For more information on suspension visit – http://www.suspension.org/

Video by Claire Spelkoman and Shawn Porter

In April, Claire and I headed to Texas to attend the 2010 Dallas Suscon. My agenda was to socialize, see old friends and watch the best suspension artists in the world teach and learn from each other in a private practitioners only environment. Claire’s agenda was to capture as much video as possible as part of a presentation she was going to be doing the following week for her “Body Art and Modification” class at SUNY Purchase.

I’ve been to a lot of “suscons” over the years; Toronto, New York, Massachusetts and Dallas with each one being a different experience. Some are more about the attendees- a place where people who want to suspend can meet up and hang. Others, like Dallas, are more about education and trying things out with your peers; things you wouldn’t necessarily do, due to a variety of factors. Documenting an event like that came with its own challenges. The intended audience for the footage we were shooting was a class full of students who may have never seen suspension before. During the frenzied editing process (which started at the St. Louis airport due to a time crunch) we made conscious decisions to trim certain things that out of context may be “shocking” to a general viewer. We chose to include basic explanations of the process without the benefit of a linear narrative. We shied away from blood.

With less than a day to compile the footage, trim the clips, edit them all together and pick music that fit each section, I think we did a pretty good job. Claire turned in her video, which was screened in front of the class, two days after returning from Texas. As expected, she got an A+. On her behalf, I’d like to thank everyone who put up with us following them around with cameras for three days and let us share their suspensions with the academic community.

We’re packing our cameras for this years ROP Campout…. stay tuned!