integrated pole dance into his movement language, developing a physical approach that blends virtuosity, expressivity, and theatricality. As a performer, he has notably collaborated with Clara Furey in Dog Rising and Unarmoured. In 2026, he collaborated with Jontae McRory, G. Mako, and Chivengi on the project Dulce, a work rooted in the intersection of movement, sound, and performative identity. Alongside his performance career, Brian Mendez teaches voguing in Montreal, actively contributing to the transmission and growth of the culture.

Jocelyne Cajamarca (Father Jaws Siriano Balenciaga)
Performer

Jaws is a Latinx non-binary artist, dancer, teacher, new ‘fatha’ and performer in the Canadian Ballroom Scene. They have performed in numerous live performances, festivals, and productions such as Fall For Dance North, PUMA, PrideTo, Toronto Dance Theatre, Myst Milano’s: The Uncanny Valley and more. Jaws began as a street dancer in 2016 before entering Toronto’s Kiki Ballroom Alliance in 2019, where they joined the Supreme Kiki House of Siriano and were later honoured with a parent role. In 2024, they also joined the international mainstream House of Balenciaga. Beyond performing and competing, Jaws is deeply committed to uplifting and collaborating with trans and queer artists through accessible workshops and community events like the Ballroom Community Dinners.

Matthew ‘Snoopy’ Cuff (Kiki Icon Snoopy Fubu Basquiat)
Performer

Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist Matthew ‘Snoopy’ Cuff is a driving force in Canada’s Ballroom scene. A graduate of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre, Snoopy is a member of the International House of Basquiat and a trailblazer in Canada’s Vogue scene. Through teaching, mentoring, and competing, Matthew inspires his community with his expertise and dedication. As a dancer and choreographer, he’s had the privilege of working with Nelly Furtado on tour and provides movement coaching for her performances. With a global audience reached through dance, Snoopy continues to break molds and build bridges in the industry.

Simone Chnarakis (Simone Gvasalia)
DJ  

Simone Chnarakis (she/her/they) is a 4th generation Black-Canadian woman, born and raised in East Vancouver. Using photo and film, her work focuses on documenting Black communities, the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as the growing ballroom scene in the city. She is passionate about capturing raw moments that reflect identity, culture, and authenticity.

Max Morales (Princess Pegasus Pink Lady)
Commentator  

Peggy is a femme queen commentator/MC within the West Coast Canadian Scene of ballroom. There isn’t a moment of quiet when she’s on the mic. Ballroom is all about energy, but to give that to you, you gotta give that back! °nd she’s here to make sure you clap, scream, and immerse yourselves into the ballroom world and production of MY HOUSE throughout the night.

Robyn Jill Laxamana
Costume and Styling  

A first generation Filipino-Canadian, Jill Laxamana has been working in fashion since 2002. Mainly focused on custom made bridal and evening wear, her skills in couture details and fit are an important part of bringing Ralph’s visions from concept to piece. Since 2020, they have collaborated on multiple projects including whip, BLUSCRN, and PIÑA—each offering unique challenges and ideas that keep her evolving and growing as an artist. 

Justine A. Chambers
Black Dance Vernacular/ Decolonising Practice Consultant  

Justine A. Chambers is a dance artist and educator living and working on the unceded Coast Salish territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh Nations in Vancouver, Canada. Her practice is a collaboration with her Black matrilineal heritage, and extends from this continuum and its entanglements with Western contemporary dance and visual arts practices. At the centre of her practice is a question often posed by her grandmother: “You feel me?” This question is both a declaration of one’s personal orientation, and an invitation to reorient and include what is held in our flesh. Her research attends to individual and collective embodied archives, social choreographies of the everyday, and choreography and dance as otherwise ways of being in relation. Her work has been hosted at festivals, galleries and performance venues locally, nationally and internationally. Chambers holds a MFA in Interdisciplinary Art and is currently Assistant Professor in the Dance Area at the School for Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University and Associate Artist to The Dance Centre. Chambers is August Tyler-Hite’s mother. 

Nancy Lee
Video & Projection Designer  

Nancy Lee 李南屏 is a Taiwanese-Canadian interdisciplinary media artist, curator, filmmaker, DJ and cultural producer. Their work stimulates and enlivens space, making a provocative statement about how inescapably interconnected we are with our surroundings. This notion of staging is a constant in Nancy’s work and underpins their projects, from their early work as a more traditional filmmaker, through their conception and planning of live events, and into the realms of XR, new media performance and installation, where their art practices continue to coalesce and evolve.

