As an independent publication, we rely on contributions from readers like you to fund our journalism. The practice of having an intimacy choreographer for theatrical productions is only a few years old. As we are finally growing aware, too many directors have misused and abused all of this personalized and unearned trust. The founders and practitioners of intimacy choreography also believe the main job of a director is to create an environment for actors to feel free to take artistic and emotional risks with their work.
Actors are led in exercises which establish and communicate their physical boundaries around touch from the outset. Intimate moments between characters are choreographed and stay consistent, so everyone knows what to do and what to expect.
That last one is so important, given the way these scenes have often been directed in the past. Intimacy choreographers offer a consent-based, desexualized blocking process whereby actors finally get some concrete direction and have the tools to separate the acted emotions from the real touch.
Hearing Pozdol talk about the gifts of this work, it becomes clear that she truly believes that actors who feel safe and in control create better art. When people feel safe and trust the other people they are working with, they feel free to do things they might have never considered before.
Actors can actually let their guard down, which allows for some really honest and intense moments to shine through. Born and raised in Dubuque, Pozdol remembers seeing her first staged production when she was 5 years old, and has been in love with theater magic-making ever since. She majored in theater at Simpson College in Indianola, then spent 10 years in Chicago, where she was involved in various storefront theaters, focusing on acting.
