After the latest (AN)OTHER ORGY workshop
, we interviewed a few participants
and asked them how it went for them…
>> Listen to the interviews here!
“A festival of unbridled debauchery,” says the Duden; “a nocturnal celebration of Bacchus; a sacred ritual; a mystical religious service; a secret cult gathering at night,” says the etymology; “collective acts that deliberately violate social norms,” says the Wikipedia entry.
An orgy! Shrouded in legend or just plain crude. Either way, our cultural unconscious is filled with countless hazy notions of what an orgy might be like. It’s no wonder it’s on so many people’s bucket lists. Wait no longer! Our three-day, insatiable workshop takes this fantasy to heart.
After all, organizing orgies is tricky. How do you handle all those bodies? And all those emotions, different needs, and the abundance of possibilities? One step at a time!
Through the dance form Contact Improvisation and touch exercises from Sexological Bodywork, we explore how to engage in full-body contact, open ourselves to a flow without preconceived expectations, and navigate it as safely as possible.
Through consensual communication, we check in with ourselves and others to ensure that our interactions are not only respectful of boundaries but also more courageous.
Mindfulness and physical exercises will encourage you to observe more closely, to bring what’s happening into sharper focus, to notice how it affects you, so that you can engage with it with integrity and greater agency—or even take a break now and then.
A fusion of methods from the performing arts and Radical Honesty will help us reenact our favorite orgies and become the architects of our fantasies.
I’d like to create plenty of space for reflection, contemplation, and discussion—to let the experience sink in and gently explore it. What do these attempts at orgies reveal and make us feel? How does this relate to me, to our group, and to society?
Thesis: You learn to celebrate orgies by celebrating orgies. So we’ll launch several attempts at orgies, reflect on them again and again, and use the insights we gain to dive into the next orgy, emerge from it, reflect on it, and then another orgy… They’re certainly multifaceted enough! There will be luxurious, lazy lounging, as if we were magnificent bodies from antiquity entwined with grapevines. There could be pyjama party-style pillow fight mayhem full of wild dry humping, just like in our teenage years. At times, it might feel as though everyone is transforming into creatures of flora and fauna—into mushroom networks growing over one another, or schools of dolphins penetrating every breathing hole, into jellyfish drifting with the waves—instead of always having to do it ourselves.
As workshop facilitators, we carefully build up all these “impossible” possibilities and provide playful guidance that you can use to orient yourselves and dive even deeper, rather than stumbling around in a vacuum. We invite you to slow down, breathe, and feel. To broaden your perspective and experience your own self-expression as an influential and mutually influential part of a greater whole. Bubbly and invigorating, like a glass of champagne!
Organizational Matters
On Friday, we'll start together at 3:30 p.m. Please try to be there by 3:00 p.m.—we'll be conducting COVID tests beforehand.
We plan to wrap up on Sunday around 4:00 p.m.
Getting tested for STIs beforehand is definitely a good idea, and it’s a particularly good opportunity right before the orgy. At the last sex-positive meetup, a lot of people talked about S.A.M. Health—maybe that’s something for you.
Right now, the plan is to order food on Friday night and Saturday night.
Gender
In principle, your gender identity or sexual orientation should not be a factor in the registration process. However, we will reserve some of the spots for queer people or those who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, because experience has shown that many feel more comfortable when they don’t feel “alone” among a majority of cis men (which is not meant to be a blanket statement).
Safety & Expectations
The goals of our events are collaborative learning within a group, as well as fostering shared processes and personal development.
To ensure that everyone is included equally, we usually work with randomly assigned partner combinations during the exercises. This means there will be both similar and diverse combinations of gender, age, experience, sexual orientation, etc.
Participants should, as a general rule, be open to working with every person and every body.
There will always be ways to adapt the exercises, suspend them, or rearrange the pairs or groups if participation in certain configurations is simply not possible.
Couples, polyamorous relationships, and all other types of partnerships or friendships are warmly welcome—just be aware that we’ll be addressing all participants as if they were single. In other words, the course isn’t specifically geared toward couples, but rather toward individuals participating in a large-group experience.
Take the pressure off
Explicitly sexual interactions are welcome, but not required. Being massaged by several hands, forming a cuddle pile, building a tower of naked bodies, moaning in unison, and forming a biting circle are all orgiastic activities… We do whatever feels good to us.
