Felix Ruckert
Felix is a dancer, choreographer and curator. He creates events, performs, gives lectures and teaches workshops – often fusing his knowledge from dance with an unique approach to practices of BDSM and conscious sexuality. He also enjoys making music.
He started as a dancer working with several renowned companies (Mathilde Monnier, Pina Bausch’s Wuppertaler Tanztheater) before concentrating on choreography, conceptual work and choreographic installations. Between 1993 and 2008 he created more than 30 evening length performances for his Berlin based company; some of those toured worldwide. He strongly influenced the performing arts by expanding the stage to the physical body of the audience and giving it an active role in his performances. His experimental dance pieces, his participatory work and his choreographies for ballet companies earned him an international reputation as one of the most versatile and innovative contemporary choreographers.
Felix main interest are the endless possibilities of the human body. He studied Ballet, Modern and Contemporary Dance, Improvisation, Feldenkrais, Pilates, Continuum Movement, Yoga, Chi Kung, Kinomichi, Kyudo, Tao Yoga, different Massage techniques, Tantra, Kinbaku, Choir and Solo Singing and much more. In the last twenty years he became well known for his practical and theoretical investigation of BDSM and the exploration of connections between BDSM techniques and artistic practices, developing an art of touch and a philosophy of sensual communication.
From 2007 to 2016 he directed the art venue schwelle7 in Berlin as a fusion of a kinky club, a dance studio, a theatre and a private living room: a permanent performance on the threshold between the private and the public. schwelle7 also produced many performances and workshops with Japanese masters and therefore played a major role in the popularization of Kinbaku – Japanese Rope Bondage- in Europe. A documentary about schwelle7, Violently Happy by Paola Calvo, was released in 2017.
Since 2004 Felix directs the annual festival xplore in Berlin and curates its international branches, with 28 editions in seven countries so far. Since 2012 he also directs EURIX – The European Rigger&Model Exchange, a bi-annual festival in Berlin dedicated to the development of Rope Bondage as an art form.
In October 2020 Felix opened a new venue in Berlin at Holzmarkt 25, the IKSK – Institut für Körperforschung und sexuelle Kultur (Institute for Body Research and Sexual Culture).
Jana Scherle
Jana completed an apprenticeship as an accountant in Mecklenburg in the 1980s due to her youthful lack of orientation, later decided to study at the FU Berlin, and today works as a systemic family therapist. She has lived in Berlin for 30 years and her main interest is the postmodern shaping of loyalty and emotional commitment in alternative forms of relationships such as polyamory, patchwork and other types of self-chosen family structures.
She has been volunteering with the non-profit association Compagnie Felix Ruckert Berlin e.V. since 2010 and in 2018 replaced her long-time predecessor Delta in the area of association accounting and finance. At this year’s xplore, she is responsible for participant registration, accounting and managing the Insecurity Team.
Anna Lysee
Anna is an educator, organiser, and practitioner working at the intersection of embodiment, sexuality, and community-based learning. She has been part of the organisation of xplore Berlin since 2022 and is also the lead organiser of EURIX (European Rigger and Model Exchange).
With a background in education and ongoing studies in psychology, Anna brings a strong focus on relational processes, group dynamics, and the integration of body and mind into her work. She is trained in Integrative Trauma Therapy as well as Couples and Sex Therapy.
In the field of Shibari, she has been active since 2014 as both a model and rigger, and has been teaching, co-teaching, and performing internationally for many years. Her approach combines technical precision with an interest in psychological, interpersonal, and creative aspects of rope and kink.
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