Schwelle 7

All about schwelle7 : http://felixruckert.de/category/schwelle7/

schwelle7 – the concept schwelle7 – the concept From 2007 to 2016 I directed the performance space schwelle7 in Berlin- Wedding. At schwelle7 I juxtaposed my private life and my artistic practices, fusing them into a choreography that lastet nine years. I consider schwelle7 as a masterpiece and as my ultimate participat...

it's official - the schwelle 7 film "Violently Happy" will have its premiere at the Filmfest in Munich
https://www.filmfest-muenchen.de/de/programm/filme/film/?id=5019

Details - Filmfest München

schwelle7 is closing these days. This site will be closed soon as well.

There is a final give away this sunday, May 22 at 6pm.. books, furniture, toys etc... some free drinks as well....all welcome....

Das Programm für die "Final Celebration" steht soweit - schaut mal auf unsere Webseite
http://www.schwelle7.de/News.html

The schedule for the "Final Celebration" is online - have a look at our website!
http://www.schwelle7.de/NewsENGL.html

Schwelle is... A NEW HOME FOR SCHWELLE7 https://www.startnext.com/schwelle7

Hello friends of schwelle7.... a huge thanks to all who made our crowdfunding such a success. Even so we had to fill up a little bit from our own funds an enormous amount of money came together and it is a big step towards a new place for schwelle7. We still have no definite answer concerning the place we wish to purchase (many people besides the owner have to say "Yes" and now it is summer and lots of people are in vacation). The last weeks with two xplore festivals, the crowdfunding campaign and my workshop and performance in Munich yesterday have been very intense for me and I will take some time off soon..... see you all back in September.. fx

My very good friend Sarka Prikrylova is back from Asia and is teaching Yoga classes here at schwelle7 for the next months... twice a week Tuesday&Thursday at 8am, when the light is just right.... www.schwelle7.de/Sarka

www.schwelle7.de

follow me on twitter:

https://twitter.com/FelixRuckert

Felix Ruckert (@FelixRuckert) | Twitter Senaste Tweets från Felix Ruckert (): "because if you do what you always do, you get what you always get...."

As part of my campaign for a new home for schwelle7 I opened a twitter account:



so if you wish to keep updated about what is going on with schwelle7 and have acces to my reflections about that follow me...

great text on schwelle by Kiki Jackson...check it out..

I’ve tried to write about this place more than once. I’ve tried talking about it. I’ve tried dancing about how it makes me feel. Just to see if the experiences that I collect, that soak up under my skin and into my panties can also ooze back out into the world and make some kind of difference.

I suppose my intention with writing about Schwelle7 would be to encourage you to engage with something unknown, to do something that maybe fu***ng scares you, that could be uncomfortable. Not because I’m a ma*****st or that I love being spanked on soft black dance floors with elegant leather whips, but because there’s more to life than what you see, and you only really find that out when you step outside your comfort zone. I suppose my intention with writing about my experiences is to encourage you to try. To try something that makes you brain hiccup and the nerves under your shoulder blades tingle. It doesn't need to be at Schwelle7, but it’s a good place to start. It doesn’t need to be bo***ge. It doesn’t need to be breath play. It doesn’t need to be public s*x or group s*x or same s*x s*x...but it could be. When was the last time you tried something you hadn’t done before? Do you remember when you did? Do you remember how alive you felt? Even if you didn’t like it? You are reminded that you have a choice, that you choose, that every second you can choose, that you are free.

When the first one of my friends went skydiving, we all thought she was bat s**t crazy. Why do something so utterly unnecessary and life-threatening just to get a kick? My flat mate had the same reaction when I told her about Schwelle7, that I was going to practice bo***ge and contact improvisation and B**M. There was this ‘Why?’ in her eyes: a fear for my safety, for my sanity, for my health. But I was more afraid for my safety and sanity and health if I kept going on the path that I was going; mildly discontent with my job, moderately dissatisfied with my s*x life, kind of terrified that I was living something mediocre and too confused to know how to change it.

