Shibari Tells a Story

I believe in the power of stories. I also believe in the power of movement and in the power of stillness. Moreover, I believe in the power of love. For the most important day of my life I wanted to combine all these beliefs and express them in a wonderful, unique, way. I was about to find out how Shibari tells a story.

I was going to unite my life forever with the person I love, and I wanted to tell the story of how I got to this point, from my birth to the moment of the wedding. And I wanted to do it in a short time and in a beautiful way. I wanted it to be clear, but not boring. Most of all, I wanted it to be the most wonderful thing my now husband had ever seen.

Later, I did a lot of research, and I devised a combination of Shibari, which I’ve been practicing for years, with Nihon Buyo, the traditional Japanese dance, known for its beauty and its narrative power. I thought those were the perfect vehicles for the telling of my emotional biography. I wanted to show just how lonely I had been, how intensely and desperately I had longed for love. Also, I wanted to show how much I had grown from my pain, how solitude had made me stronger. Finally, I wanted to make an offering of all of that, of all of me, to the man I love.

It wasn’t easy. Actually, it took months of endless preparations. And a tortuous road of trial and error. But, in the end, it was all worth it. All of our guests were amazed with what they saw. And, more important for me, my husband looked at me with love and pride.

Who could have guessed that ropes, motion, and silence could tell so much?

This is my Shibari story.