- An Intimacy Director supports a live production (theatre, dance, opera, etc) by collaborating to create choreography for scenes of moments of intimacy.
- An Intimacy Director can offer descriptive vocabulary that is actionable for the actor, and can accurately translate the director’s and actors’ offers into movement, intention and connection.
- An Intimacy Director can coach actors in connecting physicality and movement along with voice and breath work to explore the potential of their Intimacy-related performances. Also, the Intimacy Director can offer additional self-care practices when the scene work is particularly challenging.
- An Intimacy Director can be a person in the room who shares access to intimacy-specific resources, including historically or culturally specific physical practices, and vocabulary for describing and building intimate moments and character traits, etc. Additionally, the Intimacy Director has knowledge of various ethical resources for further research.
- An Intimacy Director can assist the opening conversations that help set the stage to openly discuss boundaries between the personal and professional.
- An Intimacy Director can assist the production in maintaining the clarity of storytelling throughout the run, for instance, through supporting the SM with note-taking language, teaching the company how to do a pre-show intimacy call, and sharing vocabulary to help actors make clear notes and to empower everyone to talk to each other about the scene.
- An Intimacy Director’s work is separate from Respectful Workplaces and inclusion practices, though an ID might be able to support the production in creating, developing and/or sustaining new workplace agreements.
When is an Intimacy Director helpful? Scenes of:
- Sexual contact
- Sexual content, whether or not physical contact is involved. For example: flirting, sexual tension, moments before or after offstage intimate moments, etc.
- Non-sexual physical intimacy, including among friends and familial contact. For instance: embraces between characters who are parent and child, comforting a grieving friend, reunions of long-lost friends.
- Violent sexuality, whether the story depicts a consensual or non-consensual act.
- Power dynamics and status. For instance, scenes where specific heightened awareness of body language choreography will clarify storytelling and the emotional impact on the audience, for instance, scenes of harassment.
- Can also include scenes of emotional and psychological vulnerability, particularly when physical specificity of movement is required. For instance giving birth, physical caregiving, etc.
By Melanie Yeats and Siobhan Richardson