Thursday, November 11 – Sunday, November 14
www.ffwdweekly.com – Whether you like to be tickled, spanked, seduced or thrown up against a wall, you’re likely to find something that catches your eye at Taboo Naughty But Nice Show. This isn’t the local porn shop; this show features row upon row of dildos, swingers’ clubs, S&M clubs, seminars, products and entertainment.
“We’re celebrating our 10th year here in Calgary, so that’s pretty spectacular,” says Master Sarah Moanies, one of the organizers and the mainstage MC. “When it started out it was a trade show bringing vendors and consumers together. It’s been growing over the last 10 years and it’s by far probably the largest collection of… unique products, shall we say, all under one roof and only one weekend a year in Calgary.”
“It’s an opportunity, too, for maybe couples who think: ‘Well, I’m in a monogamous relationship.’ It doesn’t have to be the same sex with the same partner. It can be different sex with the same trusted, loved partner over and over.”
Of course, it doesn’t have to be with the same partner over and over. Taboo reflects just about every persuasion — queer, straight, polyamorous and just about anything else you can think of.
But it’s not just vendors and lectures. The performers this year include burlesque, pole dancing, the first annual Miss Taboo contest (leather-latex fashion show included), Grinder Girl — who takes a grinder to her metal-clad body — and the feature performer, local contortionist Visha Loo.
Given that it’s a sex show, is this some sort of erotic contortionist?
“I guess it depends on the eye of the beholder whether they find it erotic,” says Moanies. “She is one heck of a cute little button, that’s for sure.”
Moanies has the privilege of standing in front of a large audience over the course of the four-day event, which gives her a unique perspective on a crowd that’s anything but homogenous. Watching the reaction on people’s faces is one of her favourite parts of the show.
But the other part that gets her revved up is bringing laughter and lightheartedness to something far too many people take far too seriously.
“Just getting people to laugh, that’s the other aspect that I love, and hearing an audience member laugh about it. You can get hot and bothered and oversexed, but laughter is great. And if you can incorporate laughter into the bedroom — just don’t point — and have that kind of exchange with your partner, you’re covering the funny aspect, the hot and bothered aspect of it, the lovey-dovey, mushy aspect of it. It’s a huge spectrum, it’s not just about the hot and bothered,” she says.