Provocative theater troupe The Velvet Noose returns to Rochester Fringe with ‘The Everything Rose’
By Daniel J. Kushner @danieljkushner
The Velvet Noose labels itself as an “avant-garde physical theater troupe.” Think fellow performance group PUSH, but with far fewer gymnastics and more direct emotional provocation.
The Velvet Noose aims to present “theater you can feel” — something it certainly achieved during its last Rochester Fringe Festival performance, “Super Flower Blood Moon.” I wrote last year that what I felt above all else was confusion. One particular moment of the performance depicted what I thought was castration. But The Velvet Noose’s Creative Director and Designer Harold Taddy says that while the gory ritual in question was open to interpretation, it wasn’t actually an act of emasculation.
“That was this transference of pain from one to another,” Taddy said. “As a male person who cannot experience the monthly cycle of another person, it wasn't me taking or affecting my own masculinity. It was me embodying what that process feels like, as a man. So it was a menstruation situation, and not a self-castration situation.”
Even with the explanation, The Velvet Noose’s art is rarely self-apparent. Its brand of storytelling is always drenched in secretive myths and obscuring shadows. That enigmatic sensibility will undoubtedly be present in the group’s forthcoming shows at this year’s Fringe, under the title “The Everything Rose.”
But for all the mysteries and open-ended meanings embedded in the performances, Taddy and fellow member Rivkah Simcha are clear about what the art means to the performers in The Velvet Noose.
What we’re working on is our own catharsis,” Taddy explained. “We’re not acting per se, as much as we are working in processing and harboring the closeness we have with each other.”
Simcha, who has a background in art therapy, recalls “Mother of Thousands,” the group’s show from the 2021 Rochester Fringe Festival that helped her to work through a miscarriage. “I was pregnant with my son, who's one and a half now, and to be able to perform while enduring pregnancy after a loss was massively massively cathartic for me as a milestone and overcoming that,” she said. “I think without those opportunities to tap into community and have art and community and ritual, I think I'd be worse off personally.”
Simcha joined The Velvet Noose in 2019, and says that the group’s use of art to deal with life’s struggles, resulting in a story about how the art was created, has resonated with her and made her feel at home. “I love how it's poetry, its movement, its singing, it's the visual aspects, it's the costumery,” she said. It really just transcends the everyday, while still being so connected to what makes everybody human.”
The physical nature of The Velvet Noose’s performances and the way it can elicit empathy is important to Taddy. “You see someone longingly gazing at someone else, you create in your mind the poetry of that,” he said. “Or if you see someone fall flat onto their face, you get an impression, and so the physical element, to me, is one of the greatest values I've ever had anything to do with.”
The Velvet Noose performs “The Everything Rose” at the MuCCC on September 16 and 23. The group also performs “The Desire Path” as part of the free dance performance “Wander and Wonder” at Rochester Museum and Science Center’s Garden of Fragrance on September 23 at 1 p.m. For more information, go to rochesterfringe.com.
Daniel J. Kushner is an arts writer at CITY. He can be reached at [email protected].
The Velvet Noose aims to present “theater you can feel” — something it certainly achieved during its last Rochester Fringe Festival performance, “Super Flower Blood Moon.” I wrote last year that what I felt above all else was confusion. One particular moment of the performance depicted what I thought was castration. But The Velvet Noose’s Creative Director and Designer Harold Taddy says that while the gory ritual in question was open to interpretation, it wasn’t actually an act of emasculation.
“That was this transference of pain from one to another,” Taddy said. “As a male person who cannot experience the monthly cycle of another person, it wasn't me taking or affecting my own masculinity. It was me embodying what that process feels like, as a man. So it was a menstruation situation, and not a self-castration situation.”
Even with the explanation, The Velvet Noose’s art is rarely self-apparent. Its brand of storytelling is always drenched in secretive myths and obscuring shadows. That enigmatic sensibility will undoubtedly be present in the group’s forthcoming shows at this year’s Fringe, under the title “The Everything Rose.”
But for all the mysteries and open-ended meanings embedded in the performances, Taddy and fellow member Rivkah Simcha are clear about what the art means to the performers in The Velvet Noose.
What we’re working on is our own catharsis,” Taddy explained. “We’re not acting per se, as much as we are working in processing and harboring the closeness we have with each other.”
Simcha, who has a background in art therapy, recalls “Mother of Thousands,” the group’s show from the 2021 Rochester Fringe Festival that helped her to work through a miscarriage. “I was pregnant with my son, who's one and a half now, and to be able to perform while enduring pregnancy after a loss was massively massively cathartic for me as a milestone and overcoming that,” she said. “I think without those opportunities to tap into community and have art and community and ritual, I think I'd be worse off personally.”
Simcha joined The Velvet Noose in 2019, and says that the group’s use of art to deal with life’s struggles, resulting in a story about how the art was created, has resonated with her and made her feel at home. “I love how it's poetry, its movement, its singing, it's the visual aspects, it's the costumery,” she said. It really just transcends the everyday, while still being so connected to what makes everybody human.”
The physical nature of The Velvet Noose’s performances and the way it can elicit empathy is important to Taddy. “You see someone longingly gazing at someone else, you create in your mind the poetry of that,” he said. “Or if you see someone fall flat onto their face, you get an impression, and so the physical element, to me, is one of the greatest values I've ever had anything to do with.”
The Velvet Noose performs “The Everything Rose” at the MuCCC on September 16 and 23. The group also performs “The Desire Path” as part of the free dance performance “Wander and Wonder” at Rochester Museum and Science Center’s Garden of Fragrance on September 23 at 1 p.m. For more information, go to rochesterfringe.com.
Daniel J. Kushner is an arts writer at CITY. He can be reached at [email protected].
In This Guide...
Latest in Rochester Fringe Festival
More by Daniel J. Kushner
Murder Mystery Movie Series! @ Fairport Library
Join us this month for a Murder Mystery Movie Series! Throughout September,...
Clifton Springs Sip & Sway to The Dean’s List Band @ Clifton Springs Area Chamber of Commerce
Clifton Springs Sip & Sway to The Dean’s List Band Friday, September...
