Another have you ever thread...

[Golden]

Just curious, have any of you ever danced blindfolded?

From personal experience it was interesting to say the least using only touch to respond to my leader's lead cues. You have to be even more trusting in that case to the leader as well as the people keep an eye to make sure you don't dance off the floor, or run into any of the other couples.

[fascination]

I like the idea but loathe the prospect of the ensuing injury...gonna pass on that one except for the occasional closed eyes of rapture on various yummy steps...for which i always get busted

[NielsenE]

yes, it was a lot of fun.

[samina]

have danced with eyes closed... i like that sensation in standard.

[NielsenE]

Dancing blindfolded as leader is even more exhilirating and makes your all teh more aware of teh little clue that teh follower can send (as opposed to only the "Clutch of Death")

[Peaches]

Blindfolded, no.

Am frequently "made" to dance with my eyes closed during AT lessons. Will frequently close my eyes during AT lessons to really focus on the feel of the lead, and not rely on the visual. Will frequently close my eyes while dancing AT if I'm feeling nice and confident in my leader (or I'll just let my eyes go out of focus).

Can't imagine doing it in ballroom, though.

[SPratt74]

I was made to dance with my eyes closed. (It was a trust exercise.) I'm not sure how well I did, and I would have liked to have seen how well I did afterwards. But it was interesting to say the least. You learn a lot that way. ;)

[quixotedlm]

I've sometimes danced with closed eyes. Esp. when I feel like I'm not doing something right, or when I feel like I want to convey to my partner (typically during practice or class, or when she is willing to be engaged in a bit of learning on the floor). Closed eyes in a leader causes the follower to be super perceptive and very disciplined in her following 'in the moment'... It's also good for me because after 2 bars of music, I've either been leading carefully enough that it flows smoothly (and surprises the heck out of me) or it falls apart... makes me a better lead :)

[etp777]

I'll do eyes closed if I'm trying to concentrate on something while I'm practicing (normally by myself). Two most common things are when something doesn't feel right, particularly balance, or if I'm trying to write "routine", and am closing eyes to think through selection of patterns, to make sure it will look right and feel right with mood of the dance. for instance, yesterday spent a while with eyes closed while writing out pattern for Mambo, decided I had too many turns in there, after going through it eyes closed and trying to get feel for it.

[thespina13]

Eyes closed, yes. With a lead who MADE me keep them shut every time I peeked. I really needed to get out of the habit of anticipating too much, and it was an incredibly lovely trust excercise.

[Terpsichorean Clod]

Yes, both as a leader and a follower. We were learning to work with visually impaired dancers.

[Golden]

At the end of the song which in many cases and in this particular case ends with a dip of some sort. My leader chose to end the song with a dip in which I spun in. So there was a lot of hoping that he would catch the right body parts and not drop me.

After the blindfolded competition, I was talking with several of the other followers. And one of them said it was easier to do the neck drop blindfolded then being able to see the lead cues of it.