The Control Enthusiast

Every so often a picture gets taken that can really show what tying can be like, in a moment. This is one of them, from last week’s Keyhole Session. Me, tying the Madame in preparation for her (sudden and unexpected) appearance in the last pose of the evening. I wish I could remember what we were saying.

Thanks to Nathaniel for the pics.

Tags: Images, Photography, Rope, keyhole by control
No Comments »

From last week’s Keyhole Session. Yes, that’s a leopard-print bikini top. It was a Wilma-and-Betty themed night. Click on the image to check out the other pics from the night.

Thanks to Nathaniel for the pics.

Tags: Images, Rope, keyhole by control
No Comments »

(That’s icing on her foot, by the way.)
Last Tuesday night marked the return of the Keyhole Sessions, after taking the month of December off to regroup and get ready for a new year. We’ve moved locations, and are now holding classes at the Great Hall, right on the corner of Queen and Dovercourt, here in Toronto. It’s a gorgeous room and a perfect match for us.
Having said that, I’ve got a LOT of catching up to do. First off I need to figure out how to make the lighting as good as we had it at our old space. It’s a less forgiving room, in a lot of ways… bigger, which is good ‘cos we need the space. Older, however, which means NO screwing into the walls. That makes things tougher. I have a feeling we’ll have it more together for this week’s upcoming session.
Our first session back was fun, I have to say – although I was less than impressed with my ropework. It felt half-hearted, and more than a bit sloppy. It’s amazing what tying at least once a week will do for me. I feel like I’ve somehow fallen WAY behind, with even just a month off of Keyhole. I didn’t do much tying of my own, in that time, for reasons I haven’t totally figured out yet. Suffice it to say, December was a hard month.
I am looking forward to seeing how the Keyhole Sessions grow this year. Actually I’m just looking forward to 2010 in general. In many ways I’m very happy to see the end of 2009. A lot of good happened for me this past year, but I’m not convinced right now that it balances out the massive amount of bad that also showed up.
I’ve never been one for resolutions. This year, however, I made a point of telling myself that, no matter what, I am not going to let any opportunities pass me by this year. I plan on taking the time and spending the energy to help build The Keyhole Sessions into what I think they can be.

Tags: Events, Images, Rope, keyhole by control
1 Comment »

From our last Keyhole Session of the season. We start up again on January 5th.
I miss being able to tie every Tuesday night…

Tags: Events, Images, Photography, Rope, keyhole by control
No Comments »

I’ve been invited to perform at ArtCore, a fundraiser being thrown by Good For Her in support of the 2010 Feminist Porn Awards. The show’s happening this Friday, November 6th at Bread & Circus theatre in Kensington Market. It’s at 299 Augusta, so just a little bit south of College and west of Spadina. Here’s a link to the Facebook Event page. It’s ten bucks, 19+ only (a licensed venue), and doors open at 8pm. It is shaping up to be a pretty fantastic evening, with a great lineup of videos and performances throughout the night by Dylan Ryan, Frances Mahon and Ab Horrence.

From Good For Her’s release:

“One person’s art is another person’s porn, and one person’s porn is another person’s art. ArtCore will look at art influenced porn and porn influenced art with video screenings and performances that laugh in the face of boundaries between the erotic and the artistic.

Featuring clips from both new directors and new work from Feminist Porn Award winning directors, this evening promises you’ll never look at fruit, hot dogs, Barbie dolls or fully clothed men in quite the same way again.”

I’ll be tying before the show, during the intermission, and after the show is done. I’m not sure WHERE I’ll be working… I have a feeling that’ll get sorted out on the night. Wherever there’s space, pretty much. Pictures will be posted after the fact, as long as permission is granted by each of the three models I’ll be working with.

Two of the models – Jen & Mara – I’ve worked with quite a lot at the Keyhole Sessions. In fact, both of them were there from the very beginning, and are not only familiar now with my style of tying, but comfortable with me, which is important. The third person, and first up in the evening, is my friend Laura who I’ve tied before in a demo-like situation and am looking forward to getting some rope on again.

When I was approached to take part in this event, and found out that they wanted me to tie, I was a little apprehensive at first. Frankly, I was worried about the optics of the whole thing. I wasn’t sure how me tying up pretty ladies fit in with the context of the evening, and I didn’t want to do it if it meant I was going to stick out as being THAT guy. After talking about it a bit with Chase & Alison, the organizers of both this event and the Feminist Porn Awards, we came up with a way to have the ropework fit into the context of the evening.

Each model is giving us a piece of writing, a few paragraphs at most, about how the act of being tied or being in bondage makes her feel stronger, more empowered or connected with her sexuality in a positive and healthy way. Each model’s piece will be printed large and displayed behind her, or just off to the side, while I’m tying so that the audience has a bit of an inside view on her experience. I’m hoping as well – and I’ll encourage this – that the models will interacting with the audience to a degree while they’re being tied. The last thing I want is for the models to be disconnected or passive. I want them to be engaged, both with the audience and with me.

I hope it works. I’ll of course be answering any questions the audience might have, as best I can. Not to mention live tweeting as often as is possible.

Tags: Events, Performance, Rope, keyhole, public by control
1 Comment »