Peer Rope Melbourne

Peer Rope Melbourne (PRM) describes its mission as high-quality rope education in a safe, inclusive environment for the kink and queer communities. Besides shibari, its classes and workshops also touch on D/s dynamics, health and safety, and alternative relationship structures, and the school favors hands-on learning alongside art shows, performances and social events. All classes are 18+.

Teachers

The school’s owner is Jess (Starlove Shibari), who started learning rope in Brisbane in 2015, moved to Melbourne in 2021, began teaching with PRM in May 2023 and took over the school in December 2025. She describes her style as an eclectic mix of Japanese rope bondage styles with an emphasis on why things are done, including safety and technical engineering, and she is also a registered psychotherapist. The current instructors are Barefoot Juliette, an international performer who has trained with Japanese and Australian teachers since 2020; Sylb, teaching since 2021 with a focus on self-tying and self-suspension, who adapts techniques for disability; Magnus Rope, a teacher and performer who works on both sides of the city; and CptFathom, who teaches beginner classes on the south side.

Course pathway

Courses rotate across weeknights and some Saturdays at a northside venue in Brunswick and a southside venue in St Kilda. Beginner 1 needs no experience and covers shibari history, terminology, rope care, communication and boundaries, single and double column ties, leg and arm ties, the half hitch, and tension and friction; the November 2026 northside course ran four Tuesday evenings for AU$120. Beginner 2 adds chest harnesses, leg ties and movement between partners, and asks for a solid single column tie. In Intermediate 1, each month begins a new series with a different teacher, one tie per class. Intermediate 2 is taught on weekends in small groups at the St Kilda venue with Starlove Shibari and guests and covers partial and full suspension. An intensive beginner class of three and a half to four hours runs every couple of months.

Rope is provided at beginner level, and those classes can be taken solo; from Beginner 2 on, the school strongly recommends bringing a partner, and students bring several 8-meter ropes and safety shears. Models pay too, because classes are designed to teach both sides. PRM also holds open-level rope jams with suspension points and floor areas, specialist micro-workshops three or four times a year, and private lessons at any level by email.

The school has adopted the Kink Education Code of Conduct, which holds educators to a professional standard toward students, and lists values against racism, homophobia, transphobia, body shaming, ableism, classism and consent breaches.