Austin

The Austin scene

Austin has hosted rope conventions for a decade. ROPECRAFT lists its earliest edition in Austin in February 2016 and came back to the city in October 2018 and October 2019; since its return after the pandemic in 2022 it has been held in Chicago. In December 2024 Austin hosted the North American Rope Innovation Exchange (NARiX), a three-day rope gathering held in an aerial circus studio in East Austin. The writer Zed Sheng, who attended, describes it as an unconference: participants propose sessions on slips of paper and vote on them, about a hundred people take part, places are allotted by lottery with automatic admission for volunteers and people from groups underrepresented in rope, and the event moves between North American cities twice a year. The wider story of American conventions is told in Kinbaku in North America.

A peer group since 2015

Austin Rope Slingers started in an apartment in spring 2015 as a weekly meeting for people curious about rope, threw its first party in 2016 and has met every week since, according to ShibariNews. It is run by volunteers and funded by donations. Its Monday labs move between venues that community members offer, in Round Rock as well as central and south Austin, and need neither a partner nor prior knowledge. Each week includes a 101-level class; more advanced classes and intensives happen when members ask for them and others volunteer to teach. The group lends rope, safety shears, books and guides to negotiation, and members often bring suspension rigs. Socially it holds rope-focused parties about every two months and public munches. Its rules ask for clear spoken permission before touching anyone or their belongings and treat photos as needing the consent of everyone in them.

A home studio

BightBound teaches from a home studio in southwest Austin; the exact address comes with the ticket. It says it wants rope teaching to be easy to reach and to help students stay present both when tying and when being tied. PrimalBight has practiced rope since 2017 and describes a practice not tied to any single style. Trouble-Cat, who has tied and been tied since 2019, entered the Austin scene through Austin Rope Slingers in 2021 and says visits to TheSpace2 in Vancouver and Anatomie Studio in London inspired building a similar community at home. Its past events show how the program grew: an Introduction to Rope Bondage from March 2024, a brunch-and-lab practice called Rope BLAB from May 2024, Tied Up Life Drawing from June 2024, study groups such as one on the box tie from September 2024, and Suspension Studies in 2026.

Smaller practices

Two one-person practices work differently. Intimately Tied is led by Rina Trevi, whose page cites seven years each in shibari and in Tantric bodywork for women and frames the work as body-based healing and self-exploration in a protected setting. When in Rope is run by Chris, known as Dom Hanks, who offers non-sexual, risk-aware, somatic rope sessions; a consultation and a negotiation come before any session.

Finding your way in

The groups’ websites are in English. A Monday lab is a practice space with a short beginner class, not a full course; for the difference, see Rope jams, munches and salons.