Sunday, 30 June 2013

Japanese rope bondage drawings from Bound at the Flying Dutchman, 28 June 2013

Jack the Whipper has folded and tied his right leg and is about to suspend himself by it.

Gorgone, puffing elegantly on an electric cigarette, says: 'This is going to be nasty.'

'YAARGH! WURRGH! WAARGH! I didn't think about this did I. Oh SHIT.' Jack reaches down to grab another rope from the floor and starts tying a harness round his chest.

'Should've done this first. It's not gonna be pretty but it is gonna be functional. Fuck it. Can't keep my leg up any more. Haven't tied anything for a month. OOH OOH CRAMP. Fuck being a rope bunny, this shit hurts. I didn't have anyone to tie for a year and a half. I've done single angle inversions on myself. At sixteen stone that hurts. AAARGH.'

Gorgone: 'It's addictive.'

When Jack lets himself down from the ceiling a bunch of people gather round to sniff the oiled and burnt ropes. Jack thrusts a rope bouquet into Gorgone's face and she inhales blissfully.

Someone says it reminds him of a battle re-enactment society.

One of the bunnies has a migraine; after her show, it's gone.

Performers: Jack the Whipper and Zahara; Mo Saru and Bee Bzz; Sky Shibari and Roperunner, the new kid on the block who disorients his laughing, blindfolded model, dragging and pushing from directions which she can't predict.

More pictures, including members of the audience, if you scroll down.
































Monday, 3 June 2013

Japanese rope bondage, stirred

At the pre-show seminar Dragonrope and Azooka cheerfully demonstrate how to tie. They are Swiss. Dragonrope describes his actions in German; Azooka repeats what he says in English, while being tied. 'Show her you're for real. Breathe on her neck. You can breathe like Darth Vader.'

I feel as if I'm at a performance of Hansel und Gretel with surtitles - the scene where Gretel teaches Hansel how to dance.

But I'm at Bound at the Flying Dutchman in Camberwell, this time with Lucy Lyons, an artist who is currently drawing Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man - or rather his skeleton and casts - and falling in love with his dignity, vulnerability and the inevitable beauty he shares with all natural forms.

I'm using a new toy, a Starbucks coffee-stirrer which is springy like a quill.

Dragonrope casually suspends himself before the main show. I've seen girls suspend themselves, sleek and nimble like a circus act. This is chunky and dynamic, closer to sport.

The other performers are Bruce Esinem and Gorgone, Nina Russ and MaYa Homerton, and Will Hunt and Mariko RopeDancer.

Nina, a born-again gardener, says that Japanese rope bondage is like growing vegetables: when you start to tie someone, you don't know exactly what you'll end up with.

More pictures if you scroll down.




















Dragonrope in self-suspension





Will Hunt and Mariko RopeDancer



Members of the audience