On the Program
This is our gorgeous group of teachers, speakers, and performers. They appear on this page in alphabetical order.
Arati
Arati (she/her): curious and exploring – radically inclusive – crone – mother of two – crunchy banana connoisseur
Arati is, next to being a mother and an advocate for compassion and inclusivity, a Sexological Bodyworker, Sex Educator & Coach. Located in the East of the Netherlands and trained in Australia and Berlin at the Sexological Bodywork Training as a Somatic Sex Educator. Experienced myofascial energetic release practitioner, breath trainer, and space holder for anything seen in the world as crazy or wrong. She’s working with people to help them overcome shame and taboo, and discover their own flavour and essence to become free.
She offers, among other things Mindful Masturbation, Orgasmic Arts for vulva owners, Ritual Play, and Wheel of Consent.
Arati will give a Mindful Masturbation workshop.
Chris van der Weide
Chris (she/her) originally studied both her BA and her MA degree in performative arts (theatre & dance), only to discover that her way of expression wasn’t through being on stage, but rather through life itself. She quit her various jobs in teaching and performing theatre to pursue a journey within, and she ended up falling in love with the path of tantra. Throughout many years of travel and self-discovery, she was trained by various teachers in the tantric and spiritual domain. Her work distinguishes itself with a strong influence of western-psychology and bodywork. Her extended education, self-study and experience have joined together in her offerings. About the path of tantra, she says: ‘This path transformed my outlook on life, every step makes my reality tremble in a way that’s both ravishing and deliciously liberating’.
Chris will give a workshop Tantric Tapas for all genders and all levels.
Danique & Skylar
Danique (she/her) is a somatic sex coach, pleasure activist and erotic facilitator. She supports groups, couples and individuals with increasing their capacity for pleasure. At the same time she is super passionate about shining light and love on juicy and intimate topics that are sometimes considered taboo. She has facilitated workshops at different festivals in multiple countries and has her own practice in Amsterdam where she welcomes everyone that wants to learn more about their own sexuality.
Skylar (they/them) is a multi-faceted therapeutic bodyworker and space holder. They help others move into pleasurable connection and alignment with their body and offer support around sex, intimacy, healing and wellness. Skylar offers sexological bodywork and embodiment coaching, massage and yoga therapy. Skylar identifies as queer, trans-non-binary and is the founder of Queer Somatics, Collaborative Motion and Indie Tarot.
Danique and Skylar will give a workshop on Erotic Touch.
Skylar’s websites for Queer Somatics, Collaborative Motion and Indie Tarot
Ezequiel Sanucci
Ezequiel (he/him) is an all-round dance artist and a tantra teacher. He discovered his dance talent at the age of 11 years old. For more than 30 years he’s been having an impressive career as a soloist dancer, teacher and choreographer in ballet, contemporary dance, Argentine tango and more styles at some of the best dance companies in Europe and in his native Argentina. He performed in some of the world’s most well-known theatres and festivals. As a choreographer, he created his own contemporary tango style. His pieces were presented in top festivals. He is a pioneer of the Neotango and Contact Tango movement and an international DJ in tango, neotango and Ecstatic Dance. He has practised tantra for 10 years and he is a professional tantra masseur, NLP master, PSYCH-K® facilitator and he teaches tantric dance and tantric tango at international festivals and retreats. The combination of tantra and dance is absolutely natural for him and connected to his purpose in life of applying dance to create happiness and spiritual growth.
Ezequiel will give a Tantric Tango workshop and a Connective Dance workshop.
Jason King
Jason will give a movement meditation on Sunday morning.
Legien – #Metoo coach
Legien uses the pronouns she/her. She is passionate about intimacy and sexuality in general but specifically after healing from a trauma of sexual violence. Legien is not only a coach for people who have experienced sexual violence, but also for their beloveds. Next to her work as a coach, a big mission for her is making sexual violence a discussion topic, instead of a taboo topic. Driven by her own personal traumatic experiences. She is a confidant for multiple organisations, so people can come to her in case of harassment or sexual violence.
