The return of the aerial stage means the return of an aerial showcase, and our aerial curator Shay Tiziano has been hard at work assembling a captivating cast of talented performers who love rope and don’t fear heights, but respect them just enough to keep things interesting.
In the words of the curator: “We fly to feel grounded, push physically to release emotionally, and are bound to feel free. This showcase features exquisitely erotic, sensually subversive, and particularly perilous performance art exploring intimate curiosities of human connection, lustful intention, catharsis, and the power of the ever-tempting unknown.”
We would like to take a moment and introduce you to these magnificent people who will be catching your eye, pushing your boundaries, and expanding your understanding in Ascendancy: Bondage & Aerial Showcase.
Sving
Sving has a passion for the weird and wonderful, and invites you to grapple with your own beliefs. Sving’s performances bring circus acrobatics and erotic art together for a fusion of grace and seduction.
Artist statement: This aerial piece conveys a reflection of perspectives, where the audience is challenged to view a character from all sides.
Shay & Lynn
Shay is a vivacious femme switch and prominent self-suspender with over a decade of experience educating, hosting, and performing around the US and internationally. She is known for dynamic performances and unique and acrobatic rigs. Boy Lynn is a bootblack leatherboy with a passion for bottoms education and hedonistic sluttery.
Artist statement: What silences us, and how can we break free? This piece explores the process of holding our shadows in front of ourselves. “I don’t wrestle with my demons any more. Actually, I think we’re dating now and you know? They’re not bad in the sack.”
Jessie Sparkles & Baconawa
Jessie is a long time sex worker, maker and performance artist. a voracious switch, he enjoys playing on both ends of the spectrum and seeks to convey an emotion experience to the audience regardless of the role he plays. Baconawa is into kink, bacon, rope, and sex.
Artist statement: Rapture, noun: 1. a feeling of intense pleasure or joy. 2. (according to some millenarian teaching) the transporting of believers to heaven at the Second Coming of Christ. synonyms: ecstasy, exhilaration, exaltation.
Anoxia & Pepper
Anoxia is a rope artist and educator based in Seattle. She likes to explore movement, structure, body mechanics, and the psychological effects of bondage, shame, and pain. Pepper was originally fascinated with the beautiful shapes and romantic images of rope; after three years of bottoming, she’s more in love with the raw and intense experience of rope itself. Her journey to melds forming beautiful images with intense challenges.
Artist Statement: A doll can mean anything, to anyone—a toy, a trophy, a prized possession. She can be an aspiration or a fantasy. But what a doll lacks is control—something we so often turn to kink to let go of. And here, letting go of control means giving it to the puppetmaster.
Fox & Fae
Fox & Fae is the creative collaboration of Bridger Fox and Davey Faye. Mx Davey Faye’s background in classical literature, mythology, & theatre influences their development of performances betwixt the worlds of conscious storytelling and the erotic arts. Bridger Fox’s background in acting, stunt coordination, martial arts, and advocacy in health policy creates transformative feminist, queer art that explores the edges of our social boundaries and expands them.
Artist statement: In the mythos of Medusa, we are challenged to conquer questions of morality, assumptions of who and what is monstrous, how vulnerability and vengeance can motivate a wronged and wrathful woman, and also more intimate curiosities of human connection, lustful intention, and the power of the ever-tempting unknown.
Andreas Fenix
Ninja by day, Engineer/Designer by night, Andrei Fenix is a multidisciplinary movement artist based in San Francisco. Drawing on various movement modalities – including Martial arts, Dance, Parkour, and Circus Arts – lends a unique primal flow and sensuality to his work.
Artist statement: Kink and BDSM can allow us to push us to over edges of comfortability with fear, control, and pain. This act explores the juxtaposition of the deep catharsis and potential damage of riding those edges. The desire to be completely pacified, restrained, smothered, and finding a safe space to let those desires manifest in our lives.
Ascendency will be rising on the aerial stage both Friday and Saturday evening of the Seattle Erotic Art Festival at 9:00 pm. Be sure to grab your tickets now and not miss a moment of our daring and fantastic performances.