Dancing with your eyes closed

D

disarm

Changui
I often see the follower in Tango closing their eyes for the duration of the song.

Does anyone else (leader or follower) dance with their eyes closed? I've tried it a few times and it's quite disorientating.

I found this:-

bbc.co.uk/blogs/ouch/2012/02/learning_to_dance_when_blind.html
 
Closed eyes would limit what you can lead/follow in salsa. I never tried it but I don't feel like it - I like to have eye contact with my partner.
 
I have never done it in salsa (except once when the instructor asked me to in order to demonstrate to the class that with a good lead, the follower should be able to follow with her eyes closed; I followed fine but it was pretty disorienting).

I do it occasionally in Argentine tango when dancing in the close embrace hold--it heightens the follower's awareness of the lead and the music, as you are 100% focused on the music and the leader's signals. As long as you trust the leader, it gives a very pleasant feel to the tango :).
 
DJ Yuca said:
One in the long list of why the k word is so unappealing to observe: closed eyes abound.
Click to expand...

but there is no eye contact in kizomba you cant even see thier face so not sure why thats a real problem... the intimacy/enjoyment of kizomba is in the body contact/feel :confused:
 
I do it in class at the beginner levels quite often to demonstrate leading for the reasons mentioned above. With eyes shut, the follower has to focus more on feeling the lead.

I find that this also improves the followers spatial awareness and they become less dependent on the leaders.
 
On Wednesday I got a finger to my left eye during the middle of a dance because of styling mishap. Kept dancing, but It was watering/hurting too much to keep it open, and was hard to keep it closed with the other open the whole time, so closed them. I was surprised at how well it worked out. My follower was good and very responsive, so with the leads clear it went smoothly. Tried it out again a little last night for the heck of it; was kind of fun. Not preferable of course, but it was interesting to relate to my partner with nothing visual.

toan-hoang said:
I do it in class at the beginner levels quite often to demonstrate leading for the reasons mentioned above. With eyes shut, the follower has to focus more on feeling the lead.
Click to expand...
Definitely!
 
TwoLeftFeet said:
but there is no eye contact in kizomba you cant even see thier face so not sure why thats a real problem... the intimacy/enjoyment of kizomba is in the body contact/feel :confused:
Click to expand...

I wrote 'to observe'. Spying on people sleeping is unappealing, even when they're having erotic dreams.
 
toan-hoang said:
I do it in class at the beginner levels quite often to demonstrate leading for the reasons mentioned above. With eyes shut, the follower has to focus more on feeling the lead.

I find that this also improves the followers spatial awareness and they become less dependent on the leaders.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. To close eyes is number one trick to improve following. Number two is to open ears. :)

I also close eyes to focus on music better. Or if the follow is unintelligible to figure out signals in the noise.

Of course there are downsides as collision danger and you don't see hands.
 
disarm said:
Does anyone else (leader or follower) dance with their eyes closed? I've tried it a few times and it's quite disorientating.
Click to expand...

I've done it a few times, but I've found it rather increased my awareness for proper leading and connecting with your partner. With closed eyes, my leads has to be more more precise since I can't see the mistakes of my partner and only feel through our connection if she's reacting as I'ld like her to. Also I've to create more connection with my partner to feel where she's moving to, if she likes to have some room to add a bit more styling, etc. I think it's an interesting experience and also it helped me understand more about the idea of 'You don't have to see, you've to feel' and how music, dance and leading interact with each other.
 
!!! said:
How do you detect a collision with a space-invaders with closed eyes?
Click to expand...

closed eyes dancing should be for practice purposes only. I followed closed eyes once, you have no chance to anticipate, you have to follow!

I dont find closed eyes leading beneficial though.
 
It definitely works a lot better for following.
Some girls absolutely love it, particularly if it's cuban style
(or other dances such as bachata and so on)
 
!!! said:
How do you detect a collision with a space-invaders with closed eyes?
Click to expand...

By not dancing like that on a crowded dancefloor. :) Altough I didn't talk about the circumstances in which I did some leading with closed eyes, I think it'll be obvious that you rather try it only when you have enough space and therefor can avoid accidents.

olamalam said:
I dont find closed eyes leading beneficial though.
Click to expand...

Well, to each his own. :cheers:
 
I think it's a fun thing to do, both at lessons and socials, as such a trick can really help people who have a hard time following (and leading as well), or are too shy to look their partners in the eye for the duration of a whole song.

When you don't see you have to feel & listen, and these are things that you should do when seeing as well, but you may not be aware of it.

In socials one does need do be careful with this when the dance floor is full.

P.S:
Also useful when dancing with an ugly follower :)
("Wait, what? all salsa girls are hot! You bast*rd!")
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top