Announcing Intimacy Direction in Dance!

I came to Intimacy Direction and Intimacy Coordination because of my work in theatre. I came to work in theatre as a choreographer and a dancer. Dance has always shaped the journeys of who I am and what I do. Since I started learning Intimacy Direction in 2018, and particularly once I met Sarah Lozoff, I had a goal of bringing Intimacy Direction to concert dance- especially ballet and modern. And now, we’re one step closer,

IntimacyDirectionInDance.com

Sarah and I, with the fantastic Renee Redding-Jones are excited to launch Intimacy Direction in Dance! We are here to let dance companies know that Intimacy Direction is available to them! And that there are professionals specifically trained in both dance and intimacy. The power dynamics, vocabulary, and performance demands of dance are all slightly different than those of theatre of film. So we want dance companies to work with folks who are well-versed in the dance performance, creation, and teaching worlds, so that the application of Intimacy Direction to dance performances is beneficial to dancers, choreographers, and audiences.

We are excited to get to work!

What is an Intimacy Coordinator?

Maybe you’ve heard about it in a celebrity interview, seen it in the credits on your favorite TV show or at your local theatre. But Intimacy Coordinator, and it’s siblings, Intimacy Director, Intimacy Choreographer, and Intimacy Professional are now part of pop culture.

So, what is an Intimacy Coordinator?

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Intimacy Coordination in the News- August 2022

What is a Boundary?

What is a Boundary?

“Boundaries” is a term that gets thrown around a lot in Intimacy work. But what, exactly, IS a boundary?

Check out my TikTok series on Boundaries!

A lot of times, we think about boundaries as “don’t touch my___!” And that’s valid! But, it’s also a VERY narrow definition. I like to think of Boundaries in 3 ways:

  • Content

  • Context

  • Physical

Content Boundaries

What are you performing? Are there content, themes, stories that you should not engage with, for your own well being? You may find certain things activating, or simply not be your favorite kind of story to tell. If you are working towards being anti-racist and equitable, you will have boundaries on representing characters who have been marginalized by the demographics you represent.

Context Boundaries

Where are you performing? And, who are you performing with? You may be fine being in a state of undress in a 3000 seat house, because the audience is far away from you, and not with undressing in a 100 seat house, where you and the audience can see each other’s pores! You may feel confident performing certain acts of simulated sex with a scene partner you’ve worked with before, but not be ready to do so with someone you just met.

Physical Boundaries

What is my body experiencing? I invite you to open up your idea of physical boundaries. Instead of just asking what you are willing to have done to your body, also ask:

What am I willing to have my body do?
What am I willing to do (with consent) to the bodies of others?

You may be up for all sorts of content, in all sorts of contexts, but never want your body to be suspended above the stage. You may feel confident in having your glutes slapped in the course of story-telling, but not want to perform that action on others.

If you found these questions helpful, head over to the Shop at MomentumStage.org and download the Boundaries Worksheet for FREE! Then you will have them at your fingertips the next time you go to an audition or take a call from your agent. Just use the code “TIKTOK” at checkout.

Intimacy Professional Office Hours

I’m holding two events for folks in South Florida Theatre and South Florida Film to be able to speak to an Intimacy Professional. This time is meant to discuss how an ID/IC can support a production, whether you are an actor, crew member, critic, or administrator.

Register over on the Events page for the one that you are interested in, or drop your question in the form, and I will answer it during our time together.

We are meeting virtually so folks from across the region can attend, and that folks who can’t attend can still get answers through the recording.

See you there!

Press Release for Borrowed, the Play, in Miami!

I’m honored to be a part of the team creating Borrowed, an immersive play in Miami, opening in late June. See my Events page for ticket info. Check out the Broadway World press release all about the play here.

The Meaning of Intimacy- Part 2

In an earlier post, I offered some different definitions of intimacy from various organizations in North America, as well as my own operating meaning of intimacy.

Something I left out of that post was “hyper-exposure”, which might be a new word for you! Hyper-exposure is the word that we use in intimacy to cover a lot of different situations. Here are some examples:

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April 2022 News Stories about Intimacy Direction and Intimacy Coordination

Bringing Consent to Ballet, One Intimacy Workshop at a Time. 13 April 2022. Laura Cappelle for the New York Times.

The Impact of Intimacy Direction on Educational Theatre. 14 April 2022. Kaila Roach for On Stage Blog.

What does an Intimacy Choreographer DO?!?!

I get this question a lot. And the answer is, “it depends”! on the production, on the director, on the format, so many things. So, I created a new page that can help give you some insight into what I can or might do for your production.

Whether you are in live performance (theatre, dance, opera) or film/TV, an intimacy professional can do a lot to support the artistry of the project and the health of the performers.

Also on this page is some FAQs about the work.

February 2022 News Stories About Intimacy Direction and Intimacy Coordination

Nick Offerman thanks Intimacy Coordinators for their work on “Pam and Tommy”. 3 February 2022. Watch it here.

Meet the Professionals Keeping Sex Safe on the Set. 15 February 2022. Pittsburgh Magazine. Read it here.