with hua hua
Working as a Shibari Artist, first in China then internationally, much of my experience working professionally in this field has been through performances. As Shibari rapidly gained popularity in the last decade, there have been more and more people curious to watch Shibari live. Even with shows still continuing in the underground world of BDSM, there are even more varied opportunities to present Shibari to a larger audience such as galleries, festivals or even in traditional theatres. Prior to Shibari, I had already begun performing in experimental ‘behavioural art’ during my time at Basement6 Art Collective in Shanghai. With this experience and my fascination with action as art, I began to combine my philosophy on performance with my rope practice, especially when working as a dominatrix. In many ways, every session is a performance. I try to put the same pressure, determination and passion into every tie, even if there is nobody watching.
In this workshop I will share my perspective of creating performances and my experience bringing Shibari to the stage. The workshop will begin with a presentation and discussion looking at my approach to performance and how this can influence our Shibari practice overall, so that we can face our partners with creativity and presence each tie.
Topics we will look at:
Site specific performance
Spatial awareness
Use of music
Adapting to audience
Controlling the atmosphere
Working with themes/narratives
Improvisation
The 3 roles of Shibari
Charisma
We will then work with our partners to explore a few improvisation exercises. hua hua will then demonstrate a tie that can be adapted to each tying pair. The students are then given space to demonstrate to the group, using the ties taught in class. We will share our feedback as a group following student demonstrations.
Prerequisites: basic knowledge of single column tie, double column tie, basic frictions and upline lock offs.
This workshop is ideally for those already experienced with Shibari performances or looking to start performing.
Requirement: Note taking material, if already working on a performance, students are welcome to demonstrate the performance they have already planned.