Andie Lloyd
Lighting Designer & Technical Director  

Andie Lloyd is a queer interdisciplinary artist and community advocate, raised and living on unceded Qayqayt territories. She works as a lighting designer and media artist, and is a co-founder of HK House 香港屋 (@hkhouseofficial). Some notable design involvements include: Secret Ingredients — Keely O’Brien, Lasa Ng Imperyo — rice & beans theatre, Paper Mountains — Anya Saugstad, Fat Joke — Neworld Theatre, Happy Valley/馬照跑．舞照跳 — rice & beans theatre, Clean/Espejos — Neworld Theatre. Andie is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada.

Staff  
Executive Director Mirna Zagar; Associate Programming Director Raquel Alvaro; Associate Producer Linda Blankstein; Membership Coordinator Kaia Shukin; Marketing Coordinator Jullianna Oke; Digital Marketing Coordinator Lindsay Curtis; Outreach Coordinator Yurie Kaneko; Development Manager Catherine Butler; Venue and Services Manager Christopher David Gauthier; Comptroller Elyn Dobbs; Dance Central Editor Shanny Rann

Board of Directors 
Rosario Ancer, Elaine Carol, Yvonne Chartrand, Mique’l Dangeli, Linda Gordon (Vice-Chair), Selim Hasan (Chair), Anndraya Luui, Jordan Thomson, Sujit Vaidya, Wen Wei Wang, Mark Weston (Treasurer)

The Dance Centre is an IATSE 118 Union house. 

The Dance Centre is grateful for the generous support of The Choreographer’s Circle, Anndraya Luui, the BC Arts Renaissance Fund, and all of the following:

THE CORPORATE LEADER’S CIRCLE 
The Holiday Inn and Suites Vancouver Downtown – Angela van den Byllaardt, Sales Manager
Jarislowsky, Fraser Limited – Beau Howes

THE CHOREOGRAPHER’S CIRCLE 

Impresario: Charles and Eve Chang Foundation, London Drugs Foundation, Anndraya Luui, Ocean Park Foundation
Choreographer: Anonymous x2, Marnie Carter, Moh Faris, Tony Giacinti (in memory of Lola MacLaughlin), Stephen Jarislowsky, Jackson McKiee, Yosef Wosk OBC
Artistic Director: Linda Blankstein, Beau Howes, David Matte
Principal Dancer: Anonymous, Ken Alexander, Amanda Collinge, David Cousins, James Felter, Judith Garay, Ken Gracie and Philip Waddell, McGrane – Pearson Endowment Fund, Jean Orr, Dubravko Pajalic, Raymond James Canada Foundation, Patrick Shea, Janet and Ron Stern, R&J Stern Family Foundation
Dance Artist: Anonymous, Santa Aloi, Rosario Ancer, Noel Best and Barbara Shuman, Matthew Breech and Shino Watanabe, Richard Cavell and Peter Dickinson, Kirk Chantraine, Yvonne Chartrand, Robert & Nicola Follows, Lorna Froidevaux, Mike and Kathy Gallagher, Kemo Schedlosky and Mark Gatha, Linda Gordon, Selim Hasan, Linda Johnston, Catherine McAllister, Anthony Roper, Annelie and Dan Vistica, Wen Wei Wang, Jason Wrobleski, Max Wyman and Susan Mertens, Mirna Zagar

THE ARTIST’S CIRCLE
Ingrid & Evan Alderson, Sylvia Anderson, Gary Bell, Linda Brandt, Catherine Butler, Carol Carr, Beth Carter & Bob Baker, Count and Countess Enrico and Aline Dobrzensky, Jason Dubois and Clayton Baraniuk, Erik Graff, Laurel March, Dr. Mary Robertson, Michael Watt

The operations of The Dance Centre are supported by the Government of Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of British Columbia, the BC Arts Council, and the City of Vancouver.

Media sponsors:
Stir | The Georgia Straight

The Dance Centre | Level 6, 677 Davie Street, Vancouver BC V6B 2G6

T 604 606 6400 info@thedancecentre.ca thedancecentre.ca

The VDC Dance Centre Society is a registered charity no. BN 11925 8754 RR0001