SHIBARI KINBAKU ART

LEVEL 7 /// THE SUSPENDED BODY II

MOVEMENT

Dynamic Full Suspension, Transitions & Drops

The Seventh Chapter of Tiger Nawa Ryū

Move through space.

Stillness reveals the suspended body.

Movement reveals how it transforms.

Level 6 introduced the body as a suspended composition: constructed, loaded, observed and held in space.

Level 7 begins when that composition moves.

The body turns, rises, descends, compresses, opens and transforms. Weight travels between different parts of the structure. Primary lines become secondary. Supporting lines receive the load. A small change in direction can reorganise the entire suspension.

Level 7 is a two-day immersion into dynamic full suspension, transitions, rotations, changes of height and controlled drops.

We explore the suspended body between forms—not only the positions themselves, but the physical, emotional and relational journey that connects them.

Movement may be slow or sudden.

Subtle or spectacular.

Tender or demanding.

A dynamic suspension is not simply a suspension performed quickly.

It is a suspension in which change itself becomes the material.

Rope becomes choreography.

The body becomes a moving structure.

Gravity becomes momentum.

“Let’s move together.”

FROM STILLNESS TO MOVEMENT

Level 6 teaches how to construct, load, observe and return the suspended body.

Level 7 asks:

What happens when a suspended form becomes the beginning rather than the destination?

How does the body move when one line is released?

Which line becomes primary?

Where does the weight travel?

What must be ready to receive the movement?

How does compression prepare the body for transition?

How do we transform a suspension without losing communication?

Each dynamic journey is approached through a progression:

Preparation.
Direction.
Loading.
Release.
Movement.
Reception.
Redistribution.
Continuation or return.

Transitions may be gradual or abrupt.

They may create softness, uncertainty, intensity, disorientation, surprise, surrender or spectacle.

The purpose is not to accumulate tricks.

The purpose is to understand how movement changes load, sensation, emotion and connection—and how those changes can be composed with intention.

WHAT YOU WILL DEVELOP

DYNAMIC-SUSPENSION FOUNDATIONS

• Moving from individual static forms into connected sequences
• Preparing structures for changing and directional loads
• Understanding movement as a transformation of the whole system
• Anticipating where the body will travel before initiating change
• Choosing when to move, pause, continue or return

LOAD DISTRIBUTION AND LINE HIERARCHY

• Understanding how load travels during movement
• Identifying primary, secondary and directional suspension lines
• Transferring responsibility from one line to another
• Unloading a line before adjusting or releasing it
• Recognising dependencies between different parts of the structure
• Managing tension while the body changes position
• Avoiding unintended acceleration and shock loading

TRANSITION THROUGH COMPRESSION

• Using compression to create support and temporary stability
• Folding and reorganising the body before extension
• Understanding compression as a transitional pathway
• Creating and changing rotational axes
• Working within compact shapes while redistributing load
• Moving from compression into opening, extension and release
• Reading how compression changes breath, sensation and emotional tone

ROTATION, MOMENTUM AND DIRECTION

• Initiating, guiding, limiting and stopping rotation
• Understanding different axes of movement
• Recognising how body shape changes rotational behaviour
• Working with momentum rather than reacting to it
• Using asymmetry to create direction
• Managing spinning and rotational tension
• Maintaining spatial awareness around the suspended body

CONTROLLED DROPS AND DYNAMIC RELEASE

• Understanding a drop as a planned redistribution of weight
• Preparing the starting position and receiving structure
• Working progressively with distance, direction and intensity
• Managing retained lines, slack and the arrest of movement
• Exploring drops through changes of height and orientation
• Recognising how acceleration changes force and sensation
• Communicating before, during and immediately after release
• Returning the body to a supported and readable state

READING THE BODY IN MOTION

• Observing the Ukete before, during and after each transition
• Reading breath, muscular tone, responsiveness and orientation
• Recognising fatigue, adrenaline, fear, excitement and disorientation
• Monitoring nerve, circulation, joint and pressure concerns during changing loads
• Understanding proprioception and active participation from the Ukete
• Recognising when movement is masking a developing problem
• Knowing when to pause, adjust, reverse or return

RHYTHM, SEME AND COMPOSITION

• Composing transitions through pace, contrast and repetition
• Moving between stillness and acceleration
• Creating anticipation through pauses and delayed release
• Using gradual and abrupt transitions to change emotional tone
• Exploring challenge, intensity, surrender and relief
• Integrating Aibu Nawa and Seme Nawa within suspended movement
• Composing for the lived experience as well as the visible image
• Recognising when spectacle serves the experience—and when it does not

CONTROLLED DESCENT AND RETURN

• Preparing the Ukete for the end of a dynamic sequence
• Managing changing loads during descent
• Bringing movement progressively back into stillness
• Preserving communication until the body is fully supported
• Treating the return to the floor as part of the composition
• Integrating release, recovery, reconnection and aftercare

DYNAMIC DOES NOT MEAN FAST

Dynamic suspension is defined by change—not simply by speed.

