Docvale
French kinbakushi who has taught and performed since 2012, followed Naka Akira's semenawa from 2013, says Naka authorized him in 2019 to teach the Naka style, and runs Atelier Simonet near Paris, opened in 2018.
Docvale is a French kinbakushi, a term his own biography glosses with the French word attacheur, who teaches and performs at Atelier Simonet, the rope space he runs in Aubervilliers on the edge of Paris. Almost everything published about him comes from that biography and the atelier’s pages, so the account below follows those texts.
Path into rope
According to his biography, he took an interest in rope around 2007 as a way to widen his BDSM practice, and he counts his shibari practice proper from 2011, when he met a rope partner named Tyka. He says he began teaching and performing in 2012, first in Paris and then elsewhere in Europe. The text does not list particular venues or festivals.
Naka Akira
The turning point he describes came in September 2013, when he encountered the semenawa of Naka Akira. He writes that he committed himself fully to that style and was one of its very first practitioners, and that Naka later encouraged him to develop a rope language of his own, an encouragement he credits with shaping his work ever since. Both his biography and the atelier’s home page state that Naka granted him permission in 2019 to teach the Naka style officially. That authorization is reported by Docvale and his studio; no statement from Naka’s side was found.
He also names Itō Seiu as a figure whose place at the roots of Japanese bondage informs his aesthetic. A stay in Tokyo early in 2016, he writes, pushed him toward a more personal direction, followed by a difficult stretch of creative block. In 2018 he decided to concentrate entirely on the interaction with the person he ties, which he presents as a refinement of his practice rather than a pause.
Atelier Simonet and teaching
He opened Atelier Simonet in September 2018. The atelier describes group and private classes for every level, ongoing course tracks, themed one-off workshops such as floorwork, supervised training, free practice and jams, and says it also hosts teachers from many countries. On his own page he lists workshops, private lessons, intensives, performances and private sessions. He describes his aim as perceiving and understanding the other person better, and as revisiting older Japanese bondage aesthetics with present-day standards of safety and communication.