Embrace the Unsexiness: TIE Intimacy Workshops Come to CO

When I first met Chelsea Pace, co-founder of Theatrical Intimacy Education, I knew I had encountered an artist, a scholar, and a friend. Our similar passion for and interest in improving the practice of choreographing intimate sequences for the stage was immediately apparent—and we had matching haircuts.

Since we met, I’ve been working with the Rocky Mountain Artists’ Safety Alliance to secure enough funding to bring Chelsea to Colorado as a resource for our greater community. The process of syncing our calendars took nearly a year, but it was worth it.

I had the honor of hosting Chelsea for the week, as she led four in-class workshops for contact improvisation, acting, and dance classes at the University of Colorado Boulder. We also facilitated two workshops open to the greater population in Boulder and one workshop at Curious Theatre for artists and makers from the Denver metro area.

Some of my favorite takeaways from this week:

Intimacy Choreography is specifically and purposefully unsexy. (Embrace the unsexiness!)

Your personal boundaries are like fences; my neighbors have a right to erect a fence for any time, and it’s never about me. (so well said!)

Also, I am SUPER excited about the new ingredients that TIE has included in their methodology! They’ve enfolded a lot into their practice since the first workshop I took a little over a year ago. If you want to know more about these ingredients, keep an eye out for Chelsea’s book, being published later this year!