Intimacy Choreography: Some Psychological Considerations

We don’t “have” a body, we are our body. Somatic awareness is important to feeling grounded in our identity and holding our power in space. This may sound easy enough, but in a dominant culture where it is already easy to disconnect with our bodies, relationships and power dynamics can sometimes make integrating our physical, emotional, cognitive and social experiences more nuanced.

Let’s take a look at some of the psychological phenomena outlined by Chelsea Pace in Staging Sex that every director and performer should know when considering how power dynamics affect people:

1.

Nerves affect cognition

Heightened states alter the way we think.

When we are in a state of nervous system arousal, as in stressed during an audition or rehearsal, our bodies and subconscious minds are looking for more primal reasons for this heightened state. We may cross the signals between the characters we’re portraying and our own identity. In the worst cases performers may be more easily coerced into doing things they don’t want to do or that may even be harmful because of the power-differential in the room. There’s also the familiar case of “showmances”, where embodying the Truth of characters in relationship results in an attraction to a scene partner.

As explained by pioneer of the field Chelsea Pace, “Boundary-setting and other high order social skills may tend to decline, unless those skills are practised in a heightened state” (p. 9). This is just one reason that introducing boundary setting, vulnerability practises, and de-roling rituals early on in collaborative processes can help to separate the truth of the characters from merging with the reality of life.

This leaves room for discussion around social dance spaces or contact improvisation spaces where movers are not in character at all, and thankfully Kathleen Rea and others are doing incredible work in creating guidelines, protocols and spaces of support for this community.

2.

Culture is important

People need protocol.

In Pace’s words, “People need protocol… having explicit protocol or team culture is important when dealing with a diverse team and/or complicated interpersonal relationships–both of which conditions apply in just about any rehearsal room”. This is important because we can mutually recognize respect and courtesy as important, but have completely different movement language or behaviour to express these ideas based on our cultural framework and lived experience. In a space like a dance studio, theatre, or film set where people with completely diverse experiences are coming together, there are usually clear protocols around etiquette. Historically these protocols have been missing for staging intimacy and is why establishing best practices is crucial now in order to create safer collaboration spaces.

3.

People Conform

We learn by imitation and like to fit in so being the first to say NO is the hardest.

The power of group dynamics are very interesting. Consider what management experts call the “Abilene Paradox”, which is essentially conformity at its extreme, where a group of people undertake a course of action the majority of them actually do not agree with to keep with the perceived status quo. One person introduces the idea, another agrees to be polite, and the waterfall of agreement begins. Being the first person to say “NO” in a space is challenging, especially in spaces of urgency like a film set or a rehearsal space where “time is money”.

Practicing NO is important, especially for performers who have been primed to always say YES, even reinforced through improvisational games like “Yes and…”. I often recommend practising some of Kasia Urbaniuk’s free Keys to Power exercises, especially the second “Playing with no” exercise, to help rewire this neural programming.

As Pace puts it, “Because of the power of the room, you need to be the power in the room. if you don’t break the tendency towards conformity, who will?” I look forward to exploring and writing more on the psychology of power dynamics and the choreographic techniques like desexualizing language that can help diffuse common power differentials.