We are pleased to welcome -fuoco- to Denver, offering a 2-day, bottom-focused workshop to help bottoms improve their skills. This weekend intensive will be split into two days:
Day one will consist of primarily demo, discussion, and some exercises led by -fuoco-. Day one will be geared specifically towards bottoms - riggers are welcome to attend but please note that the information taught during this day will not involve ties, patterns, or other rigger-focused education. Cost for this day is per person.
Day two will consist of hands-on lab time in a lab environment facilitated by -fuoco-. Day two is meant for tying pairs - bottoms will need to bring a rigger to this workshop so they can participate in the air time and lab time that -fuoco- will be instructing. Cost for this day is per tying pair.
Day 1
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM - Your Body in Rope (flexibility/strength talk)
Tops and bottoms are quick to say that body awareness is a highly desirable quality in a rope bottom. But what is body awareness? How do we cultivate body awareness as a skill? And how does it inform our rope bottoming? This day will be a day of getting in touch with our bodies to better understand how they work in rope. The day will include of a discussion on what it means to be a "body aware bottom" followed by a number of exercises designed to help you evaluate and cultivate your own body awareness. There will also be a great deal of instruction on how to stretch and strengthen the parts of our bodies we use most as rope bottoms: shoulders, back, and hips. We'll move, stretch, maybe sweat, and will definitely feel real good at the end of the day.
All levels of strength & flexibility welcome. Bottoms and Riggers are welcome.
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM - Lunch Break
1:00 PM to 3:00 PM - Your Body in Rope (Cont’d) (body awareness talk)
3:00 PM to 5:00 PM - Being a Responsible Bottom
This is a day of hands on bottoming education. The first part of the day will consist of a discussion on what it means to be responsible for yourself in your scenes. Is injury in rope inevitable? What actions can you take to mitigate injury, and what decisions do you make that make you more susceptible to injury? We'll examine how to evaluate a rigger's skill and how to navigate rope scenes accordingly to mitigate risk. The second part of this class happens in Day 2 and is bottoming lab time.
Day 2
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM - Inversions for Bottoms
In this class, we will focus on different hip harnesses and futomomo-based inversions. We will discuss how to decide which harnesses to use, how to attach to those harnesses, and how that will affect the shape of your suspension and what you feel in that suspension. We'll go over this information in demonstration format in Part 1 and lab this out in Part 2.
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM - Lunch Break
1:00 PM to 5:00 PM - Guided Bottoming Lab Time
Cause lab time isn't just for riggers! This day is about creating time and space for bottoms to explore their likes, dislikes, and limits. We'll focus on exploring our preferences as bottoms and also applying the body management tools discussed in the day 1 to several suspensions and suspension sequences. Bottoms will be able to try the sequence in a safe, controlled environment.
About -fuoco-:
Fuoco began her rope journey as a bottom in Phoenix four years ago. Since then she had the good fortune to spend a year in London, where she gained exposure to the broader European rope scene and had the opportunity to work with some incredibly talented bottoms and riggers. Since moving back to the US, she has presented at cons around the country sharing her love of rope. She is switchy in rope and a vocal advocate for rope bottoms.
When she’s not doing rope, fuoco is a full time circus student, and she is constantly training to build strength and flexibility. Her dedicated study of the mechanics of the body makes her especially interested in developing more comprehensive education for bottoms informed by these practices. She enjoys using rope as another aerial apparatus and loves high energy, dynamic suspension bondage.