CLOSER WITH CONSENT: Ausruhen/Rest
Residency Hannah Dewor
Resting. Regenerating. Despite all pressure to perform, keep going, push through, and cross boundaries that are often normalized.
As an act of self-care.
As an acknowledgement of one’s own limits.
As an anti-ableist action.
As a social and political gesture.
As a space that opens up to perceive and connect with oneself: with one’s body, one’s thoughts. And as an opportunity to step out of existing structures.
During her residency, Hannah Dewor explores how different ways of resting can be expressed artistically—and how these can be connected to the tools of Intimacy Choreography (consent-based and trauma-informed methods) in dance.
For her research, Hannah invites beanbags into the studio as allies and gathers a small group of dancers. Through their dance backgrounds and personal experiences—including those shaped by chronic illness, disability, or PTSD—they contribute their perspectives and approaches to rest. In addition, they draw on resources from Crip and Black feminist movements (including Tricia Hersey’s The Nap Ministry). Together, the residency team develops solos, scores, choreographies, and texts with the beanbags that reflect their individual forms of recovery or regulation.
In collaboration with:
Annie Edwards, Nora Goßmann, Patscharaporn Distakui, Amelia Uzategui Bonilla
At the work-in-progress showing, the team shares interim results of their collaborative process. In the second part, audience members who wish to do so are invited to try out the developed scores with the beanbags and get to know the work through active participation. Feedback is warmly welcomed. The final artist conversation offers additional space for questions and exchange with the residency team.
The artistic research feeds into Hannah’s larger project CLOSER WITH CONSENT – Intimacy Choreography in Dance.
Supported through Next Steps, a program by Bureau Ritter for strengthening dance practitioners in Hessen. Funded by the Crespo Foundation.
Hannah Dewor
Dance & choreography
& education
& access
& intimacy choreography
CLOSER WITH CONSENT – Intimacy Choreography in Dance
IG: @closer_with_consent
What is Intimacy Choreography?
Intimacy Choreography introduces consent-based and trauma-informed methods and tools into productions and educational settings within the performing arts. Intimacy choreographers are responsible for coordinating and choreographing scenes that involve simulated intimacy, sex, or sexual violence. By combining consent-based approaches with artistic practice, intimacy choreographers help reduce the risk of power abuse, integrate workplace safety as an essential part of the artistic process, and enable artistic innovation within the performing arts.
The role of intimacy choreography in dance is particularly significant because dance practices often rely on real physical touch and bodily contact rather than simulated intimacy. Dancers—whose work depends on and is expressed through their bodies—must have their boundaries respected and their craft supported. The tools of intimacy choreography empower dancers to articulate and communicate their boundaries and to create work within them.
Workshop: CLOSER WITH CONSENT – for dance enthusiasts
Workshop: CLOSER WITH CONSENT – for dance enthusiasts
CLOSER WITH CONSENT invites dance enthusiasts of all levels to explore movement, connection, and boundaries through the lens of Intimacy Choreography. In this workshop, we work with consent-based and trauma-informed tools to create a space of trust, curiosity, and respect—both for ourselves and for others.
Together, we explore how touch, closeness, and distance can be negotiated in dance. We ask: What does safety feel like in the body? How can we stay connected to our own boundaries while engaging with others in movement?
The workshop offers practical tools and scores from intimacy choreography, adapted for both beginners and those with dance experience. No previous knowledge is required—just an openness to move, reflect, and experiment.
Come as you are. Your experiences, your body, and your pace are welcome.
Biography
Hannah Dewor
Hannah Dewor is a trained contemporary and modern dancer (studies in Cologne and Amsterdam), choreographer, and dance educator (M.A. Contemporary Dance Education, Frankfurt).
Alongside engagements as a dancer in independent productions (including Amelia Uzategui Bonilla / T.I.A. dance productions, Yves Thuwis de Leeuw / Nevski Prospekt, Richard Siegal / The Bakery), Hannah also performs at venues such as Oper Frankfurt (seasons 2021/22 and 2023/24). A particular focus of her work lies in the intersection of dance and access.
From 2014 to 2022, Hannah co-founded and co-led the ensemble Barefeet together with choreographer Jungyeon Kim—an ensemble working with artists with disabilities—and developed dance workshop formats tailored to diverse access needs.
In 2024/25, she took part in a qualification program for audio description in dance (Tanzplattform Rhein-Main). Since 2024, Hannah has been an associate artist with T.I.A. dance productions, performing in Interrupting the Thrill of Exactitude, and designing workshops combining dance and audio description as well as teaching formats for schools.
In 2023, Hannah completed a training program in Intimacy Coordination for film and television (Culture Change Hub Berlin), funded by Hessen Film & Medien GmbH, and continued her education with advanced modules in Intimacy Choreography for theatre and live performance (Theatrical Intimacy Education, USA). Since then, she has integrated intimacy choreography tools into a wide range of dance and educational projects.
Her project CLOSER WITH CONSENT – Intimacy Choreography in Dance is supported through the Next Steps program (Bureau Ritter, Crespo Foundation), providing funding until the end of 2026 to further develop the field of intimacy choreography specifically within the context of dance. The project includes exchange formats and workshops for dancers, choreographers, educators, and producers, research and interviews, as well as an exchange laboratory in 2026.
Currently there are no upcoming performances of this Program.
