2023 Headliners & Presenters

HEADLINERS

Otonawa and Tsubasa Wing

photo credit to https://www.patrick-siboni.com/shibari

Shibari Bamboo Suspension

Otonawa, is a kinbakushi, comedian, and professional wrestler who currently teaches at the Ichinawa-ka. He also manages the Titty Twister, an SM & Fetish Bar in Shinjuku. He and his partner Tsubasa Wing have experience teaching workshops and performing in over 20 cities in 11 countries. 東京の新宿　歌舞伎町でBDSM &fetish BARの経営をしています。 https: // www. tittytwister. jp/ お店情報を拡散お願い致します🙇 世界中の皆様が東京へ来た際は遊びに来て欲しいです！ 宜しくお願い致します🙇 I run a BDSM & fetish bar in Kabukicho, Shinjuku, Tokyo. https://www.tittytwister.jp/ Please spread the shop information 🙇 I want people from all over the world to come and visit us when they come to Tokyo! Thank you for your support 🙇

Lew Rubens

A leading experienced bondage, suspension & rigging artist who draws from Fetish Fine Art, Western Bondage, and Damsel in Distress, culminating in ‘Lewbari. Lew Rubens has a love and passion for bondage that shows in his work. Known mostly for his wild suspensions, Lew joined the public side of BDSM play spring of 2001 and started his first website, BoundNDetermined.com, and started teaching his unique simple bondage style which he branded as “Lewbari” the other “bari” A few years later Kink.com made him an offer he couldn’t resist, and he began running Waterbondage.com for them from winter 2006, through spring 2008. Later moving into a “Bondage Consultant” position for a prestigious company. On his own again now, Lew is concentrating on his “Lewbari Weekend.” Which is a weekend-long bondage teaching seminar that takes people from beginning bondage through the basics of suspension in ONE WEEKEND!! When not teaching Lew concentrates his time on video production and his new product store: TheLewbariStore where he showcases his wild n crazy inventions along with many other bondage and BDSM-related fun toys. Lew has presented his workshops and demos of his unique style at many BDSM and bondage industry events throughout the US, Canada, Austria, Jamaica, Germany, Spain, Australia & Rome. Lewrubens.com thelewbaristore.com clips4sale.com/store/43245 clips4sale.com/studio/194447/burbling-babes/Cat4-BONDAGE

INVITED PRESENTERS

MonkPunk

Ley David Elliette Cray, Ph.D. (she/they) is an author, activist, advocate, and educator. She is the LGBTQIA+ Curriculum Coordinator for the Sexual Health Alliance as well as the founder of Transentience Coaching, through which she offers adaptable amalgamations of philosophy, exploration, trauma-informed embodiment practices, and neuro-inclusive mindfulness to aid clients through their personal reflections on gender, sexuality, relationships, identity, and authenticity. She is currently based in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where she watches a lot of horror movies with her cats.

John Eaves – aka “Jeaves The Bastard”

John Eaves – aka “Jeaves The Bastard” – is a Dallas Texas native flesh hook suspension practitioner and founding member of Bastard Child Suspensions. As a lifelong fan of the macabre, niche, and strange in life – it didn’t take long for Jeaves to find the body modification community where he met his mentor (and godfather of hook suspension) Allen Falkner and it was off to the races! As Allen’s team TSD became inactive, Jeaves started “Bastard Child Suspensions” which is currently being run by ‘Head Bastard’ Liz Ringo and still meeting monthly to suspend first-timers in the Dallas area today. For 12+ years, Jeaves’ has been actively working to suspend others in stage performances, private ceremonies, and group training sessions. His passion has allowed him to work alongside and learn from piercing industry professionals, Cirque du Soleil lead riggers, medical professionals, and touring artists such as Stearc and Janes Addiction. He’s been on television in Japan, and the subject of multiple documentaries, most recently “The Suspensionists.”

While he has formally passed the title of ‘Head Bastard’ to Liz Ringo, Jeaves’ passion for hook suspension has only increased. He now focuses largely on performative, ritualistic, and artistic suspensions. On a personal note: bragging about his accomplishments wigs Jeaves out. You can find him at home with his family, and 4 dogs, bragging about how he platinum’d all the Dark Souls games instead.

Danarama

In his 26 years as a lifestyle Dom, performer, and BDSM educator, Danarama’s experience includes three years as Director of Kink.com‘s educational site, Kink University, and has continued teaching BDSM and sex/intimacy classes online and at worldwide conferences. He is also a founding member of the Two Knotty Boys rope bondage instruction duo, co-teaching workshops since 1999, co-author of two best-selling rope bondage books, and rigger/director/performer in hundreds of fetish and instructional videos. Dan has also co-directed and performed as a Dominant for other websites including Sex and Submission, The Upper Floor, Dungeon Sex, and Sexually Broken.

