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May 5 - May 7
2006

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Catherine Gross

Catherine Gross is a teacher, consultant, and Life coach. She teaches classes that focus on physical skills, Master/slave relationships, Dominance and Submission, improving your sex life, gender, house management, service, activism and theory.

She has served local and national boards, judged contests, staffed conferences in a number of positions, emceed and produced fundraisers for various charities/organizations. She is currently the co-producer of South East Leather Fest.

Catherine has presented classes at South Plains LeatherFest, Living In Leather by NLA-I, San Diego Leatherfest, Southeast Leatherfest, Southwest Leather Conference, Together in Leather, Northeast Master/slave Conference, Leather University, Boys Camp, International Ms. Leather, Leather Leadership Conference, Pantheon, TES, Folsom Fringe, Orlando Bash, Great Lakes Leather Alliance, and at many more events. She was presented with Black Rose's Vaughn Keith National Educator Award in 2002 and Pantheon of Leather Southeast Region Service Award 2006.

She enjoys the one on one contact that smaller organizations facilitate. Catherine has also written a Safety Manual in use by seven organizations scattered from coast to coast.

Catherine created Servant's Retreat, an intensive weekend for those who serve, that focuses on the internal issues of submission and service. She is presenting SR from coast to coast and does private sessions for couples and individuals.

She is an owner of a wholesale/retail chainmail business and of Fetish Auctioneer which received Pantheon of Leather Business of the Year 2006 award, where she sells sex toys under the seller name Zipperdiva.

"Teaching provides me with great joy. I love seeing emotional and intellectual connections made in class discussions. We've all contributed to educating each other in many forms. It is my great fortune to participate in the creation of these moments."

 

2006 Presentations:
Age Play From the Sandbox to the Bedroom -
Novice to Advanced
Explore the emotional, mental and physical aspects of this very charged type of play. The discussion will address an age range from 6 to 16 years of age. Sexual and non-sexual forms of play will be discussed, as well as the attendant roles of those who play with "children." Meet each persona and learn how they were "born", who they are, who they play with and why. (lecture, demo and round table)

Negotiations: Your Most Important Tool -
Novice to Advanced
Learn how to negotiate well and completely. Learn what is imperative to negotiations, why they are necessary and how to improve your skills and get what you want and need to create a basic scene or an intense long scene. This class is taught from two perspectives: a) learning how to negotiate as a top; and b) how to negotiate as a bottom. This class gets into the nitty gritty of knowing yourself, playing on multiple levels and how to bring your best self to play. (lecture, demo, handouts)

Refining Service Movement -
Novice to Advanced
This is a class for submissives/bottoms/slaves who wish to refine your movement, stance and body control. It's also a class for tops to learn how to manage your bottoms. Your every movement communicates your disposition. Each movement is rift with nuance, discipline and sentiment. Learn the language of your craft and refine your hands, various forms of kneeling, types of crawling, your overall body movements and service. Learn how to be invisible or a show piece and discern when each is appropriate.

Switching Paradigm -
Advanced Audience
Can a slave be an owner? How does such a person conduct each of their relationships with respect, integrity, and meet their obligations to each? Catherine Gross will address the many questions and specific issues about a time-honored system of "middle management" slaves, junior top systems, and other ideologies that allow a slave to be an owner. She will address these systems that also include individuals who are not switches.