It’s a fascinating contradiction that the movement of the body is so crucial in an art designed to prevent people from moving. Rope bondage is like a partnered dance, one can lead, another can follow, and all move together.

Being in control of ourselves, our body and our mind working as one, is essential to direct the movement of a partner or consciously let go and put ourselves in the care of another.

The goal for this week is to learn to move with control, by ourselves and together, to find our own dynamic when tying.

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Day 64: Falling – Explore going from standing to sitting on the ground. Start by gently falling by yourself, finding your own balance. Try leaning on your partner and letting go of balance. Use rope to help your partner going to the floor without falling. Study how martial arts mitigate the risk of falling when doing take-downs. 

 

Inspirations and Resources
Day 65: Moving Around – Don’t stay in place while tying. Explore how moving around your partner can improve your efficiency and change how you interact together.

 

  • Challenge 1: while standing, the person tying doesn’t move, the person being tied moves constantly.
  • Challenge 2: sitting on the ground, the person being tied doesn’t move, the person tying must move but cannot stand up, only kneeling.
Day 66: Moving with the Body – Move your partner using your body. Explore doing so without using your hands. Instead use your legs, your chest, your arms, your forehead to move them around. Use your entire body to create restriction, leverage the directions where the body cannot move.

 

Day 67: Moving with Rope – Change your partner’s position without touching them, use the rope to guide them around. Pull on the rope, use a part of the line to lift a limb, keep changing position.
Day 68: Balance – Learn to move while keeping your balance.

 

  • Challenge 1: Put objects in balance on the person being tied, collaborate to keep the object in place.
  • Challenge 2: Put an object on the person tying, tie with the object in balance. Look at Baladi dancers for inspiration, how they dance with swords on their head or shoulder.
Day 69: Imbalance – Explore the imbalance of the body by moving from a symmetric to an asymmetric position. Example: standing to one knee down, seiza to sitting on the side, lying on the side to running man position, etc. Try moving in positions that are slightly out of balance.

 

Inspirations and Resources
Day 70: Intentions – Try moving with different goals in mind. Be graceful, be sneaky, be aggressive!

Video References

We compiled a Youtube playlist with various videos on this topic, let us know if you find others we should add to this list. Note that video references may display risky or unstable techniques, viewer discernment is advised. 

Gallery

 

Inspirations and Resources

 

Let’s continue with Partnership

 

Or return to Spring for more options.

Credit: Banner,2,7 M:Faustine R:Nicolas Yoroï P:Ebi McKnotty – 2 M:Alex R/P:Ebi McKnotty – 6 M:Era R/P:Ebi McKnotty