She wants to make an impact on a personal level, but also on a societal level and therefore Legien is part of an action group of Amnesty International and talks on the ministry level about the new legislation regarding sexual crimes. Together with her beloved, she started the project ‘Samen Helen’ to give people tools when a friend or a family member experienced sexual violence.
Legien is leading the panel discussion on Sunday.
Maz
Maz (they/them): a queer pleasure activist in body and soul. Ever since they were little, they have been questioning the world around them from a place of radical softness. Their approach: going in deep with open eyes. They love walking tightrope and are always looking for the next adventure. While studying Fine Arts (2008-2012), they became involved in activism, spirituality/eclectic paganism, and discovered BDSM as a healing tool (2011). Since then, they have been learning and building experience through these interests and activities.
In 2014, they assisted in founding an amazing tattoo studio in Utrecht (2014) and taught numerous tattoo artists the trade. Within tattooing, their main focus is on the power of ritual and connection. They have since evolved a unique ritual-focused and collaborative way of working with clients that honours the tattoo process as much as the final result.
Since 2015, they have been teaching and sharing their skills through workshops and sharing circles. They especially focus on movement-based practices, fire rituals, trance journeys, creative workshops, and private intimacy and kink workshops rooted in their personal experience with navigating trauma and holding space. They are very much looking forward to the next experience and to meeting you all!
Maz will be hosting the queer sharing circle on Sunday morning.
Melinde – Lady Strawberrie
Melinde aka Lady Strawberry (she/her) is non-monogamous and not straight. She lives a fully sex-positive Sacred Slut life, meaning that sexuality is a baseline for most of her connections with others. We can easily say that everything about sex and connection has her biggest interest. And with that enthusiasm, she shares her life on social media. “For me, sexuality is a way to connect deeper with myself and others. Here I’m not talking about being penetrated 24/7, it’s about making space for everything that makes us human and sex is just that place where we can free ourselves from (what we think) is not allowed in daily life. I want to make space to truly see the other person.” She works full-time in the sex industry as an intimacy escort and sexual content creator on FanCentro. Also here she is making space for pure freedom in sexuality, so we can love ourselves a little bit more.
Melinde is speaker on the panel.
DJ Navid Divana
Amsterdam-based DJ, live controllerist & mixing teacher Navid Divana (he/him) enchants the audience with tunes from the entire spectrum of genres and regions. Even within this limitless style, he stands out with originality & experimentalism. Depending on the vibe of the event, he adjusts the width & scope of the musical spectrum. With nearly 15 years of experience at clubs, festivals, workshops, raves & with multiple residencies at the highly multi-style Ecstatic Dances across the country, he intuitively tunes in to the crowd and communicates with them in the language of music. The creative & technical mastery of the art results in genre-transcending transitions & live remixes. The groove can vary from very relaxed to highly bombastic; it respects the narrative and takes you on an unmistakable journey into both familiar territories as well as surprising new landscapes. “I never thought I would dance to THAT genre!“, is something he often hears after the Ecstatic Dance sets.
Navid is the DJ of our after-party! You may also run into him on Saturday night.
Neoza Goffin
As an artist, Neoza (she/her) builds a bridge between art, fashion and the healthcare sector. Neoza does touch-based rituals with installations in exhibitions and galleries. She does collaborations with brands such as La Fille d’O, and she has her own practice with a space decorated with her art for weekly touch-based group sessions.
Neoza is an interdisciplinary healing artist. She explores how the fusion of touch-based rituals and art can be used for psychological transformation. Touch-based practices tap into subtle layers of sexual energy through exercises with touch. Its goals are: raising awareness of the importance of touch and consent, connecting with your own body and communicating a broader interpretation of intimacy. In her artistic practice, Neoza combines contemporary themes such as sex positivity, body diversity, multiculturalism, colour therapy and gender with spiritual symbolism based on Tantra, Tao and Buddhism. She uses installation, photography, VR, video and performance.
Neoza hosts a touch-based art ritual.
Piero Flor
Piero uses no pronouns and considers themselves polysensual, bicurious, genderqueer, justice seeker and mystic lover.
Piero lives and works in Ghent as a trauma-informed and body-oriented intimacy coach, (cuddle) workshop facilitator and process facilitator. Piero wants to inspire people to experience intimacy more consciously and together move beyond taboos, blockages, violence and traumas. Piero dreams of a world in which self-care and self-actualization go hand in hand with love, justice, equality and solidarity.
