about

With quixotic choreography, inventive improvisation, absurdist visuals, and raw materials, Racoco Productions has created uniquely textural theatrical terrariums for 23 years.

Wood, clay, taffy, gum, paper, pinatas, vacuums, bathrobes, and wind-up ducks transform small rooms and large stages; with evocative live music they transport audiences inside curious, tender worlds where personal demons become personable.

The results are naively sophisticated, awkwardly human, unexpectedly funny and always kind.

“awkwardly beautiful, jarringly physical, and astonishingly evocative of the daily battles we all self-create.”

“I love all the things you bring to modern dance that "shouldn't" be there...piles of wood pushed out of the window, slapstick, farce, etc....snob-repelling hard edges wrapped in a constant, gentle thoughtfulness.”

“joyful, humorous, dark, surprising, human, and surreal all at once.”

artistic director

Rachel Cohen

Rachel Cohen has a lifelong interest in excavating the symbiosis of humans and things. After studying dance and choreography with Claire Mallardi while at Harvard University, Rachel moved to NYC in 1997, entering the orbits of the uniquely creative communities of Mary Anthony Dance Theater, Galapagos Art Space, Cave, Norte Maar, The Construction Company, ChaShaMa, and Ruth Zaporah's improvisation form Action Theater. She founded Racoco Productions in 2003.

She has performed and taught in the US and internationally, and been awarded grants from the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, NYFA, the Field Dance Fund, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New Music USA, and NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. Rachel has been artist in residence at Harvard University; Santa Fe Arts Institute; Galapagos Art Space and Cave in Brooklyn, NY; Mix-Arte Myrys in Toulouse, France; The Sanskriti Foundation in Delhi, India; and ON DURATION curated by Raegan Truax, in Blanca, Spain.

Rachel is an affiliate of The Construction Company and was recently named director of interdisciplinary performance at the Williamsburg Art and Historical (WAH) Center in Brooklyn. She is a certified Action Theater teacher.

“Ms. Cohen makes magic.” The New York Times