As we are coming to the end of a VERY eventful 2023 season, we asked our certified intimacy professionals and teaching artists to share a few of their favorite projects they worked on this year! Amidst everything, including the strike, we are still astounded by all the work that has been done this year and so excited to continue it into 2024!

Take a look at this highlight reel from professionals who opted into sharing their 2023 experience.

I want to start with a short story. When I worked at The Lark Theatre, I wrote a piece for our blog that was entitled “It’s okay NOT to write about it” as a response to all of the #MeToo stories that came out. As a survivor (a word I still haven’t decided if I like or not), I felt pressured to share my story on the internet as I watched others doing. I felt that, as everyone else told their stories, that I almost owed my story to the world to prove that I too had suffered. It almost felt as though, if I didn’t tell my story online, was I even part of the movement? It was as though I felt the only way to be validated in my experience was to have it liked and shared and commented on online…

It’s finally happening… Perhaps you’re an actor about to do your first scene of nudity... Perhaps you’re an intimacy professional finally getting to put your training to work with a moment of hyper exposure… Maybe you work in costuming and are being asked about modesty garments but have never worked with them before! Wherever you may fall in the wide range of production, we’re here to help you out with an introduction to Modesty Garments! Before you step onto set or into rehearsal for the scene of nudity or hyper exposure, here’s a breakdown to help you out with some of the lingo that might be involved in your show!

A Q&A with Intimacy Coordinator Alicia Rodis

At the time I am writing this, we are 7 weeks into the SAG-AFTRA strike, which began on July 14th, and just over 17 weeks into the WGA strike which began on May 2nd of this year. The big picture for both of these strikes is that the way business has been conducted for the last 100 or so years has changed drastically in the past 20 years with mergers into tech companies and then again with streaming….

Welcome to IDC's "In Conversation" Blog series! Here, we will get to know some of our Community Education teaching artists and introduce you to their work.

This round we’re speaking with Mitch McCoy, a professional Fight Director, Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors, Intimacy Director with IDC, and Reiki master about collaborating between intimacy and fight directors.

The time has come! Your company/organization has decided on a production with a good amount of simulated sex and/or nudity and you’ve realized that you need an intimacy professional’s help. Great! That’s the first step! But, turns out, you’ve never had to hire an intimacy professional before. How are you going to find the elusive Intimacy Professional? And, once you do, how will you know if they’re qualified and the right fit for the job?

Here are some helpful questions to ask during the process and ways to assess the answer to find and hire an Intimacy Professional for your steamy show!

The Association of Mental Health Coordinators was founded by us: Bridget McCarthy (she/they) and Amanda M. Edwards (she/her, also your author today!). We began as therapists who were also Intimacy Professionals but quickly found ourselves managing much more than just the intimacy-specific skills we had learned on our IP training journey. It became clear there was a need for another role, specific to the mental health content and concerns of a project. As we’ve personally and professionally navigated defining our own boundaries around the work we do, it’s become clear that… well… that nothing is clear. And that it’s up to us as individual practitioners to find ourselves and our strengths (and what’s ethical in the space) in order to actually do better.

That feeling I have felt too many times in my life. The one of my heart hurting with the deep, ancient hurt that there is too much pain in this world for me to exist in it. The one I have felt on behalf of myself and on behalf of so, so many women, known and unknown, as we are left to deal with the results and effects of the violence which occurs to us by and because of men in this patriarchal world we live in. This is what I felt while reading Marsheda Ewulomi’s honest, powerful, and beautiful blog post, Why #MeToo Has No Place for Me…Yet: Recentering Black Women in the #MeToo Movement. …

Welcome to IDC's "In Conversation" Blog series! Here, we will get to know some of our Community Education teaching artists and introduce you to their work. Find what they're saying interesting? Sign up to take their class!

This month, we're introducing Bess Rowen! Bess is teaching "Intimate Stage Directions & Embodiment" and below you can get a glimpse into who she is and what she does. Check it out!

