Bisoku - The Slow Burn with Anna Noctuelle (improver and beyond)

Doors open: 6:30

Bisoku - The Slow Burn
How slowness drags our deepest desires into the light

We tend to treat rope as something we do — a sequence to complete, a suspension to reach, a shape to achieve.

Not here. In bisoku 微速 - a term borrowed from Butoh-influenced practice we'll make it hard. We'll slow the rope down until the goal falls away. And the second it's gone, something else moves in. The want beneath the want. The desire that only speaks once the noise has gone quiet. The tease that emerges from time, from gravity, from space. It is a different world, and it opens onto your innermost emotional landscape.

Slowness is not the soft option. It's the exposing one. At this pace there's nowhere left to hide. This is where "holding space" becomes literal, something you carry in your hands. But this is also the space where we dissolve and are being held, by time and space. A place we can just be in.

We'll work with ma, the silence between the notes, the pause before the inhale, the quiet before the storm, the space that allows creation, until a single moment cracks open into something vast. Until attention goes so total that time loosens its grip, and the rope seems to move both of you at once, rigger and model breathing as one.

In this class we will:

• Create intensity without escalation—discover how anticipation can become more powerful than action.
• Develop profound presence—cultivate a level of attention that changes how you experience rope, yourself, and your partner.
• Use space as a tool—explore ma, the charged interval where connection, emotion, and meaning emerge.
• Deepen non-verbal communication—allow rope, timing, gravity, and stillness to become active participants in the scene.
• Unlock richer emotional landscapes—access layers of vulnerability, longing, surrender, and connection that speed often conceals.
• Feel familiar ties in a completely new way - learn how to tie something that is familar with different intention, discover new details in the tie, become more versatile in expression

Come willing to go slower than is comfortable — and feel the tectonic plates shift.

Requirements
In this class, Anna will select the harnesses and sequence we will work with. The material can be adapted to a range of experience levels, but riggers should have a basic familiarity with Single Column Ties (SCTs), Double Column Ties (DCTs), and possibly a handful of simple harnesses.

The more techniques you have in your muscle memory, the more options you'll have available when responding in the moment. What's most important, however, is that you have at least a few ties that feel familiar—something you can execute comfortably without needing to focus on the pattern itself. This allows your attention to remain on the connection, the exercise, and your partner rather than on remembering the mechanics.

Models as well as riggers should bring curiosity, presence, and a willingness to engage with the exercises. This is far more important than technical knowledge.

This workshop focuses on awareness, observation, and connection. Models should be comfortable participating actively, giving and receiving feedback, and exploring subtle shifts in communication and emotional expression.

Whether you're new to rope or highly experienced, you will raise your ability to notice, respond, and stay present.

About the educator:
Anna Noctuelle has spent over twenty years in rope, teaching and performing internationally. She is versed across multiple Shibari lineages, giving her cross-traditional fluency spanning Aibunawa, Semenawa, and Fusion approaches. Grounded in classical dance, choreography, and somatic movement shapes a teaching style built on presence, emotional attunement, and making room for what people are most afraid to express. She is the creator of Shibari Score Notation, co-host of the podcast Model Behaviour, and co-founder of London's Studio Ma. She's the creator of Shibari Score Notation, co-host of the podcast Model Behaviour, and co-founder of London's Studio Ma. Beyond rope, her work spans Tantra, Reiki, somatic bodywork, and intimacy coaching. Her classes leave people with a moving mind and more articulate in embodied thinking - always rooted in safety, consent, and authentic connection → https://www.anna-noctuelle.com/

Tickets are non-refundable, as once they’re sold we often have a waiting list and are happy to help contact those guests to assist with reselling where possible🎟️💛. For our regularly occurring classes, we’re also very happy to rebook your ticket for a different date when needed 📅✨