Sex Festival

SEX FESTIVAL

It’s hard to imagine how the cosy, unmistakably English seaside town of Dartmouth, with its quaint cobbled alleys, Tudor buildings, hills and harbour could have ever been chosen as the place to host England’s first tantra and healing arts festival.

One might expect a couple attempting an idea as madcap as throwing a tantra festival in their own home town to be renegade hippies, but the Lamberts are a quintessentially English couple themselves, polite and appropriately behaved (although their children might disagree). Kerry and Colin ran a highly-respected, local sailing school before selling up and stepping into the unknown. The courage this took came from discovering tantra, diving in at the deep end with a year-long, couples training under the facilitation of John Hawken from Skydancing Tantra, and watching their 30 year marriage transform itself from, let’s say ‘tired’ to ‘rejuvenated’.

The Lamberts fell in love with tantra and spent a couple of years dabbling in various different styles of tantra, which is a common practice amongst tantrikas, who tend to be like butterflies, tasting the nectar from different flowers. They began asking themselves, “How can we create a business that would let us immerse ourselves in the thing we’re most passionate about?” Their previous obsession, sailing, had given them the impetus to set up a sailing school from scratch, which had consequently provided them a series of unforgettable adventures upon the high seas of the world. After a lot of hard work, and with the growing realisation about the dangers of mixing business and pleasure, they decided to let the sailing school go, and allowed themselves a short spell of “What the hell do we do now?”
The next step soon became obvious and the intrepid Lamberts set about bravely creating an ambitious festival, bringing together all the teachers, practitioners and oddball characters they’d met along the way so far on their tantric journey.

The Dartmouth yearly calendar is chockablock full of festivals – regatta week, music, comedy, food, literary – show up there and you’ll be pretty sure to find some festival or another in full flow. It’s lucky (or unlucky, depending on which side of the picket fence you stand) that the place has been bought up by rich city dwellers, who rent out their houses for the 351 days they’re not in Dartmouth themelves. Clever folk who opened holiday rental services ten years ago...

In early December 2007, unsuspecting Dartmouth found itself descended upon by two hundred or so curious tantrikas, excited to be part of this seminal event. The normally rather functional Flavel centre was festooned with tibetan yantras, incense burned fiercely and new age music caressed the ears of local and visiting punters as they climbed the staircase to the main hall, which was packed with stalls selling a wide array of products, from tibetan bowls, to tantric clothing, to boxes of raw chocolate. Hundreds of exotic Thai buddhas had been displayed throughout the centre by the Harry the Buddha Man and colourful booths housed various alternative practitioners offering kinesiology, massage and clairvoyant readings.

Dartmouthians are a conservative lot, and sadly many stayed away, having been deterred by the local rumours that this was a ‘Sex Festival’. There were also floods closing the main roads into Dartmouth from the outside world, and with weather warnings from the local radio urging people “not to leave their homes”, there was a disappointing turn out from the nearby areas. This didn’t stop the participants, who had journeyed from far and wide to take up residence for the weekend in the Royal Castle Hotel and various rental houses, from having the most glorious time. All of the tantra workshops were full to bursting. There were courses available at all levels of tantra, from beginners to advanced and there was a buzz in the air as participants rushed around, grabbing fabulous organic food between classes.

Kerry had booked some supremely talented performers who gave shows virtually back to back – singers, musicians, psychic readers tuning in to Great Aunt Ethel, an acupuncturist offering a live demonstration (I stupidly watched this while eating a veggie burger and promptly found myself with severe indigestion), healing sound journeys – honestly, there was no chance of being bored for a minute!
On Saturday evening the incredible band, One Hand Clapping got everyone dancing. We were fully revved-up for the late night party which was held in private in the Royal Castle Hotel. The fancy dress theme was ‘desire’, and the costumes certainly didn’t disappoint. There was latex, lace and leather in abundance. The bar staff had been warned, but I’m sure that nothing could have prepared them for the hundred wild and exotically-attired guests who descended en-masse from the hotel rooms at 11.00. We danced, drank and made merry until 4.00 in the morning. My favourite spot of course was the aptly named ‘Bizarre Bazarre’ which had been created behind a curtain at the far end of the bar. In this secluded spot guests could partake of anything their hearts desired – there was every kind of stimulation on offer, from gentle massage, to blindfold sensorial delights, to spanking. While chatting with guests at the bar I noticed a few raised eyebrows from the staff as they caught the sounds of slaps and squeals emanating from behind the curtain. The name of the party was ‘Tantrabound’, Colin’s desire being to merge tantra and fetish for the night, something not often attempted. I noticed a few tantrikas in a state of mild shock. Bless their hemp socks. They had obviously never found themselves quite so up-close to playful S & M before. I’m a believer in trying something before you ‘dis’ it and this was a perfect environment in which to dive into new experiences. If you judge someone for obvously enjoying an innocent activity that seems beyond your comprehension, an activity that isn’t harming anyone else, just notice where that judgement comes from...is it from your mind? Is it formed from the mental residue of some experience you once had long ago? Interesting to note that the Dartmouth Tantra and Healing Arts Festival seemed to provide challenges for both the pure tantrikas, and the uninitiated, curious about this strange practice they’d heard about from a random flyer they’d picked up at some fetish club in London.There was certainly something for everyone at Tantrabound. Quite a number of guests never even left the dance room, remaing completely unaware of the Bizarre Bazarre, as the music, DJ’d by the sensational Suta continued to motivate and move body, heart and soul for the full five hours...

After all the late night shenanigans you would have expected the early morning meditation on Sunday morning to be empty, but to everyone’s amazement at least 20 people showed up at 9.00 prompt for Sarita’s Mahamudra, with live music provided by One Hand Clapping. This is an active and dynamic meditation and the fact that so many people showed up at this uncilivised hour demonstrated the dedication and passion of tantra lovers.

Lunchtime saw the first ever forum of tantra teachers. This was a panel consisting of the main facilitators who had offered workshops at the festival. Laurie Handlers from Butterfly Workshops in the USA, Jewls from Heart Tantra, Sarita and Chintan from School of Awakening and Hanna from Transendence sat side by side on a panel, answering questions from the captivated audience. This was an historic event and I was proud to be hosting this inspiring forum. Questions as varied as “How do I practise tantra if I’m a celibate?” and “Do tantra and business go together?” were fired at the teachers, all of whom answered with grace, openness, generosity and genuine wisdom. There was such a feeling of love and support between the teachers that it would have been impossible to leave that room without an overwhelming sense that there could be peace and harmony in the world in the not too distant future.
The Lamberts set out to run a healing arts festival bringing together a few, like-minded people. I believe they achieved far more than that. For one weekend in rainy Dartmouth, Colin and Kerry, and a bunch of slightly eccentric tantrikas created heaven on earth.

The next Dartmouth Tantra and Healing Arts Festival is on 4th to the 7th December,2008