Asiana & Door – Announcing presenters

Door is a kinbaku model and a connoisseur of pain, especially emotional. She loves how kinbaku emphasises and fetishises the beauty of the struggle, the suffering and the resignation, and most importantly, the sacrifice the model makes for her rope top.

Asiana‘s love for kinbaku started in 1996 when she saw the first images online. Since then she’s continually discovered and developed her own style. She can tie very old skool, having studied with many Japanese teachers, but also very experimentally. Sharing her passion with others is what she loves to do. The endless possibilities of using rope are still fascinating to her. Door has been her regular partner since 2018.

Find out more about them at Instagram @eileen.ropelounge and @door_kinbaku.

Workshops

Tension & presence

(Workshop level: L2-3)

In this workshop we will teach essential intangible rope skills: tension and presence. We will explain our views on the different aspects of tension and how they translate into intense rope sessions. We will also explain what we mean by ‘presence’ in ropes and why we think it is so important. We will illustrate the theory with practical exercises.
This workshop is advised as a pre-requisite to the workshop ‘Concept of Ma’ in ropes later on.

Prerequisites:

• Rope top: able to tie a sustainable upper body harness, good rope and body handling.
• Rope bottom: familiarity with how their body feels in an upper body harness of choice, being able to monitor their safety in ropes and communicate clearly when something is not right.

Goal of the workshop: Maintaining presence throughout a rope session, understanding different aspects of tension in ropes and how to apply them successfully.

Semenawa & semi-suspension

(Workshop level: L3)

We will explain our approach to semenawa and how it can be applied in a semi-suspension. We will illustrate different flavours of semenawa with exercises and share what we particularly like about semi-suspensions and the unique challenges related to them, both from a rope top and rope bottom’s perspective.

Prerequisites:

• Rope top: able to tie a sustainable upper body harness, preferably knowledge of a TK and a strappado, know how to tie off uplines from both bamboo & single point.
• Rope bottom: familiarity with how their body feels in an upper body harness of choice, preferably familiarity with their body in a TK and a strappado, being able to monitor their safety in ropes and communicate clearly when something is not right.

Goal of the workshop: understanding Asiana and Door’s approach to semenawa, understanding different flavours of semenawa, understanding the possibilities and challenges of semi-suspensions.

Concept of Ma

(Workshop level: L3)

This workshop completes the topics touched upon in the workshop ‘Tension & presence’ and it is beneficial to follow them in combination. In it we will discuss the Japanese concept of Ma and explain why we think it is an indispensable element of a rope session. We will also show how we apply it in our approach to rope and present exercises in which the participants will be able to explore it for themselves.

Prerequisites:

• Rope top: able to tie a sustainable TK, able to tie a multi-step tie involving uplines.
• Rope bottom: familiarity with how their body feels in a TK, being able to monitor their safety in ropes and communicate clearly when something is not right.

Goal of the workshop: Improving understanding of the concept of Ma, being able to apply Ma in a session.

Old-school semi-suspensions for play

(Workshop level: L3)

This workshop is inspired by the images of old-school Japanese rope porn from the golden age of kinbaku photography. We will discuss the appeal of certain aesthetics and positions and explore some of them in playful ties based on old-skool shapes. We will also explore body manipulation techniques when the rope bottom is partially or fully immobilised.

Prerequisites:

• Rope top: able to tie a sustainable TK, know how to tie off uplines from both bamboo & single point.
• Rope bottom: familiarity with how their body feels in a TK, being able to monitor their safety in ropes and communicate clearly when something is not right.

Goal of the workshop: Understanding Japanese porn aesthetics, exploring playful ties, improved body handling, improved rope bottom’s body awareness when manipulated partially on the floor.