Britta Joy Peterson is a director and choreographer who organizes constellations of relations on stage, page, and screen. BJP’s process is grounded in rigorous play and collaborative vitality. Working across mediums and industries, BJP is in constant pursuit of creative momentum.

Her work in theatre, dance and installation has been seen at The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts (DC), The Floor (NYC), Studio Theatre (DC), Sibu International Dance Festival (Malaysia), Performance Mix 33 (NY), Lyric Repertory Theatre (UT), Arts and Society Conference (France), Imagination Stage (MD), European Society for Literature, Science and the Arts (Switzerland), Dance Place (DC), Triskelion Arts (NY), Sonics Immersive Media Lab (England), and Paramount Theatre (MN) among many others.

Her recent work in film, television, and commercial production has spans short films, independent features, digital advertising series, broadcast, and streaming television. Continued pursuit of production experience has yielded assistant, coordinator and manager roles while creative work as a director, writer, intimacy coordinator, writer’s, director’s, and producer’s assistant.

BJP has been supported as an 2020-2022 Dance Place Artist in Residence, by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, NEA CARES, DC Commission for Humanities and the Arts, the Mellon Fund at American University, The Floor (NY), The Iron Factory (PA), Bainbridge Dance Center (WA) and Great River Educational Arts Theatre (MN). BJP is a co-founder of the performance platforms “Exquisite Frame” (DC) and “SH*T GOLD” (WA), as has designed award winning dance curricula for American University and Western Wyoming Community College. BJP holds an MFA from Arizona State University and is based in Lenapehoking/Brooklyn.

Artist Statement

I craft experiences for people to encounter ideas, others, and themselves. I approach artmaking as an act of organizing constellations of relations; I activate body as the intermediary between worlds, ideas and selves, resulting in innovative creation.

I cozy into the reality of collaboration and delight in the distinctness of people to develop ideas for, with, and among people. We arrive in spaces with our unique skills, histories, and complex social schemas. It is within this milieu that I find the most engaging work – where the playground of ideas is ripe with positive intentions and complicated personhood. Togetherness through our distinctness yields possibilities within innovation, intricacies within collaboration, and when thoughtfully navigated, richly nurtured creativity. 

Within all facets and sectors of my work, I push towards the fantasy of newness, questioning its possibility, basking in its immateriality, and reveling in its potential for revealing the subjective truths of our realities. This approach hinges on audacious experimentation. I work in a state of courageous choice making and rigorous research through multiple modalities resulting creative output that is in conversation with our sociocultural environment. Rather than be a reflector of our cultural climate, I work to be a critical, curious, and compassionate contributor.

Intimacy Coordination/Direction and Consent Based Practices

Consent based practices have been a part of my work as an artist and educator for over a decade. Research and development of methods has been instilled by a desire to make work alongside other artists, and to do so in a way where everyone can do their best work.

Terminology of Intimacy Coordination and Direction has brought verbiage to work long done in many spaces, places, and by many people. My training comes from years of doing, as well as engaging in the research and practices of others including Theatrical Intimacy Education (Chelsea Pace, Lauren Rikard), Intimacy Directors and Coordinators (Jessica Steinrock, Colleen Hughes, Judi Lewis Ockler) and others. I also consistently train in intersecting skillsets including work in the spheres of gender identity, antiracism, trauma informed work, and conflict resolution. If you are a producer or director looking to book an intimacy professional, I urge you to read Chelsea Pace’s essay “The Certification Question” in The Journal of Consent Based Performance.

My approach to coordinating and staging intimacy is to engage with consent based process, boundaries, and industry specific best practices as a way to open up further space to do our best work. Consent is a tool towards creativity, not a road block. As such, my work is expressive, effective and efficient, on set, in the rehearsal room, or in the theatre. I am dexterous in working with various directing and acting styles.

I take on intimacy consultation, quick bookings, and long-term contracts, depending on availability.

Image by Mariah Miranda