In this session Caritia, Mamana & René will do a kickoff and introduce the Queerope 2021 conference. We will make sure that you have a soft start and can make the most out of the conference.

This session is only available for full ticket holders.

Details:

Format: talk

Minimum Knowledge Level: all

What to Bring: excitement, joy, patience, something to drink (don’t forget to drink!)

Solo or Partnered: both

Recording: no

This is a workshop on creative tying but with a serious side note of geeking out on tension, frictions and all the nerdy stuff.

We will look at the technical skill that you need for breaking the rules on walking your own path. You will get tools for creating your own ties that work for the body you are tying and the play you are planning.

model/partner: tba

Details:

Format: workshop/demonstration

Minimum Knowledge Level: intermediate (you need to be able to tie basic ties)

What to Bring: Rope, ability to communicate effectively with your tying partner

Solo or Partnered: both, partnered if you want to tie along

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit: Välke Unelma, insta @valke.unelma

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

Join fuoco in a class that is part demonstration and part guided discussion about the ways that we as bottoms can contribute to trust being built within a tying partnership, and also the things that help us understand when trust might not be a safe thing for us to offer. We’ll talk about this in two main parts: pick-up play and establishing trust within consistent, familiar partnerships.

For those bottoms who often engage in pick up play, we’ll discuss vetting a rigger in terms of what you can visually assess about their tying skills and how to negotiate according to what you see.

For established partners, we’ll discuss fuoco’s rule of “yes, and” as a tool you can use to measure whether or not skills can be scened with or need more lab time, and the ways that discussions like these can be constructive and trust building.

This class will also include a general discussion/sharing of the lessons that we’ve learned over the years as bottoms, and the ways that our feelings towards rope change and evolve over time.

Details:

Format: discussion/demonstration

Minimum Knowledge Level: all levels

What to Bring: –

Solo or Partnered: both, partnered if you want to tie along

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit: J. LOOM

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

This class is a hands on and theoretical upper chest harness for all levels who are interested in learn how to create a rope chest binder to flatten the area depending of which needs is required. The harness is designed to be suspendable but at the same time make it fun, practical and the person being tied feel secured and comfortable.

model/partner: tba

Details:

Format: workshop/demonstration

Minimum Knowledge Level: all levels

What to Bring: Participants are recommended to use as many ropes as possible and what feel comfortable to each model.

Solo or Partnered: both, partnered if you want to tie along

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit: Välke Unelma, insta @valke.unelma

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

In this class, Apikoros talks about vulnerability as a technical skill. In a series of participation based exercises, they draw on approaches from theatrical and movement arts to lead participants through intentional ways of communicating and experiencing vulnerability. In particular, Apikoros will focus on posture, movement, stance, and footwork as ways of modulating experiences of stability and instability.

Details:

Format: workshop / demonstration

Minimum Knowledge Level: all levels

What to Bring: you need space to move in

Solo or Partnered: both

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit: CityApril (Instagram) monoamorous_slut (Fetlife)

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

In this workshop Caritia will be offering practical fun ways to connect with and navigate play with those who are or enjoy brat energy / brat play.
Giving consideration to a rounded and communicated form of engaging in this type of dynamic – think power dynamics and diversity with limitation.

Details:

Format: workshop

Minimum Knowledge Level: all levels

What to Bring: Rope , questions

Solo or Partnered: both, partnered if you want to tie along

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit: Mamana

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

In this class, Ropespaced will go in-depth on nerve safety for rope bondage. They will discuss and demonstrate basic anatomy and physiology, with a focus on the nerves most affected in bondage. They’ll talk about the most common injuries seen and the mechanisms that cause them. We will discuss ways to reduce the risk of injury, ways to monitor your body during and after rope, and how to deal with and take care of an injury. There will be time for Q&A and, time allowing, a round-table discussion with participants sharing their personal experiences with nerve injuries.

