Eye Contact & the Salsa Connection by Sam Gill

Stumbling onto this article proved to be a real eye-opener for me so to speak. i for one am "guilty", i'm sure many of us novices are too hence i'm posting this article for all who want to redeem themselves of their "guilty ways"


Eye Contact and the Salsa Connection by Sam Gill

"Eye decorum in social dancing is often a tricky and difficult social skill to master and i believe it is an important part of that cluster of skills through which we create the salsa connection. So often we observe salsa dance eye decorum where the partnering dancers never look at one another, especially eye to eye. When we dance with someone that never makes eye contact with us, we often feel that likely they didnt even care who they were dancing with. We likely feel igonored though this isnt always intended indeed, likely rarely. However, many of us have developed this kind of eye decorum because we are concentrating on the dance, or perhaps because we are even shy and embarassed. The close proxity to "someone who we dont know" can many a times be a cause for the uncomfortable feeling.
Eye decorum can be confusing, complicated, and many find it almost impossible to control their own eye decorum. Nevertheless eye contact is important in creating the salsa connection. Here are my suggestions : make eye contact with your partner and allow yourself to communicate with your partner through your eyes. So, what do you communicate..??? Well, for starters that you know that they are there and that your dancing with them; that your enjoying dancing with them; that you want to be connected with them. As physical touch is light and not grasping, so too should be eye contact. Dont stare or focus on one part of your partners body. Keep your head up and your eyes up so that as you move your body your eyes will come into contact with your partners eyes. Let your eyes smile and enjoy the connection".

i always try 2 make d eye contact but the girls never do the same except some of them...



so i think girls should also try to make the eye contact so that we guys also dont feel bad.....

THE BEST FORMULA OF ENJOYING SALSA IS:


ATTITUDE + EYE CONTACT = SALSA
{ Latin } + { Spicy } = {sauce}

and from here the name salsa is been derived

{ this formula is made by my imagination so don't take it as an info, but till now there is no info from where is the name derived }

Thats an excellent article ... Making eye contact is very important , not only in a club , but also in the class.. As we rapidly change partners , some sort of connection is important , else it just becomes a bunch of PT exercises rather than a dance.
Oh, and Alfreda , it was 3 classes before I could make eye contact with u ... im glad ur 'eyes' have opened ,lol

So guys and gals , if you want to enjoy the dance .... CONNECT !

OFTEN WE GET TOO CAUGHTUP WATCH OUR FOOT WORK TAHT WE MISS OUT ON THE EYE CONTACT BIT!

Yeah..even i think i do it a lot tryin to memorise the foot work..esp while doing the spot turns. During one of the classes, Dr.Samyr was teaching us some combination and pointed it out soooo many times to me "look into you partners eyes" and I was like how the hell can i turn AND look into my partners eyes, but senior dancers do it gracefully and i think it helps you build a comfort level while dancing!

Shy and inconfident is often the reason the eye cannot connect.. but sometimes the Ladies Shine is also a reason with the Guys...

When the face is a fortress
Attraction, it is able to hide

The Eye, becomes the window
of whats going on in the partner's mind

But when the connection is made,
the journey begins !

Salsero, Salsera,
Just Salsa n enjoy the ride !

As for me....

I danced for laughter
I danced for tears

I danced for madness
I danced for fears

I danced for hopes
I danced for screams

I try to dance in life
Like I danced,.....when my Eyes were closed

I try to dance with my lady
Like I danced with her,..... in my dreams

But I guess, a very important point put forth by Sheetal...we are sometimes so caught up in trying to be perfect in our dance step, so as to not be embarrassed; that our brains are trying to search the next step, our eyes are out of focus from the partner's..the mind is not even enjoying the dance

Guess the only way to do this is practice and attend as many events and dance with as many partners...and if you are the better dancer and your partner fumbles....just say " Its ok" believe me, eyes will meet for a moment...wether you can keep the connection...up to you !

All the best

Eye contact is more important when dncing with an unknown partner ..its an important signaling mechanism when leading .

I confess. When I started, I too was too engrossed in watching my footwork that I literally never realised that there is a person holding me -my partner... If it wasn't for instructors like Jiggie constantly telling us all to look up to the partner, I think I would never realised who am I dancing with. But as the cliche goes , "better late than never".....I have started making a concious effort of looking and smiling at my partner while dancing. And as Anand says its "Magic".
It really works. It just puts both the dancers at much ease.

Many - or rather most of the times- we are reluctant to start a conversation with an unknown partner for whatsoever reasons. But even if words fail ....eyes don't.They do convey much more than one would say. So next time when you dance "Connect" and feel the "magic".

Give in to the music and let the EYES say..
"I am holding you baby so DANCE your heart away......"
Happy dancing to all my friends.........

samird wrote:Eye contact is more important when dncing with an unknown partner ..its an important signaling mechanism when leading .

i knw doc y r u sayin dat....

nd kingshuk nice article.