As we approach nearly 10 years of running Anatomie, it’s got me thinking on the future – specifically, the legacy we’re creating and what we’ll leave behind.
Maybe it’s the fact that I am now a mother, so such thoughts occupy my mind more, but running a space like Anatomie does sometimes feel like parenting. Eventually you want to make sure you’ve left something good out there – something that lives on beyond you. I’m hoping that once it’s all said and done, that we’ve left something good out there in the world and that its influence – whether it’s even recognised or not – made impactful, positive and long lasting impressions on people.
This got me thinking about our current team and our teachers. I never wanted a space that felt like a cult or a monoculture. We always tried to challenge ourselves and others to be a space that showcased a wide breadth of styles and approaches, including some that aren’t exactly in line with our personal tastes. We tried our best to give opportunities to underdogs and wild cards as well as invite the well renown international names. And then observe what happens in a space that has all those influences together. EURIX was certainly a big influence for us in this regard.
We wanted to create a space that offered top notch rope education, honouring its origins, the foundational techniques and its base philosophies. But we also wanted to foster an environment that encouraged and showcased innovation. Most importantly of all, however, we wanted a space where people actually played. It’s all fine and well to tie perfectly and beautifully, but we didn’t want it to feel too academic (despite beying academics ourselves). We didn’t want to loose sight of the bigger picture: that rope is a means to an end, it’s a vehicle for human connection. It’s that simple.
I am not sure people know this, because it’s a common trope that people run events so they can have a platform. But we didn’t start teaching in the space until a bit later – in fact that was never our intention, we both had day jobs. We felt we weren’t ready, we didn’t want that position. We started teaching classes because we had to. Because we wanted and needed an audience for the teachers we were bringing in from abroad. We taught because we wanted more peers with whom to learn and nerd out with, we wanted people excited about rope in the same ways we were excited and curious about it.
What I love about our teachers now in particular is that they have emerged as a result of this vision and have completely embodied this. They are not just little photocopies of Fred and I – they’ve all brought their personal interests and skills to the fore, leaned into them and creatively explored the concepts that interest them. We’ve always been very keen to bring in a variety of international teachers through our doors to cater the people’s various interests and tastes, and I think this shows in the variety of flavours of rope taught by our team. From classic shapes and techniques to improv rope, movement and freeform, from sadism and shame, to tender and platonic rope, they’re bringing it all.
We’re also particularly proud to see that this is being recognised abroad too – some of the more veteran ones have been doing it already for a few years, but more of the team recently has been invited to teach abroad – in Europe and US – and also being invited to film and write for Shibari Study. Of course these achievements are all their own, but I know we must have played a formative role in shaping some of their influences in rope, and also provided a playground to test classes and hone in on teaching skills. They started with beginner classes, then modelling and co-teaching, they led not-for-profit classes before developing their very own curricula. As a result, their classes are unique, innovative and very authentic. I am deeply proud.
Another thing I wanted to share and that Fred and I are personally proud of is that we have chosen good people. They’re not pretentious, they keep their egos in check. There is a humility there, they treat their students with respect and compassion, they recognise the places where their expertise tappers off, and don’t hesitate to recommend other educators and avenues for learning. They care about their peers, they are approachable, funny, and invested in self-improvement.
I am confident we are leaving something good behind. The future is bright and I couldn’t be prouder.
You can find a full list of our teachers and their achievements over here.