Details:

Format: Lecture/Presentation

Minimum Knowledge Level: all levels

What to Bring: paper and pen to take notes

Solo or Partnered: both, partnered if you want to tie along

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit:

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” “Suspension is a bad idea for a fat person.” “Sorry, I think I’m going to ask that guy to tie me instead.” “Thanks for the advice, but…” Throughout the years we’ve been doing rope, Cait and Gigi have been told these phrases and many others that made them feel “less than.” We’ve been brushed off, scoffed at, not taken seriously, and told that we can’t or shouldn’t do rope the way we want to because of our size, gender, or both. In this suspension performance, we will prove the naysayers wrong and show the world that anyone can do beautiful, amazing rope.

Details:

Format: performance

Minimum Knowledge Level: all levels

What to Bring: –

Solo or Partnered: –

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit: griffin_207

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

This workshop focus is teaching one of the most comfortable ties for suspensions.

The Jiai is a versatile tie to use in different kind of bodies with comfort and safety, great to first experiences with suspensions.

Details:

Format: workshop

Minimum Knowledge Level: all levels

What to Bring: paper and pen to take notes

Solo or Partnered: both, partnered if you want to tie along

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit: Akira Nawa

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

Rope bondage and shibari are hugely popular today for individuals and subcultures exploring Kink and BDSM. Have you wondered where it comes from? Have you wondered how it’s developed in the distant and the recent kink past? Would you like to know about the cultural context in Japan? Are you a rope enthusiast who contemplates issues such as social justice, cultural appropriation, BIPOC kink experiences and cultural power of pleasure? What’s been lost in translation and what are the histories and influences that we’ve overlooked?

Midori authored the first English instruction book on Shibari in 2000, when it wasn’t so popular except for a small pocket of enthusiasts. The Seductive Art of Japanese Bondage became surprise best-seller and ground breaker. She teaches classes such as “Pink Japan: Sex and Taboo in Japan Today”. Recently she wrote “The History & Myths of Japanese Bondage: Censorship, Sex Work, and Othering in the World of Shibari” for Spectrum Boutique Journal and participated in the RopeCraft panel “Tangled: Asian American Women and Rope Communities”

Daughter of a Japanese Literature Professor, Midori was born and raised in Japan deeply loving the cultural complexity. She emigrated as a teenager to the US to pursue better opportunities. As a multicultural global citizen and a deep thinker in the realm of kink, she brings a unique perspective. Midori shares her personal truth as a world traveller and educator on the international stage with over 25 years of experience. This is an opportunity to learn the cultural context and historical background that has brought us to today.

Details:

Format: lecture/discussion

Minimum Knowledge Level: all levels

What to Bring: –

Solo or Partnered: –

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit: Michele Serchuk

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

The head is the microcosmos of our body, playing with and tying the head often results in strong sensations. Touching the face and the mouth feels like a taboo in the time of corona, and that’s exactly what we want to do. Let’s explore the possibilities of this body part full of sensory organs. Let’s restrict, penetrate, tease, overload and overpower.

Ceci and Kauri have been exploring the mouth together since spring 2019 and this workshop is the first public appearance of that exploration.

Details:

Format: workshop/demonstration

Minimum Knowledge Level: –

What to Bring: thinner rope or string

Solo or Partnered: both, partnered if you want to tie along

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit: Ceci Ferox

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

Often when we think of fetishization in bondage we immediately associate it with viewing the body or the ropes itself as an object of pleasure and arousal. What if our desire is not towards the body’s outer shell but at gazing at the hidden being within ?

This workshop is dedicated to the emotionality and psychological effects of rope bondage. We will be exploring ways in which to communicate and observe our partners, understanding boundaries, trauma, methods of exposure and we will also share our own personal approach to shame and objectification.

Details:

Format: workshop

Minimum Knowledge Level: all levels

What to Bring: rope

Solo or Partnered: both

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit:

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

This will be an introduction into hand- on, simple techniques using rope to calm, soothe and bring yourself or another person back into their body to ground and center.

Details:

Format: workshop

Minimum Knowledge Level: all levels

What to Bring: rope

Solo or Partnered: both

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit: Mamana

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

In this facilitated discussion, we’ll delve into genre. We’ll open by discussing queer modes of generic use and play, such as camp and disidentification. We will then proceed to discuss common rope genres and discuss different ways of approaching them. We’ll ultimately cover how scenes develop in conversation through genre. Participants will leave with practical ideas for new ways to tie.

