WORKSHOPS

We need wild dances. Dancing and singing together as a tribe to heal by playing, take care of themselves and others, find a sense of community, sharing, enjoying and having fun.

Bodies that allow themselves to be crossed by pure energies, beyond filters, brakes and mental judgments. Movements and voices that take shape spontaneously, following natural impulses, pleasure. Gestures, voices, spontaneous songs creating beauty together.

“FREEDOM” is a noun. The dictionary definition is as follows: “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants.”
Synonyms of freedom are: the right to, entitlement to, privilege, prerogative, due.

We all agree that freedom should be a universal human right.  And yet unfortunately, only a very small percentage of people worldwide have the privilege of being really truly free. Social, economical, political, physical and biological limitations as well as patriarchal, colonial and religious systems have throughout human history tried to control and limit people’s access to freedom.
In the last year we have all born witness to how, even in our comparatively privileged and democratic countries, the political system can transform laws and re-define how much freedom we as citizens are entitled to enjoy.
Different perceptions of the same concept of freedom, generate conflicts and separations among friends, family members and citizens alike.

In this workshop, I wish to try to get ride of all these limitations: to question and to explore the main concept of freedom and reach together a
“freedom of the body“, “freedom of the mind“ and “freedom of the soul“.

Radical plotters, moderates, the careless, pessimists, adepts of positive thinking, spiritualistic new-agers, gurus, any genders, origins and orientations, human and alien are welcome.

TEXT COMING SOON…

There are few things more enjoyable than purchasing an eloborately built flogger from an experienced craftsperson. Except, maybe, to do some soul-searching and craft your own!

We will provide you with a selection of materials and basic tools for the falls.
You will need to come up with a suitable handle.
Will it fit your hand like a glove? Will it be rough around the edges?
Warm to the touch – or cold? Will it represent your personality – or will it introduce some unknown element into the scenes? Will you bring the material with you or will you find it in the beautiful woods surrounding Borgo Paola?

In the first session I will provide you with some impulses and basic logistics. You will have the whole weekend to craft your masterpiece and I will be available for tips and tricks during (most of) the breaks between workshops.

In the second session you are invited to present and share.

Reinhard Gaida

Playfight is physical contact and confrontation with one or more opponents. To let off steam in a playful way and to fight in a loving way with the other person is honest, has a liberating effect and is a lot of fun.

Playfight is self-awareness and can also bring dark features of ourselves to light. We offer space here to have fun, but feelings can also be experienced and thus resolved that have no place in the normal daily routine.

Through the playful fight with a self-chosen opponent, who can accept or reject the challenge, we come into contact with ourselves, with our positive and sometimes also with the sides rated as negative.

Win or lose: what impact does this have in the social context of the group? How do I feel when I lose in battle? How do I feel when I am defeated? How do I feel when I win?

Playfight is also an expression of sexuality. How does my behavior change if I choose someone as an opponent whom I find attractive?

In this workshop you are invited to perceive the holiness for the other.

Yes the holiness…. Whatever it means for you and how ever you feel with this term or topic. After a holistic somatic warm up you will find a partner and then you will look to each other for 30 minutes, in silence.

The divine role of spectator, actress or witness is not a topic any more, there is something deeper in this silence , which I name holiness.

After this 30 minutes, the holiness invites to communicate further on: a tantric odyssey of senses will transform the space, you, me, we … and the holy moment.

Welcome Brillantes invitation: Silence is sexy!

 And if the two hands belong to one person, might this not enliven an uncanny sense of the otherness of the self, a literal holding oneself at a distance in the sensation of contact, the greeting of the stranger within? So much happens in a touch: an infinity of others—other beings, other spaces, other times—are aroused.”

On Touching the Stranger Within – The Alterity that therefore I Am
by Karen Barad

A guided performance of the body-space through a ritual of intimacy within the self-other. Brainless Orgy !

“It’s so beautifully arranged on the plate – you know someone’s fingers have been all over it.”» Julia Child

The deliciousness of it all, getting lost in tastes, smells, textures.
The elusive allure of papayas and the straight-forward appeal of cucumbers.
Crushing, stuffing, sploshing, gagging, teasing, licking.
All the wicked ways to use food to control or reward.
Which vegetables are the best for flogging? How to use food in temperature play?
How sweet syrup can enhance your spanking session?
We’ve all been told not to play with food, so that’s exactly what we are going to do in this workshop.

What happens in the workshop?
We start with an introduction into food and erotic play and then continue by demonstrating different approaches, from the more disciplined ones such as food control, to the complete and utter mess of sploshing. It is a hands-on workshop where you will try out some techniques, by yourself or with other participants.

For whom is the workshop?
For everyone who is excited about combining food and erotic play. Not for people who are easily grossed out.

Allergies and diets
we will ask about everybody’s allergies at the beginning of the workshop and will avoid common allergens in demonstrations.
The workshop is vegan.

Will I need to bring something, is there a dress code, how do I prepare?
First of all, this workshop will get messy – so please bring spare clothes, something you don’t mind getting dirty. Bring a towel and wet wipes to clean yourself after the workshop. Towards the end of the workshop there is time for free play: for this, you are welcome to bring your favorite food to play with.

Is there nudity in the workshop?
Possible, but not required.

This workshop is held in English

Eva Neklyaeva will be assisted by Marius Poenar

Shame is a powerful emotion that can cause people to feel defective, unacceptable, even damaged beyond repair.
We often confuse shame with guilt: when you feel shame, you’re feeling that your whole self is wrong. When you feel guilt, you’re making a judgment that something you’ve done is wrong. When you feel guilty about something you did, you can take steps to make up for it and put it behind you. But when you feel convinced that you are what’s wrong, then you offer yourself no clear-cut way to “come back” to feeling more positive about yourself.

There are some cultures that can be seen as having a moral compass governed by guilt, and others that are governed by shame. In a culture governed by guilt, you know you are good or bad by what your conscience feels.
In a culture governed by shame, you know you are good or bad by what your community says about you, by whether it honors or excludes you. In a guilt culture, people sometimes feel they do bad things; in a shame culture social exclusion makes people feel they are bad. It could be said that the integration of social media has created a new sort of shame culture. Facebook and Instagram provide a stage for constant display and observation, that play on the desire to be embraced and praised by their community. People dread being exiled and condemned. In a shame culture, moral life is not built on the continuum of right and wrong; it’s built on the continuum of inclusion and exclusion.

…So, with that, perhaps one step towards healing those who have been excluded in a shame culture is to offer them a space to be seen in their shame and embraced and included for it. That is what this workshop is about.

and… what if we could forget all the pornographic codes of a sexual encounter?

the unconscious reflex that rules our behaviour even if we can’t recognise it – we feel them as “natural” because we have learned a relational alphabet like the only possible, when it is only the dominant one.

and… what if we try to forget the erotic rules for a while? 
reset the grammar of sex, reinvent the syntax, subvert the rhythm, re-design the cartographies of the bodies, creating new orgasm…

this workshop will be a collective journey looking for a radical, original and revealing contact – exploring the limits from the first glance to… wherever you will want to arrive.