It has been said that the eyes are the window to the soul. Is this the reason why many people shy away from eye contact? Is it because they do not wish to share this much of themselves to the other person? As I have mentioned in previous weeks, anything involving contact becomes very personal and intimate. You are not only dancing for yourself, but for the other person too. We all have issues and baggage in life that in some cases we cannot leave at the door when we enter a room. It may be the case that we wish to take these experiences and draw from them in order to find new ways of moving. However the eyes are telling and if there is something you wish to hide, the eyes may give you away.

The eyes change constantly with emotion, the pupils dilate and shrink, tears form or they show pain. With this in mind, making eye contact adds another layer to the dancer’s pre-existing vulnerability.

The eyes are something which we are so reliant on. If we were blindfolded, without a guide, not only would the world be a very dark place, but we would not experience things in the way which we currently do. We did an exercise which involved following a person’s hand with our eyes, starting by moving from side to side and then taking it further so that the eyes had to look further, the head and body moving and adjusting in order for the eyes to still be able to follow the hand. This exercise eventually lead us to seeing the space while moving in a way. I found that the hand became the constant point of focus and during the exercise, I found myself noticing the light shining through the fingers and how it changed instead of looking solely at the hand. The hand was just there, part of the image, it was the background behind which was changing, causing new thoughts and provoking new ideas.

Being blindfolded is one way of handicapping and able bodied person, however as has been proven people who are handicapped in other ways, such as being wheel chair bound, can still engage in contact improvisation. Bruce Curtis found that although he had no muscle control in much of his lower body, he could still feel some sensations when pressure was applied to his legs, a kind of tingling sensation. although his experiences with contact improvisation will obviously  be slightly different from an able bodied person, reading his words, I found similarities with my own thoughts and experiences. ‘Keep your eyes open, don’t get lost inside your head.’ (Curtis, 1988, p 158). In class situations I am not hugely comfortable with having my eyes shut, another sense of vulnerability, however during contact improvisation, I find myself listening to other people so much through the contact, that I close my eyes and therefore miss part of the hole experience. I have also found that the movement doesn’t always flow, it pauses, working out where to go next ‘Often I will stop to rest by finding that place of balance where momentum is briefly suspended between possibilities, and then with a slight push, I will join with the flow once again.’ (Curits, 1988, p 158)

Works Cited

Curtis, B. (1988). Exposed to Gravity. Contact Quarterly/ contact Improvisation Sourcebook I,Vol. 13 Pp.156-162

Image from: http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-girl-eyes-emotions-vector-illustration-detailed-%D1%81loseup-eye-beautiful-woman-image32716730 [Accessed on 10th March 2014]