Piero will give a cuddle workshop and a sensual cuddle workshop.
Photo by Leticia Spruyt
Queertied
Queertied is a safe(r) and inclusive approach to bondage and founded by the duo’s Asa x Kai and Els x Roel.
Asa (they/them) and Kai (he/him) focus on Japanese bondage, shibari/kinbaku. But when they joined their first shibari bondage workshops, they were frustrated with the role division of men as dominant and the ones tying up women as submissive and the ones to be tied. They want to show there is more fun to experience if you break free from such binary thinking.
Els (they/them) and Roel (he/him) have together decades of experience in various forms of bondage and with their creative solutions around health conditions and disabilities they aspire to make bondage as inclusive as possible.
We strive for an inclusive setting that celebrates the diversity of our bodies through the deeply intimate and creative practice of rope play and bondage.
Asa and Kai will give a workshop Japanese bondage.
Remke Verdegem
Remke Verdegem (she/her) identifies as a trans woman, lesbian and asexual. She is board member and chair of Transgender Netwerk Nederland, coordinator of team Education of COC Leiden, chair of the Rainbow Alliance at Alphen aan den Rijn, gender diversity speaker and professionally working at the National Archives of the Netherlands on the IT department as Product Owner/Product Manager. Last but not least she is also a member of the steering group at the National Archives on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Remke is speaker on the panel.
Roos Blufpand
Roos and band (Dutch electro-pop)
Een nieuw Roos-tijdperk breekt aan: maak je klaar voor brutale teksten met dansbare reggaeton beats, bubbly vibes, EDM hooks en diepe synths. Denk aan de directheid van Merol, de diepgang van Froukje en de elektronica van Fever Ray, maar dan in een unieke Roos echt-nep-tweedehands-bont-jas!
‘’Deze nieuwe Roos-era klinkt zoals mijn guilty pleasure muziek: met een heerlijke drop waar je je heupen kunt wiegen en je billen op móét schudden. Mijn nieuwe album en daaropvolgende tour worden dansbaar en empowering voor iedereen die – net als ikzelf – soms een reminder kan gebruiken dat je goed bent zoals je bent.’’ – Roos
Roos heeft inmiddels op talloze podia gestaan: van clubtours in Tivoli Vredenburg Utrecht tot De Melkweg Amsterdam, van Hedon Zwolle en Luxor Live Arnhem en van theaterconcerten op Festival de Parade tot De Kleine Komedie Amsterdam. Naast haar eigen tours deelde Roos in Paradiso Amsterdam het podium met onder andere Caro Emerald en Tangarine, stond ze in het voorprogramma van De Dijk en heeft ze samen met Paul de Munnik een duet geschreven.
Roos blijft overigens altijd Roos. Goudeerlijk, vrolijk, down-to-earth en met een groot kloppend hart voor haar medemens en de wereld waarop ze leeft. Haar levensmotto is Alleen maar Liefde en dat neemt ze mee in alles wat ze als artiest doet. Van maatschappelijk verantwoord ondernemen, tot het duurzaam maken van haar merchandise en van het open spreken over haar mentale gezondheid tot het samenwerken met stichtingen als Bont voor Dieren en de Plastic Soup Foundation.
Rosa Koenen
Rosa (she/her) is an activist, sociologist and storyteller specialized in gender and sexuality. In her work emancipation and breaking taboos is key. In the sessions and workshops she hosts, she unites art, shamanism, bodywork and dialogue to invite people to (re-)connect with themselves and each other. As co-founder of art collective HEAR ME, she works on exhibitions on sexual violence and the emancipation of sexual pleasure. She is trauma sensitive. Since she became a mother, parenthood in general and in relation to sexuality have her interest.
Rosa will give a workshop on sexual pleasure on Sunday.
Sinsia – The Queer Sex Coach
Sinsia (she/her & they/them) is a somatic sex coach who supports (mostly) queer people in creating a sex life rooted in choice. They specialise in shifting the focus from analysing to feeling, helping clients to integrate mind and body. She is a Certified Sexological Bodyworker, which means they are trained to be body oriented, trauma informed and client led. They are also trained in the Wheel of Consent by Betty Martin.
