Practicing Blindfolded???

Have you ever practiced your dancing - especially those that compete - or your routines . . . blindfolded??? I've done it once or twice, but let me relate this story to you . . .

My wife competed this past weekend, and she has a medical complication with her yes. From commuting for hours a day and staring at a compueter screen for hours-at-a-time, she now has a detached cornea. When it is flat and working properly, she is fine. When it is isn't, she is absolutely blind for a few hours and in pain for days. It takes about four hours for it to go back in place. They say surgery cannot repair the damage.

Anyway, Carolyn does 8 dances. Right after her first dance - a NC2s, one of her corneas folds over on itself. Care was immediately blinded and had to shut both eyes, and, was in searing pain. Several friends and a Pro aided her as I went for her medicine.

She also had 7 dances to go. They asked if she wanted to scratch. She said, "no."

She did the next seven dances with her eyes closed.

Is there a moral to this story? You bet . . .

Just last week, the week going into this past weekend, her coach made her practice all with a blindfold on. Mere coincidence? Divine intervention? You decide . . . but I'm a believer in practicing with a blindfold on. Although it's not necessary if you do only social dances, but if you compete and have routines??? I say "yes." Do it.

By the way . . . Carolyn took 1st overall this weekend in San Diego!

Wow, congratulations to Carolyn!!! That's an incredible story.

I sometimes practice with my eyes closed to improve my dependence on connection. We rely on our visuals to cue what is being led, but it is not always necessary. It's only a very short period of time though, just to help me listen to my partner.

Occasionaly

Sometimes it's to your advantage to practice while blindfolded, but I would only reccomend doing it by yourself or with a partner who isn't blindfolded. Here's why:

Last year in my level 5 tap class, we weren't doing so great. My teacher was stressed and overall we looked like something the cat dragged in. Our production was in 3 wks and we only had 2 more practices, so we decided we'd ask the janitor at the building to open the room about 1hr before the usual time. We all came an hour early to get some extra practice in before our teacher came. I had heard that when one of our senses, i.e. sight, is dimmed, then our other senses get stronger, so I suggested we blindfold ourselves and practice. In the end, 3 people ended up on the floor flat on their backs, me included and almost everyone else was injured in other ways.

Just a hint, don't trust a bunch of 13 year olds to be able to dance without sight. Maybe it wasn't one of my best ideas, but no one was seriously hurt. We eventually got our act together though. :roll:

My coach occasionally does the blindfolded dance exercise with me. We haven't done actual routines blindfolded yet, although of course I'll suggest it! :lol: But we do practice blindfolded in lessons sometimes -- it helps me to actually follow, rather than take visual leads and run with them.

I second that! I think at least one partner shouldn't be blindfolded, for safety reasons, unless it is just one couple and there is another person - not blindfolded - in the room.

I have done the blindfold "thing", but never for long as I tend to freak out not being able to see. That's mindblowing what Carolyn did. :notworth: Congratulations!! Being blindfolded really forced me to focus on leading properly since it would be hard to fudge through my mistakes.

Carolyn is a very dedicated woman, and that is one hell of a story.
I don't really have a good story. but I suggest closing the eyes or blindfolding is sometimes a good idea if only to get the dancer to listen to the music. I occasionally half close my eyes the way a part singer closes the ear closest to the other singers. It helps me concentrate, but I can still see the blurry dancefloor.

Vince, that is an amazing story. Belated congrats to Carolyn :!:

Pacion said:

Vince, that is an amazing story. Belated congrats to Carolyn :!:

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What a coincidence you write a "belated" congrats on this day. . . she had practice for SanDiego this morning, and guess what went out on her? Yep, you guessed it - her cornea!

Vince A said:

Pacion said:

Vince, that is an amazing story. Belated congrats to Carolyn :!:

Click to expand...

What a coincidence you write a "belated" congrats on this day. . . she had practice for SanDiego this morning, and guess what went out on her? Yep, you guessed it - her cornea!

Click to expand...

I hope she is doing better now.

Ouch! Tell her I hope she feels better soon and that this is just her way of getting this out of the way *prior* to San Diego this year.

Wow, that's amazing. I'm awed by her dedication!

My first dance teacher used to make me dance part of my lessons with my eyes closed. He's gone on to be a US Champion, so I think he knew what he was talking about. I saw him again a few years later for a coaching, and he tied me to my partner with those stretchy bungie straps and told me once again to close my eyes. It was crazy but it helped me understand some things about what my right side is supposed to be doing.

I did this a couple of times, to prove to my students they don't need to look at the legs and hands of the partner, because if they use the proper dance technique, hands will be just where they're supposed to...

I don't dance blindfolded, even when practicing - ever. Actually I dance with my eyes closed as an AT follower with a great leader who has patience with me as a newbie follower. :wink:

In a group class with 6 couples, we sometimes split into two groups, that way two couples can practice with both partners blinfolded and the other 4 couples look out for walls/poles/other people. I definately got a lot of work on my following skills out of it.

My group class teacher uses "following with eyes closed" as a punishment for followers who compensate for poor/nonexistent lead...