Fetlife: Danarama
Twitter: @danaramasf
Website: CreativeBDSM.com
KinkUniversity: bit.ly/DanKU

Accepted Presenters:

Tempo

I love the music and dancing, which translates into my play. I coined the term “Tempo Top,” which means I’m a Top who beats to the beat and plays to the rhythm. Scening without music is a soft limit.
Tempo (He/Him) is a traveling top who has a passion for learning, education, and kink. Specializing in rope play and impact play, he travels to various communities and other countries to expand his knowledge of kink. Tempo has presented for venues, like Studio Friction in Denver, CO; Studio Theory in San Antonio, and large events across the country including North American Rope Innovation Exchange, Ropecraft, Frolicon, and Tethered Together. As a former teacher for a regionally accredited college, Tempo shares his knowledge of teaching practices to help other kink experts share their skills. True to his name, much of his play involves weaving music into his scenes.

TheDude & BetwixtBlushes

TheDude and BetwixtBlushes have been tying for 12 and 7 years respectively. They’re both giggly goofballs who enjoy the meaner side of rope. You can expect both of them to be grinning in several moments of the scene. Thanks to the efforts of Denver Rope Bite, they both had the opportunity to learn from rope educators around the world. They often teach and perform at various Denver venues, and the occasional convention.

ScorpianaRB

ScorpianaRB is a Rigger, Switch, polyamorous Philadelphia native, Physical Therapist, Geriatric Specialist, and parent of two superheroes in training. She is a Homecare Physical Therapist and adjunct professor, mentor, and advisor for a Physical Therapy Doctoral program at a local University. Her work primarily focuses on the health, wellness, and rehabilitation of aging adults. When she’s not grappling with maximizing the functional mobility of the acutely ill geriatric population, she spends her time reading, enjoying all the variety of food Philadelphia has to offer, spending time with friends and partners, and tying people up for fun. She has been active in the local polyamory and kink communities with her focus being on education, inclusivity, diversity, and advocacy for POC. Rope, topping, and bottoming, including suspensions is her main kink interest. She enjoys incorporating her training as a Physical Therapist into making rope and kink accessible for all body types and abilities.

OkieNawa

OkieNawa (or Okie) has a passion for both Western and Japanese-style rope bondage. He has been a leather titleholder as well as a leather contest producer. He has studied kinbaku in Japan and in the United States. Okie helped to found the following groups: Kinbaku OKC, Kinbaku KCMO, and Rope Bite KCMO. He has presented, judged, or performed at over 100 BDSM, Leather, or Rope events since 1999. For the last few years, he has taken on the role of mentor, (aka old guy) and spends time mentoring a few, but being a resource to others.

March & VioletBights

March(she/her) is a curious student of rope as a medium for power, vulnerability, pain, and release. In her teachings, March strives to facilitate personal growth and relational resilience through consent and communication. After a hard and fast fall into the rabbit hole in 2015, she
identifies as an ever-evolving rope enthusiast and can often be seen teaching and performing nationally, as well as organizing community events locally. March has taught for organizations such as Tethered Together, Harvard University, Chicago People of Color, Boston Rope Collective, Carter Johnson Library, Wellesley College, New England Rope Education Network, Anomaly Kink, Rednawa Studio, New England Erotic Hypnosis Unconference, and Boston The Next Generation.
Violet (she/her) is a femme rope switch from Western Mass. She has a passion for eliciting pain, tenderness, and raw vulnerability through rope bondage. While not in rope, Violet works in the mental health field with fellow queer and neurodivergent youth. For fun, you can find her geeking out about the ritual of negotiation and building systems of community care while taking care of her plants.

Jake Wing & River

Jake Wing has been a rope bondage aficionado for a very long time. He ran a bondage website in the early days of the internet. He’s been active in the Austin community and is one of the leaders of Austin Rope Slingers. He has taught or been on staff at several national events.
His teaching style is to simplify and de-mystify. He wants you to walk away from any class he teaches with new practical skills or new clarity of thought.
He’s done this often enough to be confident. He’s screwed up often enough to be careful. This is not his first rodeo.
River (Sleepless_Siren) loves to discover new things and will try anything once. They have been participating in rope and bondage for around 6 years now, starting rather experimentally in the DFW scene. River was pleasantly surprised with the supportive, diverse community that they have found since moving to Austin, Texas in 2018. River was quickly introduced to Austin Rope Slingers, one of the rope groups in the area, and has been having a blast participating in rope labs and related events since. River enjoys sharing their experiences as a queer/non-binary person within the kink community, as well as finding ways to incorporate their passions for nature and bondage together. They’ve also been gaining experience through teaching opportunities, both with groups and individuals, with classes relating to rope bottoming, rope safety, objectification, power exchange, and edge/fear play.
River enjoys the fun of making art for self-expression, and the mental/physical challenge of enduring rope predicaments in order to accomplish a task or overcome an obstacle. The lessons they learn through BDSM and rope carry throughout their life where on any given day they are an active environmentalist, mythology buff, and overall cynic who enjoys spending time exploring the outdoors, meeting common-minded folks, and reading voraciously.