Sinsia worked as an escort for over six years before starting her coaching practice, an experience that informs and enriches their current work. In 2017 they won ‘sex worker of the year’ at the Sexual Freedom Awards gala. She identifies as a queer, polyamorous, and kinky gender explorer and uses they and she pronouns (as demonstrated in this text :).
Sinsia will give a workshop on consent and a workshop on Gender 101, and is speaker on the panel.
Suus Franken
Suus (she/her) is a Thai Massage Therapist and yoga teacher. The focus of my work is on surrendering, listening to yourself and each other, feeling what is possible for both yourself and your partner, and helping each other. Stay connected to yourself and express your needs and boundaries.
In everyday life, we often experience that these common, human behaviours are being overshadowed by judgment, haste or distrust: behaviour that we often incorporated unconsciously. In my yoga classes you playfully work on these qualities: on the mat, in a safer space, so that afterwards you can apply them outside the bubble that we create during this weekend.
Suus will give a Yin partner yoga class on Sunday morning.
Tony Fonderson
Tony (he/him) is an author and guide who specializes in relationship and marriage issues. His inspiration is to reduce the divorce rate by championing more honest, open and effective communication between couples. He helps people who struggle in love resolve conflicts and deepen their intimate connections by providing the most important education they never received in school – relationship skills! His videos about the ins and outs of dating and romance have touched millions online, and he is passionate about sharing strategies and solutions with men and women that are dedicated to doing relationships well.
Tony will give a workshop on ‘How to Choose the Right Partner for Intimate Connections’ and is speaker on the panel.
Vincent Ohlrichs
Vincent (he/him) is a trainer and expert by experience. He has given trainings, workshops, debates, and mini-symposia. He won the Agis Zorgverbeteraarsprijs 2010, participated on documentaries and TV programs, and worked on the game ‘Sex, not bad!’. The game ‘Sex, not bad!’ aims to make talking about sex and sexuality easier for everyone. I think it is important that people with disabilities can also speak about sexuality as much as possible in a normal and relaxed way. It’s an ordinary part of life.
Vincent is a speaker on the panel.
Wendy Doeleman
Wendy Doeleman (she/her) from Bliss Your Body is a well-known tantra teacher in the Netherlands for 13 years now. Educated in her homeland but also in the US, India and other places, Wendy combines the playfulness and juiciness of neo tantra with a solid foundation of classical (hindu) tantra. To her, tantra is an embodied spiritual path that invites us to embrace and celebrate all aspects of life.
Tantra embraces every aspect of life and is a deep path of liberation and awakening to non-dual awareness. Wendy is known for her light and down-to-earth approach and her safe though adventurous group environment. In her workshops, she provides the possibility to experience the essence of tantra through (active) meditation, movement, rituals and touch. Be prepared for a playful yet deep experience!
Wendy gives a tantra workshop about Unveiling Your True Nature.
Wilrieke Sophia
Wilrieke (they/them). Ask their friends to describe them and they will say courageous, adventurous, wise, and with a huge, loving heart. They may say they’re a little crazy too, with an urge to give people a little nudge and do what it takes to support them to get where they want to be – even if that needs some gentle provocation or bold confrontation – always respectfully and consensually of course!
Wilrieke is the founder and CEO of Exploring Deeper and the certified cuddle workshop brand Cuddle Workshops International. They host workshops, retreats, and professional training in the broad realms of intimacy, from cuddle workshops to conscious kink, to eclectic neo-tantra and sexy play spaces. They work together with some amazing people like Reid Mihalko, Betty Martin, Monique Darling and Rupert Alison. Wilrieke has taken the prerequisite courses for teaching consent workshops (Like a Pro) and studied the Wheel of Consent with several teachers, including Betty Martin and Robyn Dalzen, for several years.
They dedicate part of their time to creating free materials making the fields of intimacy safer, and supporting victims of abuse. In 2019 they were a speaker for TEDx.
Wilrieke is the mind behind this day and will give the ‘Do me, consensually’ workshop and an Energy Sex workshop.