This was our second visit to Memphis Tennessee USA and it was even hotter than the last time. That’s saying something. Coming over from a wet and windy UK it was more than a little bit of a contrast in conditions for us.

The first thing once we were at our hosts was to get some supplies, we looked on google maps and found a local Walgreens (I think it was a Walgreens) and headed off. Man it was hot! We noticed fairly quickly that we were getting some odd looks and that we were the only people walking. The walk was only 10 minutes but… Man you’ve got a lot of churches in Memphis! We must have gone past 7 in that 10 minute walk. Dudes! Insane! The walk was fairly uneventful but we did hear some gunfire! This is very unusual for UK people where guns are the exception not the rule. (Later that day when we our hosts got back we were told that that wasn’t the best neighbourhood and walking that way was probably a bad idea. They did register some surprise that we’d heard such a small amount of gunfire and yes, there are a fuck-tone of churches in Memphis.)

So anyway we’d gotten some sun block (Hey did you know that they aren’t allowed the chemicals in the USA that we are in the UK and that therefore our sunblock is much more effective?)  and bits and pieces. So suitably protected Clover decides to keep her training up and go for a run… and nearly dies of the heat and gets sunburned.
Protip: People from Europe, take sun block with you.

Happily our hosts had stuff for just such an occasion. Oceanpotion for the win there. (In a reversal of the sun block situation you can’t get a burn product like that in the UK, just one of life’s little ironies.) Happily this worked very well and Clover was just fine. It’s worth noting that she had factor 100 USA type sun screen on when this happened with a fairly short exposure.
Protip: People from Europe, get some to take home with you.

Anyway, on to the point of the trip, teaching and performing in Memphis!

The workshop intensive was a real pleasure and had a lot of familiar faces in it. Thanks everyone who keeps coming back for more, I really appreciate it. Each shibari intensive tends to find its own focus and energy depending on the needs of those attending. This one had a large focus on connection in suspension. This is a point where I want to particularly compliment the bottoms in the group as they spent a lot of time under pressure during the weekend.

The venue were great during the weekend and really went to laid on great hospitality providing great food and refreshment throughout. In every intensive all over the world we’re constantly impressed by the effort that goes into making these a success. We really appreciate it. Also had the rare for me bonus of getting my boots blacked, they were sorely in need of it and I would like to say a special thank you to the lovely lady who did it.

As well as teaching rope in the intensive we also did a show after the first day. We really enjoyed performing as usual and this time we got a bonus in some excellent pictures of the show with great lighting. That’s something that’s really hard to get in a show and setup like this but this one fell just right and we were really happy to have some great show photos. I gave Clover a hard time in the way she loves and she was beautiful in it.

Finally, click here to see the video of the nights shibari show. It was a good one but all you get is the go-pro footage of the shibari as that’s what we had with is. Still it’s not bad, hope you enjoy it!