We’re looking forward to introducing you to Nicole Perry. Check out our conversation below.
Good morning Nicole, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: Would YOU hire you? Why or why not?
I would! My breadth of experience, coupled with extensive training would make me feel like, YES! This person has both the knowledge and practice to bring excellence to my project.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am a 3-time Silver Palm award-winning movement professional, working as an intimacy director, intimacy coordinator, and dance choreographer in South Florida. I have taught movement and dance for several South Florida institutions including the Palm Beach County School District and the University of Miami. My book, “Care-full Creativity in Theatre and Dance Education: Consent-forward, Trauma-informed, Psychologically Safe Movement Pedagogy,” will be published by Routledge in January 2026.
I am always working to integrate consent- and trauma-informed practices into my movement work, whether that is through education or creation.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who taught you the most about work?
I am lucky in that I learned the theories and practices of staged intimacy work from the early leaders in the work: Tonia Sina, Alicia Rodis, Chelsea Pace and Laura Rikard. My current mentors are also my co-workers at Intimacy Professionals Education Collective. I learn something from them daily.
But I learn the most about the work, and am still learning, every time I go to work. Every artist has their own process, and my job is to support their process, so they can enter it with creativity and confidence. This requires constant adapting, listening, drawing on my resources, and centering values and people. Each actor or dancer, director or choreographer teaches me how to be a more creative, more compassionate, more insightful artist.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Being an artist is hard. It feels impossible to separate myself from my work. What I have learned from suffering is that I am NOT my work. My worth comes from my humanity, not my productivity.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
The entertainment industry, both live and recorded, believe some big lies.
1. That fame or big credits equates to value. So much of “fame” comes from luck of birth, location, opportunity. Every person is valuable.
2. AI is inevitable. AI can add value to creative endeavors. AI also threatens a lot of creativity. But AI is NOT inevitable. We can choose how we use these tools, how often we use them, and what safeties we expect for the dignity of humans and human creativity.
3. Intimacy Professionals are the “sex police.” Or HR. We’re not. I want the scene to be as spicy as every performer can confidently tell that story.
4. Giving an opportunity to express boundaries will mean that people won’t do anything. This has not mean my experience. Boundaries actually mean that people can more confidently enter their work because they know they don’t have to monitor their safety- their energy can go to telling that story!
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
This happens a lot at work as an Intimacy Professional. Critics don’t know how to write about our work, or how to distinguish our work from a directors. Actors don’t always see the work we do behind the scenes to prep, communicate with other departments, or advocate for their boundaries. I know that there are some folks who thought I was doing nothing on my most active days at work. But my work matters, probably the most, on those days that I am advocating or working behind the scenes, because it is making the work that happens for the audience go smoothly.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nicoleperry.org
- Instagram: @intimacychoreofl
Image Credits
head shot: Amy Mahon
Image 1: Matthew Tippins. Actors: Matthew Buffalo and Clay Cartland, Image 2: Tabatha Mudra, Actors: Abbie Fricke and Nathaniel Heustis, Image 3: Morgan Sophia Photography, Dancer: Kalin Basford, Image 4: Morgan Sophia Photography, Dancers: Kalin Basford, Abbie Fricke, Melanie Martel and Sarah Romeo with Nicole Perry