*Content Warning: This piece contains discussion of sexual violence and suicidal ideation.

I clutched my cell phone tightly as I attempted to inhale my sobs. A friend of mine who was visiting was in the next room and I didn’t want her to hear me breaking down to my best friend, Marilyn. “Marsheda there is something you aren’t sharing. You don’t have to share it with me, but you have to get it out to heal,” she said. For a moment, time floated in my throat. She was right. Beyond her being a licensed mental health practitioner and doctoral student, we had been “chosen sisters” for over seventeen years. She knew me. She also knew how essential words were to unlocking my liberation…

Welcome to IDC's "In Conversation" Blog series! Here, we will get to know some of our Community Education teaching artists and introduce you to their work. Find what they're saying interesting? Sign up to take their class!

This month, we're introducing Roque Rodriguez! Roque is teaching "Introduction to Trauma Informed Communication" and below you can get a glimpse into who he is and what he does. Check it out!

Unapologetically and clearly sharing a boundary is a vulnerable act. There are a million “what if” anxieties and fears members of the entertainment industry have expressed to me around setting boundaries. What if I hurt their feelings or they feel rejected? What if they think I’m difficult to work with and don’t want to work with me in the future? What if my boundary ruins their vision for the show? What if I disappoint them? What if this causes conflict? What if I don’t say “yes, and…”? What if, what if, what if? These aren’t just phantom fears. They come from real systemic issues within the entertainment industry, the effects of which are felt disproportionately more by people from marginalized communities. In short, stating a boundary is hard for most people and can be outright dangerous for many.

As we are wrapping up the 2022 season, we asked our certified intimacy professionals and teaching artists to share a few of their favorite projects they worked on this year and we were overwhelmed with the results!

Take a look at this highlight reel from professionals who opted into sharing their 2022 experience. This list is just a snapshot of both theatrical and TV/Film work that have hired some of our favorite people (in alphabetical order) to keep their actors safe and choreograph some steamy moments...

We know Intimacy Choreography is a global artistic practice. Organizations across the US, Canada, England, Australia, and beyond are working to train the current and future generations of intimacy professionals worldwide. However, most of these trainings are all being held in English which is not only a language barrier but also a cultural barrier. So, we decided to chat with a couple of artists who are doing the work of translating consent and intimacy practices into their native tongues. We're so excited to introduce you to Neha Vyaso, Juuso-Matias Maijanen, and Lauren Kiele DeLeon.

Certification, or gatekeeping in general, has historically been a powerful tool in many contexts to prevent access and maintain the status quo; but what if we can harness this powerful tool to bring about change in oppressive systems? What if, by applying certification with a lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion, we can utilize existing frameworks to build external confidence in those newly certified and influence those in this industry who are skeptical of intimacy work?

We’re launching a new definition of consent! In the past, many intimacy professionals, including IDC teachers, have used the Planned Parenthood acronym FRIES when teaching consent… well now we’re introducing CRISP!

In this post, I’m going to dig deep into our financial practices as an arts organization looking to do good in the world. We believe that transparency is important when it comes to surviving in a capitalist economy - and we want to hear from you!

In my career as an intimacy professional, I have often found myself in universities working on productions as a guest artist. Since I also teach at multiple universities, I tend to be their first call when they need an ID or IC for a production. I love working with students, especially as an intimacy choreographer, because the work I do just makes sense to them.

As I sit down to write this blog post, I immediately regret offering to write a post on vulnerability and strength. I believe in teaching through example and embodiment. So in order to write a blog post on vulnerability, I have to actually be vulnerable in it in front of the over 1,000 members we now have in the Consent Studio. Buckle up. Here we go…

We’re pulling back the curtain on what it looks like to build a career as an intimacy professional.

This month, we’re spotlighting three incredible professionals who share insight on life, work, and showbiz. These three artists have gained experience and qualifications in very different ways, and we are truly grateful that they are sharing their perspectives and experience with IDC and our community.