Jake Kinbaku & Britlocs

JAKE, Houston greybeard hedonist, began exploring kinbaku in 2003, and will forever be a student of rope & people. Active around Texas, available to travel anywhere rope lovers want him, he enjoys sharing
his enthusiasm with others who grok this playful artform. JAKE is a “John Chapman of rope” who loves introducing newcomers to kinbaku, hoping to demystify it for those claiming to be all thumbs. Reminds longtime kinky folk that it sometimes really can be “all about rope”. Primary interest: helping his rope partners feel even more beautiful. Examine his work/play on FetLife profile @JakeKinbaku.

Past Presentations: AtlantaBound (2008,2009), DFWBound (2009,2010,2013,2015), HPEP (2010), FetishFairFleamarket (2011), BondageExpoDallas (2013 ~ 2017), TwistedRigging: RopeBiteOmaha (2013), SanAntonioRopeGroup (2014), SeptemberSurrender (2014), TulsaRopeInterestedPeople (2014,2017), BCSRopeRowdies (2014), SouthAustinRope (2014), CoastalBendRopeBondage (2015), KinkyRenFest (2016),
Beyond Vanilla (2018)

Britlocs is from Houston TX. She is originally from England and grew up in NYC. She has been in BDSM since 2018 and fell in love with Shibari and bondage from the first image she saw. Britlocs quickly found herself as a submissive rope bunny and centered herself while floating in ropes. In 2021 she decided to learn more about tying and began her journey as a rope switch. It has been an amazing journey so far.

Gentleebrutal & Pedalgirl

Gentleebrutal: I was introduced to the world of kink in 2012. Rope was my entry point into this world and since then my passion continues to keep growing. I love the intimacy, connection, and trust one can build within rope and a person. The energy and creativity I receive from these moments are an endless journey of growth and discovery. I am lucky enough to have had great mentors that have taught me the beauty of Kinbaku.

Pedalgirl: The world of kink has opened up an amazing journey in my life and when I discovered rope it quickly became a huge enjoyment of mine. The place it takes me, along with the challenge, is a blissful feeling. I love the animalistic energy I feel flowing through me and the joy I receive from pushing and continuing to learn new things. Connecting, growing, and energy are very important to me and I love when that comes through in my ties.

Gentleebrutal and PedalGirl have taught intensives, privates, and performed together locally/ at different venues all over the US. We find our rope to be connective, fun, creative, and splashes of a sadistic style with lots of delicious sounds. We enjoy safely pushing boundaries and discovering all the wonderful things that come with creating. Rope has been a space for us to continue to grow and share with others around us. From teaching to just tying us two, it has been a wonderful connective growing journey.

Cecilia T. Winters & Fischer Garrett

Cecilia T. Winters (‘CTW’ – She/Her) is your typical queer Millennial. Born at the start of the internet age, she has always benefited from information at her fingertips. She identifies as bisexual and ethically non-monogamous. She has served as a dungeon and playspace monitor, a demo top for a number of local and national kink events, and as a presenter. Her non-kink interests include reading, making lists, watching early 2000s crime dramas, and learning about ancient human cultures.
Fischer Garrett (‘Mister’ – He/Him) is a bisexual, polyamorous top. His time spent in the lifestyle has led him through a journey of self-discovery, from once being totally monogamous to being a relationship anarchist; from wanting nothing to do with bondage to developing a way to practice bondage in a relatively unperformed and under-documented fashion. In the past several years he has volunteered for larger kink events as a member of a consent incident response team, a dungeon/playspace monitor, and recently as a presenter. He is a huge fan of costumes and masks, and it is not unusual to know that he is around but often in clever and sometimes strange disguises.

Barrettfromearth and Indigo_Moonlight

Barrett (they/them) started their rope journey with simple bedroom ties around 12 years ago. Starting five years ago they have taken a very focused interest in Japanese rope, with an even more narrow focus on studying under Akechi Kanna for the past two and a half years. Indigo (they/she) has been bottoming for roughly two decades and has taken an interest in learning the tying side of things for the past five years. They have been tying together for five years, with a shared love for the rope that emphasizes connection, intimacy, sexuality, and sadism. They received the title of deshi to Akechi Kanna in 2022, and strive to continue earning that honor through their tying and teaching efforts.