Rocco/Rocca Performance
ICK Dans Amsterdam
Rocca/ Rocca was the last performance that we saw in Amsterdam. The ensemble dancers at ICK and a junior company known as ICK-Next danced together. This performance was combining both boxing and dance. The performances like to challenge traditional gender roles as well as looking deeper into brotherly love. I was really excited to see this performance because I love to take kickboxing classes and I was interested in how they were going to combine both boxing and dance together. In this piece you see many swift movements including punches, fast footwork, and swift partner work.
The stage was set up as if it was a boxing rink. In the picture you can see the stage is a square shape with rope and lights around and above it. When you walked in the two women dancers were sitting in their chairs straight faced. I think this really set the mood for when the audience walked in.They had chairs all around the boxing rink. I thought this was a great way to show for the audience to be able to see different points of view.
In the piece there were four dancers. Two women and two men. At the start of the dance the two men are dressed as mice with boxing gloves on. At first, I didn’t know what to expect from the piece because I wasn’t expecting them to start with some of the comic relief. They started off by running around the audience then went on stage and started practicing some boxing punches including upper cuts, left hook and right hook, etc.
Also I thought that the way the lights were set up was super interesting. There was a center light and everytime that the bell that you would typically hear in a boxing fight the center circle would get bigger and bigger. Then the dancers started to dance right on the outside of the circle. The way that they manipulate the light was a great visual. They did many phrases just doing the opposite side, or to the outside. Then they would cross over the light to the other sides. I think they crossed a lot so that everyone would get to see someone in front of them.
My favorite part of the piece is when they did a commercial break. One of the girl dancers came out with a pause sign. Then the two guys came out and started dancing and singing in the middle between the performance. I wasn’t expecting this part at all but I loved it. I liked how it changed the vibe for a second and everyone was laughing and just having a good time.
Overall, I really enjoyed the performance. I thought the blend of boxing and dancing really worked well together. I also think that the stage and lighting really brought the whole piece together.