One of my first questions when I wanted to start engaging in B**M was ‘How do I stay safe? If I want to try getting tied up or spanked, how do I find the right people and ensure I don’t end up in some ditch somewhere?’ Don't get me wrong, Schwelle7 isn’t an easy place to walk in to, but it is a safe place. The most striking aspect of the space for me is the light. It is big and bright and open; a large dance studio, proud and clean and subtle. It is also home to the owner; it is someone’s, and has a soft, s*xy smell and an identity and a purpose. I’ve seen people fu***ng in the middle of the day, in the middle of the room. I’ve seen people crying and hugging. I’ve seen people dress up like jokers or paper bags or kings and queens and live out their fantasies. It is amazing that there is somewhere to do this.

Engaging in B**M also made me challenge my prejudices and conditioning, no less because it was me who liked these ‘strange’, ‘dark’ things. We are taught ostentatiously to accept and welcome other cultures, traditions and tastes. But how open-minded are we really? How open-minded am I? Something very strong in me questioned why I liked what I was seeing, what I was doing there at Schwelle7. I grew up a staunch feminist with a prim, proper English education and a university degree. I would come back to that girl in the strangest moments; topless, bent over a bar being flogged, and I would question myself. Why do I like this? Is there something wrong with me? My conditioning told me there was something dirty and seedy in this. And if I’m honest, at times it’s still there. I don’t expect to just magic it away.

But I have learnt that it is kind of fun to play with these prejudices, to try and juggle the idea that I’m inappropriate, to question where this thought of ‘indecorum’ comes from. It is important to readdress my concept of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.

Just as it is important to mark the moment when you realize your parents aren’t infallible. Just as it’s important to challenge your government and the people that lead you. After all, who is it that can tell me how to get free, but me? Who is it that can tell me what feels good, but me? Who is it that can give me self-worth and self-confidence and satisfaction and gratification and fulfillment, but me?

And then we come to the pain. To the act of it. To the bo***ge and the spanking and the physical experience. Whilst not everyone is a submissive, and not everyone likes receiving sharp sensations, almost everyone in their lives will experience some sort of physical or emotional pain. At Schwelle7, you look at the human relationship to pain. You can experience it yourself, or watch it in others; the before, the during and the after. I learnt to not be scared of pain, that pain is always there. And it will always go, and you will always live through it. I learnt to deal with pain, both in myself, and in others. And I completely readdressed my understanding of pain itself.



What really is pain? What is pleasure? And why am I so attracted to one or the other? Conscious B**M uses pain as a transformative tool, helping you to investigate yourself. There’s nothing like a sharp, strong sensation on your behind to help you concentrate your mind and readdress your reality. More specifically, what is real physical pain and what is emotional pain? Do I cry out when I am hit by a whip because of the hot sensation on my behind which will pass in a couple of seconds? Or because of the shame I feel at baring myself and allowing someone to do this? Asking someone to do this? Begging someone to do this? What emotional ‘pain’ do I ask for in my everyday life, in my relationships? Am I aware of it?

But I would be lying if I said it was just about self-investigation. Of course, the whole thing oozes with s*x. Things that happen at Schwelle7 are hot. It is a place where your urges are accepted and your boundaries are tested and your prejudices are given not-so-mild electric shocks. It really made me see how much people need attention and intimacy; everyone needs love. Everyone needs touch. And everyone gets something from being allowed to step, leap or jump stark-bollock-naked out of their comfort zone.
The human body speaks its own language and it is physical and subtle and hidden. With a million different dialects, for some the alphabet is formed from beatings, for others, erotic clothing, or submissive play, or soft stroking sensations. Learning your body’s own language, learning about yourself is perhaps the most important thing you can do. Bypass all the restrictive constructs that stop you from knowing what you really want and who you really are, and just try.

What’s stopping you?