The Art of Intimacy

Amy Cater’s role as The Australian Ballet’s intimacy coordinator has been an invaluable addition to our company. After joining the cast and creatives in 2024 to work on Christopher Wheeldon’s groundbreaking production Oscar©, Amy returns to the rehearsal room in 2025 to help guide the artists for our productions of Nijinsky and Manon.

When joining a new production, Cater has a clear set of goals to support intimate and heightened aspects of the work. This can be anything from dramatised violence to moments that require a raw vulnerability from the artist. Additionally, Cater’s role aims to create a shared language between the creatives and dancers in order to build character intimacy in a consensual and safe way, where artist well-being is at the forefront.

Intimacy coordination has gained popularity on Australian productions and has been used throughout television, film and theatre for over a decade but has only recently been introduced to the world of ballet. Cater believes this is due to changing attitudes about the role itself.

“We are all on the same page, wanting to tell powerful, impactful stories. Once the initial misconceptions of the intimacy coordinators being ‘touch police’ or ‘rigid safety officers’ were shed, people became more open to how we can creatively sculpt a work and support artist wellbeing. We are here to enhance the storytelling, not restrict it.”

Incorporating intimacy coordination into ballet is not without its challenges. As a highly physical and wordless art form, there’s an assumed agreement of consensual touch embodied within the choreography. Scripted mediums have the benefit of industry-wide recognised and embedded processes that allow intimacy coordinators to be part of the initial consent and choreography during pre-production.

The fast-paced ballet world has limited time between rehearsal and opening night, and multiple casts make it difficult for Cater to give the 1:1 guidance she can in other art forms.

“In ballet, many of the pieces are already set, and the dancers are learning what is already decided. It becomes more about supporting the artists to authentically tell the story so the audience reads those moments as intended.” Says Cater.

Dancers are physical storytellers, and as Cater sees it, experts of their own craft, experienced at incorporating the mechanics of touch throughout the dance choreography. Cater’s skill set is vital when exploring the emotional nuances or the ‘moments-within-the-moments.’

Not confined to just the rehearsal or performance space, intimacy coordinators ensure that artists are supported before, during, and after a performance. One of the ways Cater supports the artists is through ‘de-rolling.’ De-rolling is how performers get out of character at the end of a performance, and there are many tricks and tips for de-rolling, from a physical cool-down to actively changing your appearance (removing makeup and changing out of costume) that will help a performer separate themselves from their on-stage persona.

As the ballet industry becomes more familiar with the concept of intimacy coordinators, the depth of emotion and storytelling in ballet, both historical and modern, can only benefit from these guardians of health and wellbeing. From physical and emotional support to strategies in coping with challenging material, The Australian Ballet is at the forefront of providing a safe environment for our dancers, mind, body and soul.

“It’s an ongoing evolution.” Say Cater, who hopes more ballet companies will see the benefits of intimacy coordination and develop consistent industry standards across the art form. “The Australian Ballet team has been so warm and open to discussing what we can all do together to make things even better.”