TheDude

TheDude is a rope teacher in Denver who ties and teaches with his long-time partner in rope, BetwixtBlushes. The presenter page of the Denver convention Rope in the Rockies says the two have tied together for more than ten years and have taught at kink conventions across the United States, both together and separately, and lists them among its 2026 presenters.

Rope career

His Studio Friction biography says he has tied for a long time and credits Denver Rope Bite and Studio Friction with giving him the chance to learn from presenters from around the world. Before the COVID-19 pandemic he played, taught and sometimes performed at parties and events; he now ties mostly at home but still builds community through smaller, focused teaching events. Rope in the Rockies describes the pair as fond of dynamic rope with plenty of movement and of understanding why a given rope choice is made.

Teaching

With BetwixtBlushes he teaches Beginner 1, the first part of Studio Friction’s rope bondage curriculum, a four-session evening course. Its syllabus covers rope types and their trade-offs, safety checks, negotiation and consent, shoulder mobility basics and the purpose of frictions, alongside a set of foundational ties: the Somerville bowline, a reverse tension chest harness, a double column tie, a bunny ears armbinder, a spiral futomomo, an arms-in-front chest harness and a two-rope takate kote.

In August 2024 the pair taught a two-hour class at Studio Friction on the Peach Tie, a hip harness created by the Toronto rigger Tifereth, which TheDude first learned from Tifereth’s online video. The class listing describes the harness as one that shifts load from the hips to the waist and thighs, warns that it is not a beginner hip harness because its tensioning is unforgiving, and notes that it had proved very supportive in the pair’s own scenes.