Details:

Format: discussion

Minimum Knowledge Level: all levels

What to Bring: pen & paper

Solo or Partnered: both

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit: Daniel Apikoros

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

Explore ways to wake up your senses through rope bondage.

In this class, Midori will lead you through exercises to explore the feels, emotional textures and sensual potential in rope play.

Details:

Format: workshop

Minimum Knowledge Level: all levels

What to Bring: One piece of rope. If you have a variety of different textures and fibers, that would be better. If you do not have a variety, please use what you have.   Bring note taking tools as there will be writing activities. Wear clothing to allow for some amount skin exposure.

Solo or Partnered: both, partnered if you want to tie along

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit: Michele Serchuk

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

As a smaller bodied person, Misungui needs to work with the challenges of tying and suspending all types of models. Being smaller than those you tie, is often perceived as a weakness, a constraint, a problem to be solved.

In this workshop, Misungui proposes to turn small into a super power, an advantage and tool to find joy. They will offer suggestions and ways to use your body, it’s weight, it’s agility, as an additional torture tool in play sessions.

model/partner: tba

Details:

Format: workshop

Minimum Knowledge Level: intermediate (you need to be able to do safe suspensions, if you want to tie along)

What to Bring: –

Solo or Partnered: both, partnered if you want to tie along

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit: Zoé Bernardi

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

This performance highlights the special relationship I forged with Michel, plays with the contrast between our bodies and underlines the overthrow of patriarchal hierarchies: the young woman dominating the old man, the beauty tying the beast.

model/partner: Michel Rebelle

Details:

Format: performance

Minimum Knowledge Level: all levels

What to Bring: –

Solo or Partnered: both

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit: Mina Maure

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

In this workshop, Subay will demonstrate her interpretation of kata-ashi with variations for different body types and aesthetics. She will discuss the motive behind this tie and the techniques:

1. The requirements for the upper body harness in a vertical suspension
2. Level and balance in vertical suspension
3. Body mechanics
4. How to vary the tie in order to adapt to your rope bottom’s body type
5. Mainline management and aesthetics on a bamboo

Details:

Format: workshop

Minimum Knowledge Level: advanced

Prerequisites for rope top:

1. Ability to tie a safe gote or upper body harness that is suitable for vertical suspension

2. Ability to lock suspension lines safely

Prerequisites for rope bottom:

Understanding of basic rope safety, in particular regarding nerve damage

What to Bring: ropes, suspension point & partner if you wish to tie along

Solo or Partnered: both, partnered if you want to tie along

Class recording: no

photo credit: Touchwood

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

Explore Expositions, is a basic introduction to exploding minds and ropes designed by Pauline Massimo.

This advanced class only suitable for people who is really comfortable with suspensions as a model and as a rigger/self tying, and will show a introductory base set of transitions as example, then teach a explosive leg harness and a explosive suspension line.

In this class the risks of accident can be serious if not taken the proper steps. Attendees are advised to start slow, in a soft surface and use other base harnesses that are very solid and comfortable for their models/themselves.

Pauline will show first the explosive harness, and the explosive suspension line option of many by itself. Then they will give some tips about how to test those harnesses and lines the most safer possible way, and lastly they will demonstrate a short transition to use all of the taught content as a base to start playing around.

Details:

Format: workshop/demonstration

Minimum Knowledge Level: intermediate if you want to watch, advanced it you want to tie along. You must be advanced with suspensions as a self tying or rigger/model.

What to Bring:Can be done on ring/carabiner or bamboo. Soft mattress and highly recommended a experienced spotter while practicing. Cutting tool easily reachable in very necessary.

Solo or Partnered: both, partnered if you want to tie along

Class recording: no

photo credit: @jdasairas (instagram)

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

This session is the best of all worlds. We are coming together for a virtual bondage jam. Tie your partner and jam along. Or take part in a short guided session and then plenty of open space with Sophia. Sophia’s self tying session offers dedicated time and space to connect with ourselves to explore creative floor based self tying. She will gently guide self-tying folx into working with sensation, sound, breath and movement in ropes.

