3 Jan
2013
3 Jan
'13
8:20 p.m.
I want to second Maia's practical reasons for eye contact.
I'd like to add that I've known a couple of creepy men so obsessed with
dancing with their partner or their neighbor that they mess up an Allemande
/ star promenade / Do-si-do / hey-for-4 because they're too busy trying to
stare at the woman they're hoping to seduce. Seriously, this one guy
(notice the lack of the use of the word gentleman) was Allemanding me and
leaning back and leering at his partner, craning his neck around to keep
eye contact. I felt a need to wash my hands.
-Ron
On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 11:38 AM, Maia McCormick <maia.mcc(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I think the idea is, anyone you're not directly
engaged in a move with. So,
making eye contact with the rest of your hands-4 during a circle makes
perfect sense. Meeting eyes with your neighbor across the set when you're
about to go into a partner swing/gypsy/etc. is strange and distracting.
Obviously, experienced dancers generally aren't too phased by "excess eye
contact" (is there really such a thing??) but new dancers might be very
thrown, as so much of the signaling in contra is done via the eyes. The
rule, then, is to not make eye contact with new dancers in ways that might
prove confusing, so they know who they're dancing with next, am I right?
But, if you grab someone from the other line for a quick allemande, you'd
best make eye contact with them first! And I doubt you'd try to grab them
into a move if you hadn't met their eyes... so it all sort of works itself
out.
Maia
On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 11:29 AM, Aahz Maruch <aahz(a)pobox.com> wrote:
[starting a new thread]
On Wed, Jan 02, 2013, Greg McKenzie wrote:
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The rule is to avoid eye contact with anyone with whom you are NOT
dancing.
Do you have a cite for this rule? I've never heard it before in my
quarter-century of dancing (folk, square, contra). I have, of course,
heard the opposite of this rule, but P->Q does NOT imply !P->!Q.
It also brings up the question of who am I "not" dancing with? From my
POV, I'm at least potentially interacting with pretty much anyone on the
dance floor (for example, grabbing someone in an adjacent line for a
quick allemande or swing).
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