A transition may unfold millimetre by millimetre.

The body may slowly rotate as a line changes direction.

Compression may gradually reorganise the structure before the body opens into a new form.

At other times, movement may be immediate.

A line releases.

The body falls, turns or changes orientation.

The remaining structure receives the movement.

Drops, rotations and spectacular transformations are part of the vocabulary of Level 7, but they are not its only language.

A slow transition can be as intense as a sudden drop.

A small change in orientation can transform the Ukete’s entire experience.

A pause can carry as much meaning as movement.

The question is not:

How dramatic can the transition become?

The question is:

What does this movement create between us?

DAY 1 /// LOAD IN MOTION

Transition, Compression and Redistribution

Saturday /// 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Day 1 establishes the foundations of dynamic suspension.

We begin with the static suspended forms developed in Level 6 and investigate how they can become points of departure for movement.

Students learn to analyse the structure before initiating a transition:

Which line currently carries the body?

Which lines are supporting direction or orientation?

Which line can change?

Where will the weight travel next?

What must be prepared before anything is released?

We explore how primary and secondary suspension lines exchange roles and how compression can create a stable pathway between suspended forms.

The focus is on understanding each stage of a transition rather than moving through it mechanically.

AREAS OF STUDY

• Analysing starting and receiving positions
• Primary and secondary suspension lines
• Transferring load between lines
• Unloading, adjusting and reloading under tension
• Transitioning through compression
• Creating temporary stability inside movement
• Progressive changes of height and orientation
• Introducing rotational movement
• Coordinating the sequence and timing of line changes
• Active participation and body organisation from the Ukete
• Pausing, reversing and returning from a transition
• Communication throughout changing loads

The objective is not to move as much as possible.

It is to make every change understandable, intentional and connected.

DAY 2 /// RHYTHM, RELEASE AND TRANSFORMATION

Drops, Rotation and Dynamic Composition

Sunday /// 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Day 2 expands dynamic suspension into more complex, expressive and dramatic territory.

We explore how transitions can be connected into complete suspended journeys using direction, rhythm, contrast, rotation, compression, release and changes of height.

Controlled drops are introduced progressively as one form of dynamic transition.

A drop is not simply the act of letting go.

Its beginning, direction, distance and receiving position must be understood. The lines that remain must be prepared to receive the movement, and the Bakushi must remain attentive to the body’s physical and emotional response.

Some transitions may be fluid and almost continuous.

Others may be abrupt, intense or spectacular.

The visible transformation matters—but so does the experience travelling through it.

AREAS OF STUDY

• Connecting multiple suspended forms
• Dynamic changes between face-up, lateral and face-down orientations
• Transitions into and out of inversion
• Compression, extension and release
• Rotational transitions and controlled spinning
• Directional changes and moving axes
• Controlled drops and changes of height
• Managing retained lines and receiving structures
• Rhythm, repetition, pause and acceleration
• Gradual transitions and sudden transformations
• Building emotional and physical intensity
• Composing dynamic sequences
• Improvising from structure rather than reproducing choreography
• Returning from movement with control and connection

Selected transitions, rotations and drops are adapted to the experience, readiness, communication and bodies of each pair.

The original Tiger Nawa Ryū progressions, transition pathways, drop systems, adaptation methods and troubleshooting processes are taught inside the room and are not published as a public syllabus.

SPECTACLE AND EXPERIENCE

Dynamic suspension can be visually extraordinary.

A turning body can transform the space around it.

A drop can create a moment of shock, beauty, fear or release.

A sudden inversion can completely alter the emotional direction of a scene.

We do not reject spectacle.

We learn how to give it meaning.

Spectacle becomes powerful when it emerges from structure, intention, trust and shared readiness.