The session will then melt into a bondage jam with live music for all. Tie yourself or others or come watch and enjoy some community.

This session is open to all full conference ticket holders and Saturday day-pass holders

Details:

Format: bondage jam & guided self-tying session

Minimum Knowledge Level: beginner

What to Bring:  ropes, safety gear

Solo or Partnered: both

Class recording: no

photo credit: René de Sans

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

Kanna & Kagura are back to Queerope. In between their fundamentals series of workshops for Karada House and their new series coming up in March/April they offer us a semenawa performance.

“We would like to share the rope that allows us to express our individuality and sensitivity, while placing importance on the basics, practice, learning, and understanding of principles and theories.
We would be happy if you could feel even a little of the diverse, flexible, and infinite possibilities of Kinbaku through our rope!”
 

Details:

Format: performance

Minimum Knowledge Level: none

What to Bring: curiosity

Solo or Partnered: both

Class recording: yes

photo credit: KannaKagura

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

Gote, or ushiro takate kote, is one of the first ties we learn. Yet, it is also the tie that is the most difficult to master.

In this session, Subay will deconstruct the gote and discuss the following:

1. Stemmed gote vs stemless gote

2. Shoulder positioning

3. Wrists and arms positioning

4. Use of kannuki

5. How to know if your gote is suitable for a certain suspension

6. Gote variations for rope bottoms with different flexibility

Details:

Format: workshop

Minimum Knowledge Level: intermediate

Prerequisites for rope top:

1. Single column tie

2. Some knowledge and experience about gote in any style

Prerequisites for rope bottom:

1. Understanding of basic rope safety, in particular regarding nerve damage

What to Bring: ropes, suspension point & partner if you wish to tie along

Solo or Partnered: both, partnered if you want to tie along

Class recording: no

photo credit: Touchwood

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

hua hua and her model will perform a live improvised shibari performance together. Afterwards we will discuss with the audiences and answer questions on our show.

Details:

Format: performance/discussion

Minimum Knowledge Level: all levels

What to Bring: –

Solo or Partnered: both

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit: V Spot

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

This workshop is to create comfortable suspensions that are accessible for many different bodies – for example those that may be working through an injury, or those that love to be tied, but aren’t so much into pain!

The process of creating this kind of tie is can be slow, meditative and relaxing. Through doing it, we will also think a lot about understanding rope tension, and the balance of the body within ropes.

Details:

Format: workshop

Minimum Knowledge Level: all levels

What to Bring: It would be helpful if the participants had a large number of carabiners to work with – however, it is possible to adapt the principles of this tie to working on usual suspension point. participants should have a basic knowledge of managing suspension lines.

Solo or Partnered: both, partnered if you want to tie along

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit: Ceci Ferox

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

This workshop offers the prime tools for those who see themselves as “lazy dom/me” or “lazy actives”, in answering the question ‘How can I make my rope play simple, luscious and deliciously devious?’ Caritia will take you through DIY, practical and hands-on ways to include different types of predicament in your rope play.

Details:

Format: workshop

Minimum Knowledge Level: all levels

What to Bring: any of the following items plus rope – candle, water, rice

Solo or Partnered: both

Class recording: yes

This class will be recorded (only the facilitator, not the participants) and is available for ticket holders for 30 days after the event.

photo credit: René de Sans

The login details for this class will be sent to you via email shortly before the event.

QUEEROPE 2021 is a 5-day virtual conference for shibari/kinbaku/Japanese inspired bondage that is exclusively by and for LGBTQIA+ people and womên.

