Floor Work - Breath Control:
Breath Play with Ropes with Bänana & Soft Armor
price per tying pair:
BOUND Members $30 |TIED Members $40 | WRAPPED Members $50
Friday May 1st, 7:00pm - 10:00pm
Registration will be enabled March 1st @12:00pm
During a bondage session, the breathing of the bottom is often impacted. A simple chest harness can become real torture when breathing in certain positions. The rope is a perfect tool for breath play. The rigger can play with his or her partner’s breathing on different spots: mouth, throat, ribcage, abdomen... After we familiarize ourselves with the precautions to be taken, we’ll experiment with effective ways of obstructing the air column... Breath play is a powerful means of communication in ropes. In this course, we’ll explore the reactions and emotions that breath play can induce on your partner, so that we can use it appropriately in a rope session.
Things to bring:
- At least six hanks of rope (7 or 8m)
- Cutting tool
- A partner you are comfortable exploring breath play with
Prerequisites:
Top prerequisites:
Any single column tie and a double column tie, knowledge of safety and risk in rope. Communication being a central element in shibari it is always preferable to come with a partner with whom you already practice in order to allow a good experience. It's important to have already discussed the framework of your practice (desires, intentions, limits, ways of managing consent).
Bottom prerequisites:
Confident in-rope communication skills, knowledge of safety and risk in rope, confident ability to monitor and communicate signs of nerve compression. Communication being a central element in shibari it is always preferable to come with a partner with whom you already practice in order to allow a good experience. It's important to have already discussed the framework of your practice (desires, intentions, limits, ways of managing consent).
All participants must have a shared understanding of negotiations, consent, and safety. Clarity on boundaries around touch, exposure, and manipulation, and aftercare needs.
About the Instructors:
Bänana (She/Her)
Bänana, a ten-year bondage enthusiast, found her passion in shibari in 2017, drawn to its raw and authentic nature. As she has always been fascinated by the expression of emotions, shibari, and more specifically semenawa, has opened up a new path of exploration to her. She began to follow Docvale’s teaching in November 2018, later partnering with him to co- manage Atelier Simonet in Paris until summer 2023. Bänana created La Cabäne during winter 2024. Bänana considers that in order to tie well, we must understand each of our technical choices rather than learning the instructions by heart. She gives to her students a solid grounding so they can feel free while tying and put these technical abilities at the service of the relationship with their partners.
Being in ropes is also something to be apprehended. Not that you have to behave in any particular way. On the contrary, every tied-up person has to find the way that pleases him or her. It's also a long journey full of questions and emotions, and it seems important to Bänana that all this is taken into account during her courses.
Bänana's courses are so often highly interactive, with the idea that everyone should have a place to ask questions and express their experiences and feedback in order to grow together in this practice.
Soft Armor (They/Them)
Soft Armor is a NYC based rope bottoms and self-tier who travels and ties in LA, Paris, and beyond. They found rope later in their life and immediately fell in love with the ways rope allows for explorations in their body-trust, art making, and interpersonal connection. As a queer, chronically ill rope model, they love to nerd out about pain processing, internalized ableism, and the ways that the containers we make together in rope can feel like "aftercare" for vanilla life.
Important Registration Information:
- All attendees must register and pay online, no admittance or registration at the door.
- Photo ID is required to be admitted and must match the Last Name listed in your online registration.
- You must be at least 19 years of age to attend Studio Friction events.
- No refunds or credits on cancellations within 48 hours of event (contact us for extenuating circumstances).
