November 07, 2018

Meet Our New Artists-in-Residence

Written by Leah Horlick, Program Manager - 

ArtStarts is thrilled to introduce you to our very first artists-in-residence! Between now and March 2019, three emerging movement artists will demonstrate to young people and families that a fulfilling career in the movement-based arts is possible, and demonstrate to teachers that art is an essential part of education.

Since July 2018, our gallery has been celebrating works by young people that engage the body and push the boundaries of dance and movement-based performance and process as part of an exhibition titled "Movement is for Every Body." From October 2018 until March 2019, we've taken the next step and fully transformed our space into a pop-up dance studio--featuring dancers-in-residence!

Get to know the talented people who'll be bringing creative movement into our gallery space:

Tin Gamboa - November 2018

Tin Gamboa is a professional emerging artist who was born and raised in the ancestral land of Austronesian people, in an area now commonly known as Manila, Philippines. She is currently based in the traditional land of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations now known as Vancouver, Canada. With her Filipino blood rumbling through her tapping toes and dancing body, Gamboa is excited to tackle questions surrounding community and culture through art, whether in live performance, group discussion, or guided improvisations. As an artist, she believes that there are powerful ways that art and audience participation can create work that expresses and sparks ideas, conversations, and rooted, positive change.

Describing her work, Tin says "I am a Filipino in Diaspora who longs to honour my ancestors & my motherland while honouring the first people of the land on which I currently reside." Visit her online at @mariaclara or http://mariaclaraph.org.

Ralph Escamillan - January/February 2019

Ralph Escamillan is a queer, Canadian-Filipino dancer/choreographer/community leader, and activist based in Vancouver, BC. His arsenal of performance skills include a variety of street dance styles, ballroom, circus, and drag. He graduated from Modus Operandi, Vancouver’s contemporary dance training program, in 2015. He’s apprenticed with Kidd Pivot and worked with commercial choreographers including Paul Becker and Tucker Barkely, as well as artists Victoria Duffield and Zendaya Coleman, and was a guest dancer for Janet Jackson's “Unbreakable” tour in 2015. The founder of VanVogueJam, Ralph shares his passion for Vogue/Ballroom culture at his weekly by-donation class and vogue balls, acting as a beacon for the queer dance form in Western Canada. For more info about Ralph, his current contracts, and his work please visit: ralphescamillan.com

About his practice, Ralph says “I am interested in making dance accessible to a wider audience with the intervention and the use of clothing, sound, projection and technology. Letting the audience dictate their perspective empowers the viewer giving them a new way of interacting with live performance."

danielle wensley - March 2019

danielle is an artist whose work oscillates between static and active forms. Her background in dance lends to a consistent investigation of movement in a variety of expressions including dance, drawing and written or spoken compositions. She is interested in process, embracing research and community as fertile sources for inquiry and generative problem solving. She is currently studying fine arts at Emily Carr University of Arts and Design and humbly acknowledges that she is a visitor on the unceded homelands of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the lands of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil- Waututh) Nations.

danielle says, "As an emerging artist, my practice is very much grounded in investigation and research as well as trial and error. I am interested in the potential for dance to help us develop more caring relationships with our bodies and in turn with other bodies as well."

Please join us in welcoming these three highly collaborative, innovative dancers & choreographers who will be bringing an anti-oppressive lens and a passion for working with children, youth, and families to ArtStarts!

We are grateful to the RBC Foundation's Emerging Artists Project for providing funding for this exciting new initiative.