2012 saw the 3rd edition (I think) of the London Festival of the Art of Japanese Rope Bondage, or the easier short name LFAJB no… LFJARB no… LFAJRB… no… yes… LFA and then some more letters of the alfabet.
For the earlier editions we never managed to come to an agreement for a RopeMarks presence, this time we did. For the first editions the festival managed to create high expectations online and now we got the chance to see it all for ourselves.
The festival itself consisted of workshop in the afternoon and continues shows (6?) in the evening for the duration of four days. Everything happened in one small space, the Resistance gallery, the shows took place on a small stage in there. Judging by the size of the place it started out with a Japanese feel to it for us. Japanese clubs and bars are _small_ by our European standards.
Since the place is not that big there is not much choice, you either participate in whatever is going on at the moment or you leave and go sightseeing London. Since not everything during the day had my interest and the London Fetish weekend fell in the same period as LFRAJB we indulged in some more kinks than just rope.
As mentioned, during the the evening there were shows, shows and shows. A continues stream of shows. I believe there were six shows per evening. To just blurt it out: Overall it didn’t live up to my expectation.
Now for some nuance in that remark. We were only present on the festival for two of the four days so I have not seen all shows. The one show for me that really stood out, the one show that was making me want to see what came next and next and next was the one from Shadow. I know Shadow for a long time now and the one thing that I truly admire in her is her originality and she did not fail me now. The festival attracted a few of the current riggers from the Western-scene that are very active at the moment, they showed solid rope work (some a little predictable).
One part of a show that pops in my head, was someone blowing in another persons ear. Now that could possibly be interesting to see if you have a front row seat but in the back of the room it is totally lost and you just see people sitting still for ages. This kind of thing is more a private play activity, not a show. More shows I saw would have fitted better during intimate play parties than a main stage. If I think hard I might come up with more examples (it’s been some months ago now). Generally the feeling that the shows gave me was that they had no place on a festival of the “Art of Japanese Rope Bondage”.
We were asked to do one show there, here is one shot from the beginning and one from the end
In conclusion, we had a great time, we met old friends, made new friends, definitely saw some interesting bondage, talked a lot of bondage (always good) and whether I watch a complete beginner or a long time rigger I always find something interesting/inspiring even if it is in the details.
As I mentioned in the blog, I wasn’t there all days so what I wrote was only about the days I was.
I do wish I could have seen Kazami live, that for me is the biggest plus of the festival, riggers big and small from around the globe all in one spot, simply brilliant.
It’s funny to hear that what impressed you most was the originality, that was the thing that disappointed me most, lack of originality… I saw at least two shows that were an exact copy (not details or similarities, copies) of a rigger that wasn’t present My opinion: if you can’t think of your own show why go on a stage?
It’s a shame you weren’t around for most of the shows. There were some excellent ones. What impressed me most was the originality of some of them. You missed Kazami’s dramatic breast suspension and Nina ending up suspended by me from a ‘shoelace’ (actually 750kg dyneema) in a large plastic bag.
I feel that you preferring the least authentically Japanese show of the festival says more about your preferences than anything. You would probably have hated last years Festival with such a large Japanese contingent 🙂 Anyway, it was great to have you & DD there.