One of the most popular and well-loved instructors in our Passion 101 Sex Education program is an amazing rope artist named Belle. Students and staff alike love working with Belle for her interactive educational methods and rope rigging skills. Belle teaches 1-2 classes each month at Sexploratorium in addition to working full time and attending rope and bdsm events locally and nationally. We caught up with Belle at a rare moment of respite to get the inside scoop on this amazing presenter and all around cool person!
Who are you? What makes you a unique educator? What is your profession/lifestyle background? I’m Belle-. I’m primarily a rigger publicly but privately, I’m mostly submissive. The thing that makes me unique as an educator is that I have a background in formal education. I’ve studied not only rope and how to tie but also how to teach. This allows me to really give unique classes. I also have the unique combination of being a rope bottom, rope top, and someone who self ties. I have studied rope from all of these perspectives and it gives me unique insight into how rope works.
How did you first become introduced to and interested in rope? Were there any setbacks/ problems in your practice that affect how you teach? I was introduced to rope by my first kink partner. He tied me and I was instantly in love. I have developed over the past 5 years from that experience into the person that I am today. I have had a decent number of setbacks. One of the hardest things to deal with is my lack of desire for pain. Rope tends to hurt and as a bottom, not enjoying pain can make enjoying rope a very difficult thing to do. I also have gone through phases of trying to use styles of tying that just aren’t suited to me. This has affected how I teach because I have experienced many of the problems that people run in to and can help guide them around these issues.
How and why did you end up teaching rope? I started out teaching rope when my partner and I, along with two friends started a Rope Bite chapter in our hometown. There was a serious lack of quality rope education and places to practice, experiment, and share new ideas. We decided to start filling this void and found that we loved doing it. I have been presenting as a rigger for nearly two years now.
How many times hove you presented these classes before? Feedback? Testimonials? The series that I’m currently presenting is a new set of classes for me. I change up lessons and classes extremely frequently in order to fine tune what I’m teaching to the population of people that I’m teaching. As such, it is rare that I teach the same class more than once or twice before it gets an overhaul.
Who is your primary audience? Anyone that has a serious interest in learning to use rope in their lives. The current series that I’m doing is designed for people that wish to learn to use rope as more than a tool in the bedroom and more as a tool for creating an experience on it own. That said, all of the information in the classes is applicable to many different types of play.
Which are your preferred teaching methods and/ or techniques? Rope is a kinesthetic activity, as such, I try to teach as many of my classes as hands-on classes as I can possibly do. However, I never mind people sitting back and watching if they feel that they can learn better that way.
Belle is in the final three chapters of an 8 part monthly series at Sexploratorium that is tailored to prepare students for suspension bondage. She also regularly teaches on other rope topics every few weeks such as the upcoming Rope 101 Class on Thursday, July 24. To hire Belle for private instruction, or to see a full schedule of upcoming classes, visit www.passion101classes.com
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