The goal is not to create an impressive image at the expense of the person inside it.

The goal is to bring image and experience together.

Spectacle becomes one possibility.

Transformation remains the centre.

THE TIGER NAWA RYŪ METHOD

Learn the elements. Understand their function. Experiment. Discover. Create.

Tiger Nawa Ryū is not built around reproducing your teacher’s rope.

Its teaching is influenced by maieutics: the Socratic tradition in which the teacher creates the conditions through which understanding can emerge.

We learn through questions, observation, experimentation and discovery.

Instead of only asking:

How do I reproduce this transition?

We begin asking:

Where is the weight now?
Which line is primary?
Which line can change?
What happens when this line releases?
Where will the body travel?
What must be ready to receive the movement?
How is the Ukete responding?
Is the movement serving the experience or only the image?
Should we deepen, pause, reverse or return?

The goal is not to reproduce Lola’s rope.

The goal is to understand suspended movement deeply enough to compose your own journeys.

THE TIGER NAWA RYŪ JOURNEY

LEVEL 1 /// THE ART OF THE ROPE

Foundations & First Forms
Learn the language.

LEVEL 2 /// TIGER AIBU NAWA

Connection, Pleasure & Feeling
Learn to listen.

LEVEL 3 /// TIGER SEME NAWA

Challenge, Intensity & Transformation
Learn to deepen.

LEVEL 4 /// TIES & SHAPES VOCABULARY

Bodies, Forms & Composition
Learn to compose.

LEVEL 5 /// HAN YUKA ZURI

Partial Suspension & Transformation
Meet gravity.

LEVEL 6 /// THE SUSPENDED BODY I

Stillness, Static Full Suspension & Orientation
Find stillness in space.

LEVEL 7 /// THE SUSPENDED BODY II

Movement, Dynamic Suspension & Transitions
Move through space.

LEVEL 8 /// HASHIRA

Mastery, Integration & Personal Language
Make it your own.

Eight Chapters. One Evolving Language.

Each chapter builds upon the last, moving from foundational mechanics towards connection, challenge, composition, gravity, suspension, movement and personal expression.

YOUR SENSEI

LOLA TIGER NAWA

Lola Tiger Nawa is the founder of Ropejam Studio and creator of Tiger Nawa Ryū.

Lola’s relationship with rope began through competitive sailing in childhood, long before rope became an artistic, relational and philosophical practice.

More than twenty years of dedicated Kinbaku practice have brought together creative self-exploration with the study of Japanese rope disciplines.

Lola’s practice draws from Ippon Nawa, Aibu Nawa and Seme Nawa. Studies include internationally recognised teachers Osada Steve, Yagami Ren, Kazami Ranki, Jyuubei and Tenma Haru, alongside inspiration from Osada Eikichi, Yukimura Ryū, Akechi Denki, Nureki Chimuo and Seiu Ito.

But rope is only one part of Lola’s creative language.

A philosopher, filmmaker, artist and creative director, Lola’s work explores perception, human experience, expression and the relationship between ideas and form.

A background in electronic music brings rhythm, composition, tension, repetition, silence and improvisation.

More than thirty years of yoga practice and teaching contribute an understanding of anatomy, movement, breath, body awareness and presence.

These disciplines converge in Tiger Nawa Ryū.

Physics and body mechanics provide foundations.
Japanese Kinbaku provides history and vocabulary.
Philosophy asks why.
Art and filmmaking inform composition and perception.
Music brings rhythm and flow.
Yoga brings awareness of body, breath and presence.

Together, they form an approach to rope as technique, structure, communication, human experience and art.

WHO CAN ATTEND?

This is an advanced Level 7 course.

Completion of Tiger Nawa Ryū Level 6 is strongly recommended.

Equivalent experience acquired elsewhere may be suitable when participants already have confident and consistent experience with:

• Single and Double Column Ties
• Structural chest, hip and leg ties suitable for suspension
• Suspension uplines, Y-hangers and directional tension
• Static full suspension in several body orientations
• Load distribution and tension management under full load
• Primary and secondary suspension lines
• Adjusting and transferring load between lines
• Reading and monitoring a fully suspended body
• Controlled lowering and emergency response
• Consent and communication under physical and emotional intensity

The Bakushi must be able to construct, manage and return static full suspensions without continual instruction.

The Ukete should already have experience of being fully suspended in different orientations and be able to identify and communicate changes in sensation, circulation, nerve response, breathing and emotional state.