There will be quiet corners where you can be present in the room without interacting with others (where you’ll be left alone without having to leave the room).
Communication
We will agree on verbal and nonverbal cues that can be used to signal whether we want more, less, or to stop.
Harmonious cooperation is just as important here as creating space to handle situations with care when misunderstandings or agitation do lead to a breakdown in consensus.
Matís and Beata will be holding the space, so they won’t be participating in the exercises or attempted orgies, but will do their best to provide you with gloves, lube, and other supplies if needed. At most, one of us might step in if it makes sense during a group exercise, if something else isn’t working out, or if we can help with our expertise, experience, and creativity. In doing so, we’ll try to be as aware as possible of our position of power and to follow the intentions that correspond to and support the group’s process at any given moment (rather than primarily seeking to gain something for ourselves personally from these interactions).
There will be an opportunity to talk about safer sex, specific needs, insecurities, fantasies, and more…
We expect everyone to act with caution, openness, a focus on consent, and mindfulness, and we encourage everyone to be mindful of their own boundaries and take personal responsibility.
We reserve the right to exclude participants from further participation in the workshop if their behavior is offensive. Hate speech will not be tolerated.
Financing
We are very excited to try this experiment—thanks to the support of the Ewaldshof—and let participants decide for themselves how much they can and would like to pay.
As a general guideline: At our venue in Berlin, the standard price is around 300 €, though we always encourage people to reach out if finances are a barrier to participation—we’ll find a way to make it work. The idea is that those who can afford it help cover the costs through supporter tickets, and everyone else contributes by helping with setup and takedown. Now you can simply choose any amount between €1 and €10,000, and we trust you :)
SCHEDULE
Start: Fri, Feb. 21, 2025, 3:00 p.m.
End: Sun, Feb. 23, 2025, 4:00 p.m.
The end of the class may be slightly delayed for this session.
LANGUAGES
German
FEATURING
, Beata & Matís d’Arc
Further informations
NOTES ON THE EVENT
Those interested in this workshop should be comfortable with nudity. If you have any doubts or questions about this, please contact us in advance.
The goals of our events are collaborative learning within the group, supporting shared processes, and personal development. Couples and all other types of partnerships or group dynamics are welcome, but you should be aware and open to the fact that the courses are not designed as partnership experiences and that we address each person as an individual. For example: To involve all participants equally, we usually work with random partner combinations during the exercises. This means that both same-sex and mixed-sex combinations will occur. Participants should generally be open to working with every person and every body. Exceptions can be discussed on a case-by-case basis.
Gender identity, sexual orientation, age, or membership in marginalized groups such as BBIPoC, migrants, refugees, LGBTQIA*, people with disabilities, etc., are not criteria for registration or participant selection.
We expect you to act with care, be communicative, prioritize consent, and be mindful, and we encourage you to respect your own boundaries and take personal responsibility.
Hate speech will not be tolerated. Please bring "Candy Speech" with you.
We reserve the right to ask participants to leave the workshop if their behavior is hurtful or problematic, and we reserve the right to do so without explanation—though we will likely try to explain it. Workshop fees would then be refunded in full. Any further claims are excluded.
We do our best to accommodate different needs, but our resources are limited. Please contact us if you have any questions.
You can read more about this topic here.
PRICES AND IF SOLD OUT
With our Low(er) Income Tickets, we want to give low-income individuals the opportunity to attend our events. We warmly invite those with higher incomes to help us make this offer possible by paying a higher fee. With this in mind, we thank you in advance for your solidarity.
For PEOPLE WITH VERY LOW INCOMES, there are usually even more affordable options available. Please don’t hesitate to contact us and ask. We’d love to have you join us!
Is the event sold out on the ticketing platform? Contact us! There may be a waiting list or another way for you to attend after all.
CANCELLATION POLICY
Cancellations are free of charge up to eight weeks before the start of the course, up to four weeks before the start of the course a cancellation fee of 20% of the course fee is due, up to two weeks before the start of the course a cancellation fee of 50% is due. Later cancellations and refunds of participant fees are not possible. However, participants can find substitute participants who will take the booked places. In case of cancellation by the organizer, the course fee will be refunded in full. Further claims are excluded.