Spring Performances - 2016

On Sunday, May 22nd, 2016, RETTOCAMME returns to the GARNER Arts Festival at the invitation of curator Jonathan Shorr, presenting "changing sides" : a new roving performance installation created by Emma Cotter and featuring dancers: Courtney Brodie, Marcia Brooks, Theresa Hall, and Allison Waggener.

A photo posted by Emma Cotter (@rettocamme) on May 9, 2016 at 11:57am PDT

In "changing sides" four dancers manipulate a set of large, light weight photo cubes whose many sides feature images* from performances at various venues. The objects are rolled like giant dice and the resulting random combination of photos trigger visceral emotional and muscle memories from the performers who physicalize their reactions within a combination of structured improvisation and set phrase work. In this traveling installation, the dancers operate as if in a different dimension while reconstituting choreography from these fragmented images. They gently invite the audience to enter into this surreal world through non-verbal communication and with a secondary smaller set of photo cubes.

The photo cube concept was first incorporated into a RETTOCAMME site-specific installation in 2012 at United Photo Industries in DUMBO, Brooklyn. It was expanded upon the following year in a performance at Shapeshifter Lab in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

* The images on the cubes are from highly collaborative RETTOCAMME performances taken by various photographers between 2003 to present. All have been cropped to a square format by Emma Cotter, but are otherwise unedited. Photographers include: Carla Coria, Emma Cotter, Robert Fournier, John Frame, Robert Gorski, Elisa LaBelle, Michael Reck, and Ryan Roth. Additional collaborators, whose influence is evident in many of the images, include Amanda Miller (wigs/hair/make-up), Polina Roytman (costumes), and Andy Dickerson (lighting design). Dancers featured in the photographs in this particular set of cubes include: Emily Berry, Marcia Brooks, Elizabeth Douglas, Meghan Frank, Elisa LaBelle, Kimberly Braton Lantz, Aaron Singer, and Rebecca Whitehurst.

GARNER Arts Center is located in Rockland County, NY

http://garnerartscenter.org/connect/directions/

Other upcoming performances:

Wednesday, June 8th, 2016

chashama Spring Gala honoring Dustin Yellin 
4 Times Square, NYC

RETTOCAMME will present Emma Cotter's "a green flash fades" : a site-specific performance for three dancers and a bottle cap tapestry. Performers include: Elizabeth Douglas and Sara Roer.

Tickets: https://501auctions.com/2016chashamagala

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

MiXt co showing at Greenwich Academy in Greenwich, CT

RETTOCAMME will present a version of "changing sides" adapted for a intimate black-box setting.

Free - details TBA: http://www.marciabrooksvariousworks.com/mixt-co/

And happening this summer:

Going into their fourth season, South Brooklyn Shakespeare presents four FREE outdoor performances of "Twelfth Night, Or What You Will" - creative team includes resident choreographer and associate producer Emma Cotter.

July 23, 2016

on 5th Avenue between 17th and 18th Street in South Slope Brooklyn

August 4th, 5th, and 6th, 2016

at The Old Stone House, 5th Avenue at 3rd Street, Park Slope, Brooklyn

More information available at www.southbrooklynshakespeare.org

Reviews for "HCI (high claim item)"

presented in Out of Frame: Dance + Comics
curated by Patrice Miller
part of the 2014 Comic Book Theater Festival
at The Brick

HCI (high claim item) *
A quick caper set in an art gallery
Concept/Choreography: Emma Cotter
Music made by Loopstock
Projected Animation: William Torres
Hair & Make-up concepts: Amanda Miller
Performers: Emily Berry, Emma Cotter, Elizabeth Douglas

*work in progress - intended to be a chapter in a much large scale dance/theater piece.

Reviews:

"The artistry within well-constructed action is another silent partner in entertainments meant to be experienced rather than reflected on. Choreographer Emma Cotter’s HCI (High Claim Item) gave the common spy-adventure spectacle of the high-tech burglary a context all its own, with an original interpretation of a fine art museum heist complete with dancing ninja-thieves and a living painting, in a work which walks away with the treasure of creativity."
http://therumpus.net/2014/06/crossovers-3-reporting-live-from-the-cultural-borderlines-at-the-comic-book-theater-festival/

"Even better was Emma Cotter’s “HCI: High Claim Item”, which was like Ocean’s Twelve with former Cirque du Soleil members."
http://stagebuddy.com/reviews/review-frame-dance-comics/

HCI (high claim item) - work in progress

The Brick's Comic Book Theater Festival Issue #2 presents:

Out of Frame: Dance + Comics curated by Patrice Miller

"Out of Frame" is a night of collaboration between choreographers and sequential artists, exploring the use of the body to animate comic art. Seven choreographers, including Emma Cotter/RETTOCAMME, tackle this unique challenge in a diverse program of dance.

