The first times are always precious. It is raw, unadulterated, always memorable. Being a (ex) videographer / photographer, I have covered numerous plays, dance performances, musical spanning more than a decade. And I have always wanted to do something similar – to engage the audience and be part of the performing team.
It is not exactly my first time performance per se. I have been tying my models in front of people, for their private viewing pleasure and also mainly for photography group shoots since 2020. Even though I had mentioned it is a ‘performance’, it is mainly done in some big fanciful actions that looks pretty darn good on photographs. The model would just hang there, enjoying her suspension, smiling and the occasional posing when she is ‘floored’. All in a day’s work for a photography shoot out – shibari themed.
It was sorely missing a few things. For one, there wasn’t a real connection with the bottom. It is all acted out for the beauty of the event shoot. Then there wasn’t anything that I did that would excite the senses or pique the audience on the sequence, the tie, the connection, the pattern, the lighting, etc.
So when I went overseas for my ‘shibari pilgrimage’, I picked up a few things and with this blog, I finally cemented that I need to do a show. Something that I would be happy about as a first show. True, there are definitely things that I had learnt during the performance and I know how to improve on it. Be it lighting, the connection, the kind of sequence and even the speed of the 2 acts. But it is a good learning curve and it actually forces me, a usually shy introverted guy, to be more confident in his skills in front of people as well. (But once I warm up to you, you will know how crappy I can be in jokes). Moving forward, I believe I will be doing more shows, probably on a bi-monthly basis or if ever possible, monthly, as mentioned on my home page.
I am also happy that one of the audience, Akim (Not his real name, of course), written back to me about his thoughts / testimonial of the 1st performance night.
“She moaned ever so slightly as he tightened the ropes around her thighs. He caressed gently with his fingers, then went hard on the tension somewhere on her inner thigh, causing her to squirm and moan even louder.
I went for a Shibari performance yesterday, by a local rigger Sean and Ms S was the rope bottom. As a virgin to Shibari, it was a titillating experience for me, to say the least.
The location for the performance was at this weird warehouse building which was dark and mysterious, which really added to the mood. The performance was held in a studio, with Japanese motifs, wooden screens, a suspended bamboo pole hanging from the ceiling in dim cinematic lighting. Sean was friendly, and explained that he actually wanted to have a smoke machine to add on to the atmosphere but it wasn’t working anyway that day.
As for the show, yes, the sexual tension was exciting. There was no nudity, which was too bad, but frankly, nudity was not needed, and in fact might have distracted from the performance.
The performance was an intimate interaction between rigger and the rope bottom. There were two sets, with a short intermission in the middle. The first set was a display of technical rope tying, where the model was slowly hoisted up the bamboo pole. There was light teasing, slight spanking, and plenty of panting, it looked physically demanding on both rigger and bottom.
The second set felt even more sensual. That was what I described at the beginning, when you could feel a real connection between rigger and bottom. There was a push pull tension, where she played with him by trying to escape his efforts, and he had to be strict with her. He was teasing her, by going soft, then going hard, and as mentioned, there was no real intercourse going on, but there was massive mindf**kery going on, all set to a background soundtrack of Japanese songs, at one point, I recognized tracks Kitaro.
The performance was an oddly emotional journey watching this girl get tied up by a man. It was a raw feeling of trust between two people. I might be reading into it too much but I could see a lot of parallels with life. How did it feel to put your life in the hands of someone else? Much like movies like to portray the act of getting a shave from a barber, this is an act of vulnerability exposed, and pure surrender. As an audience member, you feel like you witnessed something raw, and very real, and uncomfortable, yet exciting at the same time.” – Akim
Instagram reel for my Act 1
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyLilPKub7U/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Instagram reel for my Act 2
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyN2oaxB0EN/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Nawa Kenshin 