I agree with you for the most part. Too much choreography can get in the way of a scintillating scene, but for every rule, there is an exception. One of my favorite kissing scenes breaks the act into the small parts and dedicates an entire paragraph to the act. Now, if every kiss were handled this way, it's would get old fast, but, because this was the first kiss between a couple, it was so expertly executed it hit me right in the feels.
Apologies before I start if I'm not as erudite as those that have already contributed on this theme ....
The prose should be the same size as a thong ....covering the essentials , stimulating and leaving the plenty for the imagination to wonder about
Wait, are the hippo and seagull dating or is this just a one time fling?
I think the level of detail is irrelevant, it’s more a matter of which details are chosen as the focal point.
I love descriptions but at times fail in sex scenes. That is one reason why I favor collaboration, because I like to mesh two writing minds together.
Irrelevant details kill. There is no limit to how much detail you can add as long as each detail is relevant to the story or to character development. One of my favorite novels, “American Psycho,” has like 100 extra pages of obsessive details, listing every outfit down to the argyle socks, and it Is freaking amazing.