HowlRound Theatre Commons: Equity, diversity, and inclusion are inherent parts of everything I do as an educator and artist. You can’t have intimacy without them. If don’t consider the individual experiences of every artist in the room, then I’m not doing my work as an intimacy professional. If I’m looking at you as just a body, then I haven’t figured out the humanity within the work on top of the choreography. I want to create concrete, desexualized, specific, and repeatable choreography that considers your individual needs around this material.
4 comments:
Another interview with Ann James, second one I’ve read back to back today (Erasure Is Not an Option is the other one, highly recommend reading that too). Both have been really eye opening today. It’s making me think a lot about how a rehearsal room and production is set up and created, along with how (in this case intimacy choreographers and directors, but I can see this apply to a lot of roles) someone needs to be thinking about each actor or team members: what is the humanity in the work you are doing? How does that impact each team member differently? What you bring into the room everyday matters, and you bring your whole humanity in there every time. Like I said in my other comment, I’m going to let Ann and Adi do the talking. They both have great points and have me thinking about a lot. Another re-read will be happening here too.
First of all, I love interview style articles. I also am super passionate about intimacy training and I loved hearing her perspective as someone close to the ground floor of TIE and Chelsea’s work across the field. This is a really important emphasis in the field to bring awareness about. Having the awareness of inclusion, whether it be gender identity, accessibility, cultural background, or anything else having to do with what people’s lived experience brings into the room, is something that is especially pertinent when dealing with something as sensitive and vulnerable as intimacy training. I loved what Adi said about putting self back into the work. We are all bringing our past into a space when we work so it might as well be in an informed and intentional way. I thought this interview was really informative and it brought up a lot of points I admittedly had not considered when it comes to doing this kind of work together; lots of things I'll be conscious about next time I'm in this kind of space.
I’m a big fan of the term ‘harm prevention’ because it’s direct and calls out exactly what it is trying to do: avoid people getting hurt. “Safe space” sometimes leaves some gray area because people have different definitions of safety and every individual has different needs in this category. It also totally makes sense that DE&I work is so closely linked with intimacy work because it accounts for a variety of bodies and identities, which is not something an actor can separate when asked to confront sensitive content. Especially because there are so many stereotypes that can come with this kind of work. Also, intimacy direction will continue to change a lot as the training is not one-and-done and can be vary a lot. Howlround consistently puts out some thought-provoking pieces, and this one definitely holds up. The style in which it is written is very comprehensive and easy for the end-user to absorb.
The Howl Round always has though-provoking articles and conversations that lead to further conversation and exploration into topics. What struck me most about this conversation on intimacy practices is the emphasis on education. Not just in practice but application. This leaves room for the work to change and grow, both broadly and in real-time within the room. There's no "right way" to approach intimacy in rehearsal because it will change based on the individuals involved. As Adi put it: "If don’t consider the individual experiences of every artist in the room, then I’m not doing my work as an intimacy professional. If I’m looking at you as just a body, then I haven’t figured out the humanity within the work on top of the choreography." That is an important approach to the work as an intimacy director -- or any director, in fact. It's easy to bring ego into the room. Honestly, I think the most important shift intimacy work has created is a shift towards acknowledging the individuals within the creative work. If everyone took on the mindset of striving to be the most emotionally intelligent person in the room, the industry as a whole could become much healthier.
Post a Comment