Brooklyn-based choreographer and visual artist Emma Cotter takes inspiration from her 20+ year career in picture framing presenting HCI (high claim item), a quick caper set in an art gallery. This original dance/theater piece will feature music made by Loopstock, projected animation by William Torres, and hair/make-up concepts by Amanda Miller. Performers include veteran RETTOCAMME Inc dancers Emily Berry and Elizabeth Douglas. 

Shows:

Tuesday 6/24/14 @ 9 p.m.

Saturday 6/28/14 @ 9 p.m.

Sunday 6/29/14 @ 3 p.m.

at The Brick: 

579 Metropolitan

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

tickets available online here: 

https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/934837

creative excursions and observations

The sixth annual RETTOCAMME February Project became twenty-eight days of creative excursions and observations. Results/experiences are still being examined and interpreted, but meanwhile, please enjoy this photo documentation via Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rettocamme/sets/72157640373010893/

Viewpoint - #FebProj2014

In 2009, my collaborators and I launched The February Project. These have all been dance-based events incorporating live music and visual elements. Limitations of time and money have been used as creative tools. For all parties involved this has meant letting go of many formalities and expectations associated with similar public presentations.

After a recent meeting with Jordan Mclean, RETTOCAMME musical director and annual February Project collaborator, we came to the conclusion that perhaps the project had run its course and it was time to take everything we had learned from the past five years (good and bad) and return to a more formal way of working.

This we plan to do imminently, but I am still not quite ready to let go of The February Project.

Every year there has been a shift in dynamics as the project has transitioned from three years in a traditional black box theater: Triskelion Arts, into a gallery setting: United Photo Industries, and finally into a music venue: ShapeShifter Lab. This variation in performance spaces has brought us new artistic contributors annually, which in turn has helped shape an equally entertaining audience. This network of individuals on and off the stage, is by far the most valuable product of this five year experiment. To more deeply explore this abundant resource,  I have decided to take a conceptual twist this February by considering:

the creative contribution of an active, social viewer

I plan to document this in a personal manner, writing down reflections, and keeping fragments of ephemera as they materialize. In addition to inviting old friends to join me at events, I intend to make an extra effort to interact with my fellow audience members, and be more participatory in feedback sessions or other mingling opportunities. As photography has been a key element in every February Project so far, I will primarily use Flickr to capture the visual aspects of these excursions and encounters. The final set of images can then easily be turned into a slideshow to be shared publicly. In the tradition of the previous five projects I have created a postcard - this one specifically designed as a tool for viewers to send a note to an artist or recommend a show to a friend.

 

click to view on Flickr:

POSTCARD FRONT

POSTCARD BACK

A few of these printed postcards are already in circulation thanks to longtime friend, former classmate, and fellow choreographer Emily Berry whose company B3W was presented at Flicfest in Fort Greene, Brooklyn on Jan. 30th, 2014. I have always admired Emily for being extremely engaged in her community - dance and otherwise - so she seemed like the perfect person to physically share the concept with first!

ongoing photo documentation:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rettocamme/sets/72157640373010893/

Please feel free to email suggestions for any art events involving live performance located in the NYC area occurring in the month of February, 2014 to RETTOCAMME@gmail.com

Emma Cotter

RETTOCAMME Inc - dance/art/design

www.RETTOCAMME.com

#FebProj2014

photo taken by audience member John Frame during the 2013 RETTOCAMME February Project. Musicians: Luke Damrosch and Ronald Stockwell with a three-dimensional score by Jordan McLean. Dancers: Elisa LaBelle and Emma Cotter.

RETTOCAMME retrospective 2003-2013

The first ten years of RETTOCAMME dance projects compressed to approximately 5 1/2 minutes, featuring music from Jordan McLean and Amir Ziv...



RETTOCAMME is a dance/art/design company founded by Emma Cotter in 2003 (formally incorporated in 2010). The first documented performance was a "Fielday" at the Brooklyn Lyceum in October of 2003. Dance-based works by RETTOCAMME are self-produced by income from art and design projects such as postcard design, event invitations, custom holiday cards, commissioned artworks (including bottle cap tapestries), and various items available via Etsy.

Endless thanks to the dozens of dancers, musicians, photographers, designer/collaborators, artistic/production advisers, and an equally creative and entertaining audience, who have contributed to the first ten years of RETTOCAMME.

RETTOCAMME at Shapeshifter Lab

Last night we wrapped up the fifth installment of The RETTOCAMME February Project. This year we  presented the event at Shapeshifter Lab in Gowanus, Brooklyn - an awesome venue that doubles as a recording studio during the day. Aesthetically the space was a cross between our previous venues: the intimate black box of Triskelion Arts in Williamsburg and the stark white gallery of United Photo Industries in DUMBO. It worked very well for us and the staff were most helpful. One of the highlights of the evening was a 3-dimensional score composed by Jordan McLean (Antibalas, Sway Machinery, DROID) - beautifully rendered live by musicians Luke Damrosch and Ronald Stockwell with synth and percussion sounds. We are most grateful to our loyal audience for trekking out to see our experimental work on such a cold, wet evening!

photo sent from audience member John Frame