workshop with yagami ren

i'm very grateful to have a fair amount of education from different styles/lineages under my belt, some of which has come from Japanese Kinbakushi's, from either the creator of that specific style or an official deshi (more thoughts on why this is important later). Yagami Ryu was unlike any rope i'd learned before. in very few words, his style focuses on two things: body handling, influenced heavily by martial arts, and sex. his ties are simple and "useful". aesthetically, he seeks clean lines and simplicity, with most ties focusing on the way that his models body exists in and reacts to the rope. to me, i perceived this as less "rope as a tool for xyz*" and more "rope as bondage, so xyz can happen". while most of the photos here are of suspension, that was very much not the focus of the workshop.

a bonus in the last photo: an interpretation of "rogue", in calligraphy by Yagami Ren-- a post workshop offering of thanks, each student getting a word of their choosing.

*xyz = torment? sex? both?

this is @anna.in.rope, at yugen studio in milan <3