We welcome all roles (rigger/tops, model/bottoms, switches etc.), all knowledge levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and all styles to this gathering that aims to bring queer & female identifying practitioners together to celebrate their love for rope and exchange knowledge and experiences.

line-up:

– Akira Nawa & Luna Rope (Brasil)

– Apikoros (USA)

– Caritia & Bishop (UK/Germany)

– Ceci Ferox & Kauri (Finland)

– Fuoco (USA)

– Gestalta (UK) & Aleks (Germany)

– hua hua & datianshi 大天使 (China)

– Midori (USA)

– Misungui & Michel Rebelle (France)

– Pauline Massimo & Fabiana Iraci (Spain)

– Ropespaced & Koalafied (USA)

– Sophia Rose (UK)

– Subay (Hong Kong)

Get more info on the facilitators here

See the full time table here

Details:

– 5 days of virtual workshops, performances, demonstrations, discussions etc.

– 5 x 2 hour slots per day

– language: English

– conference aims to be held from 11.30am Berlin (2.30am San Francisco / 5.30am New York / 7.30pm Tokyo / 9.30pm Melbourne) to  10.30pm Berlin ( 1.30pm San Francisco / 4.30pm New York / 5.30am Tokyo /8.30am Melbourne) time

– all classes except for the classes of Subay and Pauline Massimo’s”Exploring Explosions” will be recorded and will be available for 30 days after the conference for all attendees to watch/re-watch.

Costs:

Conference tickets are valid for one person for the entire conference and include access to the recordings of all classes for 30 days after the event. We have different kinds of conference tickets:

Full Pass

Regular ticket: 150 Euros

Supporter ticket: 200 Euros (The 50 Euros added onto your ticket will subsidize our solidarity tickets with 50 Euros. For each sold supporter ticket we will add a solidarity ticket to the pot).

Solidarity ticket: 100 Euros

Pay-it-Forward-Ticket: 150 Euros – You pay this ticket forward and a person that cannot afford a ticket will benefit from it and get access to the conference and the recordings on your behalf.

Day Pass

Get a ticket for a single day of the conference for 50 Euros – To see which classes on are on what day, go to the Schedule on http://www.queerope.com

Single Class Tickets

Single classes are available for purchase, too. Single classes will cost 20 Euros per person and give access to the recording of that class for 30 days after the event.

For single class tickets go to the schedule on http://www.queerope.com and buy your ticket there.

FAQ:

How do you define “LGBTQIA+” & “womên”?

LGBTQIA+ describes the full spectrum of non-mainstream sexual orientation and/or gender identity meaning: lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, non-binary, genderqueer/fluid, queer, intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender.

Womên describes people who are identifying themselves as female in their gender identity. People that fit this category can be part of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum or not. We created this category specifically indicate that we also invite cisgender, heterosexual womên.

The word is our own creation and serves as a replacement for the word “womxn” which is now being (ab)used for transmisogynist statements. The ^ in womên represents a marker (similar to the “x” in womxn) that wishes to give emphasis to the fact that womênhood is an intersectional umbrella term that holds many different people and experiences and is not biologically predetermined.

I am not LGBTQIA+ and not a womên, can I still attend?

No, please respect that this particular event is not for you. There are lots of other events you can attend. But Queerope one is solely for people of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum & womên.

I cannot afford the ticket but would love to join. What do I do?

Send us a message via info@karada-house.de. If we have pay-it-forward-tickets available we will make it available to you. If we don’t we will put you in a waiting list or see what else we can do. Either way, we will find a way.

What platform do you use for the virtual conference?

We need to use Zoom as it is the only platform available that is affordable and stable enough for bigger groups. Please make sure you can fulfill the requirements for Zoom from your side to have a satisfactory experience.  We will do our best to make the zoom calls safe by engaging all possible security features. You do not have to turn your camera on and you can use any name you like.

The times don’t always work for me / I cannot attend everything I want…

That is why we will make recordings available to you, so you can watch & re-watch

If I share my computer with a person, is buying one ticket enough?

No. You are not paying for the computer access but for the knowledge that the facilitators and artists are distributing. Please respect that knowledge has a worth and should be compensated.

I am all alone at the moment and have no partner. Does it still make sense to participate?

Absolutely. There will be a variety of topics and skills and not all of them require a partner. You can learn a lot even just by listening and watching or trying things on yourself. We will also provide knowledge and possibilities for self-tying & suspension and other solo practices.