OUR MISSION
Intimacy Coordinators of Color will support and promote decolonized intimacy education and inclusive hiring practices in the entertainment industry.
The Origin of ICOC
April 2019. After a 10-year journey of artistic advancement abroad, I made the huge decision to move to the entertainment capital of the world-Los Angeles, California. I knew I would need something exciting to capture and keep me in the US, and by happenstance, I stumbled on an article about this new industry - intimacy direction. As I combed the landscape for people of color in leadership, I noticed an imbalance in affordability, accessibility to training, plus a lack of focused training on the intersectionality of race and the performance of charged material.
January 2020. I posted about the imbalance on my social media. I got over 400 responses within the first day and more than 50 emails from people of color interested in this new field but felt that they wanted to be trained by people who looked more like them. That day Intimacy Coordinators of Color (ICOC) was born.
Since then, I’ve been thrilled to see the growth in the industry. While, by and large, opportunities to work at the highest levels of television film and theatre are unfortunately gatekept and hoarded, ICOCs are breaking through with fierce abilities to educate, operate and make space for themselves under tremendous adversity. Recently I was given the opportunity to share my skills on Broadway as the first Black Intimacy Director for Pass Over, the first show to open after the pandemic shut down of 2020.
At Intimacy Coordinators of Color, we are making moves, making waves, and making a way for others like us to find their own path into the industry. Where there is equity, there is justice. Everyone deserves to have an intimacy professional that understands their specific point of view. We appreciate your support!
WHAT IS AN INTIMACY CHOREOGRAPHER?
Intimacy Choreographers are responsible for the consensual crafting and staging of stories of sex, race, disability, religion, or age with appropriate cultural context and competency. They consult on scenes with loaded, heightened, or charged content that draws on the actor’s identity.
ICOC Qualifications
ICOC qualified individuals have the following qualifications and experience:
- Mental Health and First Aid certification (3 years)
- Anti-Sexual Harassment training
- Bystander Intervention training
- Course and training equivalent of The ICOC Approach
- Cultural Bias training
- Anti-Racism training
- Justice,Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Training
Intimacy Coordinators of Color can highly recommend the professionals on our list. They in no way pay ICOC for any connections to the industry or for mentorship. The individuals listed are not employed by ICOC, but we sure believe in what they provide to the industry.
What do Intimacy Specialists do?
Intimacy Specialist are responsible for the consensual crafting and staging of stories that leverage gender, sexual orientation race, disability, religion, or age with appropriate cultural context and competency. They also consult on scenes with charged content that draws on an actor’s identity.
What is the scope of intimacy choreography?
Intimacy choreography does not, and cannot, exist in a vacuum. For an intimacy specialist to be successful, a producing organization must actively support a culture of consent from season selection to casting, through production. As an additional responsibility, an intimacy specialist may also be contracted to serve as a consent or policy consultant for an organization or production.
