Shibari suspension frame, bondage suspension frame.

Shibari bondage frame made by Handrolld of McKinney, Texas.

For a long time our friend Jahc has been trying to get us to come and do a performance at SWAMP in Bristol.  A long time in this instance being believe it or not about 5 or 6 years. What with one thing and another the timing has never quite worked out. So it was good to finally be able to do it. We really wanted to give a boost to the rope bondage scene down there and show them a style of bondage they hadn’t seen. Not just technique but the way that we interact and the kind of connection that can be achieved in shibari.

We were late in the day when we drove down on Saturday and it’s quite a long drive (about 160 miles each way) but the traffic and the roads were good and we made good time. Our hosts Jahc and vahine were kind enough to keep some dinner for us and we had a glass of wine and some excellent fish pie for dinner with some good conversation. We even managed to get to bed at a decent time as frankly everyone was pretty tired. We’d had an exhausting week so were glad to get a good night.

Sunday dawned wet and windy but on the bright side it also had plenty of coffee and a hearty breakfast kindly provided by our hosts. Nothing like a good cooked breakfast to start a busy day off right.

When the time came we pushed off to the SWAMP venue with all our bags of kit and our portable frame to get setup on their stage. Happily the frame fit the stage well and went up very quickly and easily. We were quickly ready with the stage setup and had a good discussion with SWAMP staff about light and sound. With our music and some nice light setup we went off to change.

All ready to go Jahc introduced us, our music started and we got on stage. Clover wore a full kimono and under kimono for this show and looked absolutely beautiful. Well I can’t give a blow by blow of the show, what really stands out in my memory is the intensity of feeling at the time, how great clover looked in the rope and in her suffering and how together we were in those moments. I can’t tell you how long the show was. Maybe someone can let us know if they paid attention to the time. That’s not really important though. The show had a really great feeling and that’s what mattered the most to us. Once again this is one of those shows were we wish we had pictures or video as a reminder and a memory of this unique moment.

All too soon we were changing cooling off and clearing up rope, taking down the frame, packing bags ready to go.

I really have to mention how kind people were at the event in coming up to us with their feelings about the show. You were all very kind and want you to know how much we appreciate your kind words. We’re very happy that everyone enjoyed the show so much.

So it was with a very good feeling that we left SWAMP to it’s play evening and headed off back to Jahc’s for a bit of dinner and a good chat before we headed back north and home again.

We were feeling very mellow on the way home and had really enjoyed the performance. We’re glad we were finally able to make it to SWAMP and hope to see the lovely people we met there again soon. Thanks for having us and thanks to Jahc for making it happen.