We – RopeMarks & the Shady Lady – are currently on an airplane that is taking us back to Amsterdam, after having spent five days at the Kinbaku Studio right in the heart of the beautiful city of Vienna. We’ve been quite the busy bees with a packed rope schedule and feel happy to go home inspired and grateful for all that we’ve done and experienced.
What have we done during our time in Vienna? Many things! We’ve hosted our first ‘Kinbaku Talks’ where we engaged in discussions with the participants about what is/isn’t kinbaku, RopeMarks’ professional rope experience throughout the years and the way we like to approach rope. It’s always a bit scary to run a new type of event for the first time, but it luckily turned out to be a success; very likely to be repeated at other places we’ll visit in the future! After the Kinbaku Talks we opened the studio’s regular rope jam with a short performance.
Next in line was our weekend intensive workshop on tying with bamboo. The studio has space for six couples, which made the atmosphere more intimate and allowed for interactive and personalized teaching that also takes the experience of the rope models into account. We’ve incorporated bamboo in our tying in a variety of ways; more sensual types of floorwork, static suspensions, some serious suspension transitions as well as a a full day introduction tying on a floating bamboo. We’ve tied bamboo to arms, upper legs, the belly, ankles… and could have tied it to many more body parts! We’ve used bamboo in ways that offer additional support for the model, ways that make a tie more challenging for the model and ways that create nice aesthetics.
We also had time for private tuition with and without bamboo. Private tuitions are always fun to teach because we can focus more on individual wants and needs. One of the students brought her big, fluffy and sweet dog along which provided an even more cozy, fun and at times distracting (hehe) workshop atmosphere.
pictures by Belial & the Shady Lady
Thanks to all the kind people at the Kinbaku Studio Vienna who have hosted us, made sure we were comfortable during our stay, took us out for food and drinks and shared conversations with us – I will not mention you by name, but you know who you are. Most of all, thanks to the participants of the events we’ve hosted. Thanks for the interactive discussions, your great questions, sharing your own experiences and learning together with us. We have learned a lot from you as well and hope to see you again in Vienna, Amsterdam or beyond!
Love, the Shady Lady & RopeMarks
„Why are you doing that?“
Not too long ago (red: March 2024), we had visitors from the Netherlands, RopeMarks and the Shady Lady. I immensely enjoyed their (red: bamboo) weekend workshop and Kinbaku Talks 🥰.
Since I attended the workshop as a model, I decided to go for some private lessons to up my rigging game as well. Before we started, I was terribly nervous. I think it’s very VERY hard to judge your own skill level, but I was somewhat confident I could have done the workshop exercises as a rigger as well. Still, there was the chance Bob would see that differently 🫣
However, after getting over the first nervous tremors, I had a wonderful time. Bob’s instructions were very clear and still left so much room to explore „my thing“ – whatever that is XD. Sora was a fantastic, patient model, and I had a lot of fun.
What really made me think, and I still have Bob’s voice in my head now, are two things:
„Why did you tie that way?“
I have to admit, I was very proud that I could give an answer to that every time he asked. Most times, it was not even a technical answer, just my reason for choosing one option over another.
„What would you do if you wanted to make it pretty?“
I’m very guilty of (safe) lazy decisions. Like not tucking away rope ends prettily. Bob made me aware – several times – that it only takes a few seconds more to do that. And now, I can’t un-hear him when I want to take the lazy path again 🙉
Overall, the private lessons gave me more confidence in my skills and new input to think about. Plus, a little Mr. RopeMarks in my head that scolds me for not tidying up a tie 😜
If you ever get the chance, taking a lesson with RopeMarks and The Shady Lady is for sure a good investment of time and money ☺️
Kinbaku Studio, Vienna | RopeMarks Ryu | RopeMarks Live | the Shady Lady | RopeMarks
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