PIÑA

One performance only!
Saturday March 22, 2025
Event starts at 6:30 PM with a Mini-Fiesta in Studio A - Karaoké and food will be served
Performance at 7:30 PM at the Winchester Street Theatre
Followed by an Artist Talk Back featuring Choreographer Ralph Escamillan Winchester Street Theate, 80 Winchester Street, Toronto (VIEW MAP)

Accessibility Info: Unfortunately the Winchester Street Theatre where TDT is based is not currently wheelchair accessible. There are three steps outside of the front entrance, a small platform, and then three more steps to the lobby (a straight hallway that then leads you to the theatre). To access the private gender-neutral restrooms, there are five additional steps at the end of the lobby. The seats in the theatre are on risers with stairs; please contact info@tdt.org if it is more comfortable to have a seat near the front to reduce the number of steps.

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Created by FakeKnot
Co-presented by TDT and FakeKnot, Co-produced by National Arts Centre and Dancemakers, in partnership with CanAsian Dance

PIÑA is an interdisciplinary dance work that explores constructions of diasporic identity and how the body carries history and ancestry in a globalizing world. Inspired by Artistic Director Ralph Escamillan’s experience as a first-generation Canadian-born Filipino/a/x, this work considers the parallels between the physicality of this experience, and piña—a traditional and celebrated Philippine fiber made from pineapple leaves. The delicate yet resilient textile parallels the fragility and strength of contemporary diasporic people, and by investigating the many facets of this culturally embedded textile, an anthropological journey through the body is created. Incorporating traditional folk dance, history, music and costume, the political, economic and social dimensions of contemporary diaspora are revealed.

Like many FakeKnot works, PIÑA uses costumes as tangible objects that connect to memory and bring narrative into the performance. Drawing inspiration from traditional Philippine garments (Terno and Barong Tagalog), these costumes are modular and transform as the work unfolds, and lends a unique quality of movement bound by the costume’s restrictions. Light, sound and movement knot into the process of weaving the piña fiber. Sharp lines pierce through space, weaving through the body, while also scanning the landscape of the stage. The stark white costumes create a surface for these lights to reflect and bounce, making the figures of the performers glow, akin to the glow of the piña textile. The movements of the dancers references the knotting and separating of pineapple leaf fibers as they’re processed to create piña.

This work is created by an all Filipino/a/x cast of both diasporic, mixed-race and native philippine people.

Duration: 60 minutes. No intermission.

PIÑA is produced by FakeKnot, and co-produced by the National Arts Centre and Dancemakers.

FakeKnot gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, the City of Vancouver, SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs, The Dance Centre’s Artist-in-Residence program, Toronto Dance Theatre, Far Eastern University (Manila), Dance Victoria, and Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre. A special thanks to Joyce Rosario.

Ralph would like to thank Raul Lorenzo “Buboy” Raquitico Jr for their artistic contribution.

About Artistic Director and Choreographer

Photo by Joe Bulawan

Ralph Escamillan

RALPH ESCAMILLAN is a queer, Canadian-Filipinx performance artist, choreographer and teacher based in 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 danced/toured/created with Vancouver-based companies, Film and TV as well as a beacon for the Vancouver Ballroom Scene since 2017, through his other nonprofit VanVogueJam.

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.

About FakeKnot

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 honors the queer, POC identity of Artistic Director, Ralph Escamillan. Collaboration as a practice of knowledge co-creation is essential for FakeKnot in the ways it can generativity bring differences together.

Production Credits

Created by FakeKnot
Artistic Direction and Choreography by Ralph Escamillan
Costumer – Robyn Jill Laxamana
Assistant Costumer – Julay
Lighting Design – Gabriel Raminhos
Original Music and Sound Design – Kimmortal
Dramaturg – Denisa Reyes
Piña Textile – Raquels Piña Cloth
Dancers – Ralph Escamillan, Justin Calvadores, Elyza Samson, Danah Rosales
Stage Manager – Kayleigh Sandomirsky

Co-presented with TDT
Artistic Director – Andrew Tay
Production Manager – Aden Altamirano
Technical Director – Tanya Bregstein
Communications Director – Katrina Medalle
Associate Producer – Sara Khajeh

Co-produced by Dancemakers
Co-Artistic Producer – Christina de la Cruz

In Partnership with CanAsian Dance
Artistic Lead – Angie Cheng
Admin and Marketing Assistant – Fran Chudnoff

Consultants & Mentors of PIÑA
Master Piña Weavers – Carlo and Raquel Eliserio, Raquels Piña Cloth
Philippine Folk Dance Mentor – Peter Alcedo
Lighting Mentor – Jonathan Kim
Kundiman Music Mentor – Jeremiah Carag
Philippine Textile Historian – Sandra Castro
Philippine Textile Conservationist – Lenora Luisa A Cabili (Filip+inna)
Philippine Dress Historian – Gino Gonzales (Ternocon)
Multimedia Artist – Luna Mendoza
Co-founder of HABI The Philippine Textile Council – Adelaida Lim
Author and Educator – Dr. Randy Madrid
Fashion Designer – Anthony Legarda
Curator of Exhibitions at SFO Museum – Nicole Mullen

Producer & Agent – Francesca Piscopo
Marketing and Communications Manager – Jonathan James
Associate Producer – Kevin Soo-Locsin
Accounts Manager – Ann Hepper