3 Jan
2013
3 Jan
'13
9:26 p.m.
Maia 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?
Exactly! We need to be conscious that in contra dance, eye contact is a
strong lead. When I reach the end of a line with my partner I have
developed the habit of not turning to look back into the line right
away--particularly if it is a dance that is confusing for newcomers. At
the top I encourage my partner to check out the band. At the bottom I
engage them in conversation. I don't want either of us to give a false
lead to confused dancers by looking at them. (This, by the way, may be
part of the reason that confusion seems to be common at the ends of the
sets. It might not be only that some dancers have just changed
directions. It may also be that dancers are confused by couples out at the
ends who are making eye contact with people they are not dancing with.)
This tactic prevents my partner from being "drawn into" the dance by
confused dancers.
This, of course, is something I don't do if the end couples are not
completely "out" of the dance.
- Greg McKenzie
***********
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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