Watching your feet

[pygmalion]

I bet when we first started dancing, most of had the tendency to watch our feet or our teacher's feet. Questions: Did you break yourself out of the habit? How? Is watching one's feet always a bad thing? Are there situations where it can work to your advantage?

[Spitfire]

As I recall once I got accustomed to what I was learning it came rather naturally to no longer watch my feet or my instructors.

[Sagitta]

Watching feet leads to connection problems. The focus is not on the partner, but the feet. :headwall:

I broke myself out of the habit by lots of practice of feet movements by myself and then putting trust in myself in being able to execute. :)

[dolceamore]

well, if i ever look at my feet it's through the mirror because if not you get in to the habbit(that i still am trying to fight) of looking down and that brings down your posture and make you dance bad. so whenever you want to look at your feet, dont look down just look in a mirror and see your reflection.

it's good to look at your feet, sometimes. because if not it becomes a habbit. i look at my feet to see if my technique is ok and how it affects my posture.. but only through the mirror! lol i hope you get my drift.

[MadamSamba]

I think once your confidence grows and your faith in your own ability to execute the steps increases, you stop looking at your feet, your partner's feet or the feet of other people around you (in sequence dancing) naturally.

I used to be seriously guilty of feet-watching, Pygmalion...so much so, I could go an entire dance without looking at my partner more than two or three times, which is pretty shameful.

I still do it to a far lesser extent in dances I've just learned, but with the dances I'm super confident in, looking at feet isn't even an issue and, as I get better and remember the steps more, I tend to do it less and less until I forget my feet and actually start enjoying the dance.

[pygmalion]

Yes. I got broken out of that habit pretty quickly -- foot watching was one of my first teacher's pet peeves. But I know some folks who've been dancing socially for a long time and still do it. Then ther are others who foot watch when they're in learning mode, but don't do it any other time.

[borikensalsero]

One time there was these couple dancing, they've been dancing for years. They are pretty good, but like a lot of dancers, they had the bad habit to look at their feet when dancing. Well, a friend stood in front of them and when the song began, she bent over and looked up, saying, hey, you guys looking for money? Because I picked it all up the last dance, you are a bit too late. :twisted:

How about going to a show and watching the dancers look down at their feet all performance long? Ahhhhh

I make it a point to look at my partners motion, that way I don't have to look where their feet are going. It tells us where their feet are.

[DanceMentor]

The funny thing about looking at your partner's feet is your partner probably thinks you are looking at something besides the feet (eg body, chest).

I sometimes joke around with my students about this. If I catch a partner looking down, I'll say, "Nice, isn't it?"

[Sagitta]

I sometimes joke around with my students about this. If I catch a partner looking down, I'll say, "Nice, isn't it?" :lol:

Another one liner to add to my memory bank!! :)

Having your partner look at his/her feet is very distracting!!

[borikensalsero]

The funny thing about looking at your partner's feet is your partner probably thinks you are looking at something besides the feet (eg body, chest).

I sometimes joke around with my students about this. If I catch a partner looking down, I'll say, "Nice, isn't it?"

LOLOL... Yeap, it can be an embarrassing experience. Oops, I was really looking at your feet. :lol: :lol:

[SDsalsaguy]

[quote=DanceMentor]
LOLOL... Yeap, it can be an embarrassing experience. Oops, I was really looking at your feet. :lol: :lol:
Hey, now I can just tell them that that's where my eyes were wandering off to... :wink:

[Swing Kitten]

I tend to look down when I'm lead into some sort of side by side move... I never know what they are going to do and I don't like stepping on people. I would imagine it's easier to "get away with it" in lindy stance... not that it's a good thing then either.

[dnquark]

I find that looking at the feet is only necessary when something is dreadfully wrong (you keep stepping on each other and/or you have no clue what your partner is doing.) If the connection is good, there should be no ambiguity about the footwork. I tell people with no dance background to stop looking at their feet and just feel the movement and the connection; that way everyone has way more fun :)

[KevinL]

The funny thing about looking at your partner's feet is your partner probably thinks you are looking at something besides the feet (eg body, chest).

I sometimes joke around with my students about this. If I catch a partner looking down, I'll say, "Nice, isn't it?"

8^)

Sure, but you can use that joke, I can't!

It's nice though.

Kevin

[KevinL]

The funny thing about looking at your partner's feet is your partner probably thinks you are looking at something besides the feet (eg body, chest).

I sometimes joke around with my students about this. If I catch a partner looking down, I'll say, "Nice, isn't it?"

OK DanceMentor, you confuse me. Your avatar appears female, and this post seems to imply people looking at your chest, but in another post you seemed to imply that someone didn't want to dance with you because they were afraid of your wandering hands because you were a new guy.

I'm curious as to your gender. The posts I've seen today haven't been particularly helpful because they are often pronoun neutral regarding yourself, and your partners.

[KevinL]

OK DanceMentor, you confuse me. Your avatar appears female, and this post seems to imply people looking at your chest, but in another post you seemed to imply that someone didn't want to dance with you because they were afraid of your wandering hands because you were a new guy.

I'm curious as to your gender. The posts I've seen today haven't been particularly helpful because they are often pronoun neutral regarding yourself, and your partners.

OK, so someone pointed out that I should pay better attention, and read the tagline at the bottom of your posts.

It's all clear now...

Kevin