Knockout production links boxing and dance in a deeply sexy performance

Ringside seats are available at FringeArts for Rocco by ICKamsterdam (Feb. 27 and 28), created by acclaimed Dutch choreographers Emio Greco and Pieter Scholten. Set in a stylized boxing ring with seating on three sides, Rocco pits male dancer-fighters against one another in a suite of choreographed bouts, set to electronic music and the sound of boxing bells, that take them to physical and psychological extremes of love and brutality.

Inspired by the 1960 Italian film Rocco and His Brothers, the dancers in the ring are brothers and antagonists, dark and light, struggling on both physical and spiritual planes. Virtuoso footwork and glorious athleticism are on display in a deeply sexy and intensely physical performance that Portland Monthly Magazine called “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets modern dance.”

“When you watch the footage of Muhammad Ali, it resembles the amorous game of attracting and rejecting one another,” says co-creator Pieter Scholten. “We wanted to investigate the aesthetics of beating the living daylights out of one another.”

Rounding out the experience is a special three-course menu offered at La Peg, the onsite restaurant and bar. “The VS. Menu,” developed by Executive Chef Peter Woolsey, is a culinary pairing to the ideas, themes, and performers of the show, and is available before or after the performance on either night by reservation. Dinner for one and one show ticket are offered at $50, exclusive of drinks and gratuity (see menu below).

About ICKamsterdam
The International Choreographic Arts Centre (ICKamsterdam) is a platform for contemporary dance under the artistic direction of Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten. ICKamsterdam is grounded on three pillars: Company (the production of dance performances), Guest Artists (the stimulation and support of new, young talents from both an artistic and a business perspective) and Academy (the transfer of knowledge in the dance field in educational and research programs). Known for relating dance to other art forms, Greco and Scholten put dancers on the catwalk with Parisian fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier; created the you PARA | DISO perfume with Alessandro Gualtieri, a unique project in which dance links up with smell, and collaborated with the Italian Moleskine company with the Moleskine Detour exhibition at the MoMA Design Store in Tokyo.

Rocco
February 27 and 28, 8 p.m.
FringeArts, 140 N. Columbus Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA
Tickets are $29 (30% discount for members).
To purchase tickets, call 215-413-1318 or visit FringeArts.com.

***Photo courtesy of FringeArts

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Steven Weisz

Founder & Editor at The Dance Journal

While not a dancer himself, Weisz’s love for the arts and dance started as a child growing up in New York City. With parents, who were strong supporters of the arts and part of a community with an incredible array of notable artists in music, dance, theater, and fine arts, Weisz’s access and affinity for the performing arts took root. Upon attending college in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania in the mid-’70s, Weisz started performing as a puppeteer, magician, juggler, and fire eater as a means of supplementing his income. This soon grew into what became Rainbow Promotions Inc., one of the largest entertainment and special events producers in the region. It was here that he began to promote and book dance for major events throughout the city. Many of the dancers he worked within the early days of his company are now major choreographers in Philadelphia. At the same time, Weisz’s interest in computers and the early developments of what is now known as the Internet led him to also start another company, Delaware Valley On Line, which became one of the first regional ISPs. It was this combination of event production, internet development, and event marketing that led him to examine the use of the internet as a means to promote the arts. Dance continued to be a major interest for Weisz and in 2005 he founded PhiladelphiaDANCE.org as a major online resource to promote dance in the city. It was soon after that the Dance Journal was also founded as a way to provide an outlet for writing on a range of topics that encompass the ever-growing and emerging dance community in the region. Weisz continues to run both the non-profit PhiladelphiaDANCE and The Dance Journal on purely a voluntary basis with no income derived from any of his projects. He is also the Director of Graffito Works, an international platform for dancers and performing artists in Europe that creates site specific. More recently, Weisz has expanded his creative endeavors into the realm of photography through the establishment of ArtImagined.photo.

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