Please contact Ropejam Studio before booking if you have not completed Level 6 or are unsure whether your current experience is suitable.

The course is practised in pairs.

Please attend with the person you will work with throughout the weekend.

Existing trust, clear communication and familiarity with one another’s responses are essential for this level.

CONSENT AND SAFETY

This course includes dynamic full suspension, changing loads, rotations and controlled drops.

Dynamic suspension introduces additional physical and emotional risks. Momentum can increase force, load can change rapidly and the body may travel in ways that are difficult to interrupt once movement has begun.

Particular attention is given to suspension structure, shock loading, retained lines, body orientation, breathing, joints, nerves, circulation, pressure, fatigue, panic responses, dizziness, disorientation and the space surrounding the suspended body.

No rope practice is universally safe.

Risk changes with the body, structure, position, pressure, duration, direction, speed, movement, health history and many other factors.

Every transition is developed progressively.

Drops are introduced through preparation, reduced movement and controlled progression before greater distance or intensity is considered.

Participation in particular transitions or drops depends on the demonstrated readiness, experience and communication of each pair.

The tutor may ask participants to modify, slow down or discontinue a suspension when it is not appropriate for their experience, communication or physical condition on the day.

Unplanned drops, uncontrolled rotations, competitive risk-taking and movement beyond the readiness of the participants are not taught or encouraged.

Every dynamic sequence includes a planned descent and controlled return to the floor.

The studio is a sober learning space.

INCLUSION

Ropejam welcomes people of all genders, sexualities, bodies, identities and relationship styles.

We are proudly LGBTQIA+, FLINTA+, queer, trans, non-binary and BiPOC inclusive.

At Ropejam, difference is not something we simply accommodate.

We celebrate it. 🌈

Discrimination, harassment and coercive behaviour are not tolerated.

LIMITED CAPACITY

The course is limited to eight duos.

Keeping the group intentionally small allows every pair sufficient space, access to suspension points and individual guidance.

Early booking is recommended.

PROGRAMME

Saturday
11:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Sunday
11:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Lunch each day
1:30 PM to 2:30 PM

Please arrive 15 to 20 minutes before the course begins.

WHAT TO BRING

Please bring:

• Approximately 10–12 suitable ropes
• Two to four shorter ropes, if available
• Safety shears or another appropriate rope-cutting tool—required
• Water
• A warm layer and socks
• Any personal comfort or aftercare items
• An optional notebook

Limited communal ropes may be available.

Please contact Ropejam Studio in advance if you need equipment guidance.

Premium Japanese jute rope is available to purchase from the studio, subject to stock.

WHAT TO WEAR

Wear comfortable clothing that allows freedom of movement.

Close-fitting, non-slippery layers are recommended because they make rope placement and bodily responses easier to observe.

Clothing should remain stable during inversion, rotation and changes of orientation.

Consider personal skin sensitivity and the pressure created by rope when choosing clothing.

Vanilla, expressive or kinky clothing is equally welcome.

Come as yourself.

REFRESHMENTS

☕ Tea and herbal teas are available throughout the course.

Please bring your own lunch and snacks.

Cafés, supermarkets and restaurants are within walking distance of the studio.

📍 HOW TO FIND US

Ropejam Studio
Unit 2, 7 Fountayne Road
London N15 4QL

⚠️ Make sure you go to Fountayne Road N15, not N16.

Enter through the courtyard at number 7.

The metal and glass courtyard door is open.

Go inside and follow the corridor on your right.

Unit 2 is the second door on the right.

There is no need to ring or message when you arrive.

If you get lost, WhatsApp or call:

07772 955 639

🚇 TRANSPORT

Victoria Line: Seven Sisters—use the High Road/buses exit—or Tottenham Hale.

Overground: South Tottenham on the Suffragette Line or Seven Sisters on the Weaver Line.

Approximately 10 to 13 minutes’ walk.

Stansted Express: Liverpool Street to Tottenham Hale takes approximately 15 minutes.

Stansted Airport to Tottenham Hale takes approximately 36 minutes.

MOVE THROUGH SPACE

The line releases.

The body travels.

The structure changes.

The relationship moves with it.

Stillness becomes movement. Movement becomes transformation. Transformation becomes rope.

Discover the Art of the Suspended Body in Motion.

Unconditional Rope Love 🖤🪢