Valentine Amartey
Teaches SHAG's introductory shibari classes for couples in Williamsburg and has led them for over 15 years. A costume and knitwear designer, he first met shibari through downtown performance art in the late 1990s and studied with Tyutumi, a student of Midori.
Valentine Amartey is a New York shibari teacher who leads the introductory shibari classes of SHAG in Brooklyn and, according to SHAG, has taught them for more than fifteen years.
Background and training
SHAG’s shibari page says he trained in costume and knitwear design and first came across shibari in the late 1990s while making costumes for performance artists in downtown New York. He went on to study with a teacher named Tyutumi, who had trained under Midori, the author of The Art of Japanese Bondage. SHAG still recommends that book to its students.
Approach
He describes shibari as a discipline of controlling the rope, the partner and finally oneself. The page says what draws him to it is the tension between rope’s origins in punishment and the beauty of the finished forms.
Classes
His group class is an introduction to shibari for couples, held several times a year in a private room at the Moxy Williamsburg hotel in Brooklyn and open to hotel guests and outside visitors alike. It runs about three hours, every participant comes with a partner, and up to 25 couples attend each session. Each pair needs safety shears and a set of four ropes of different lengths, which they can bring or buy from SHAG. He also teaches private classes, usually for two people, which SHAG offers to guests of its partner hotels in Williamsburg, the William Vale and the Moxy.