Eye Contact

When I was a freshman in high school, I was given the great honor of being asked to perform a solo in competitions. It was our first year competing seriously, and I got to do a sad lyrical piece. I got out on that stage and danced my little heart out. I was inexperienced and just starting out as a competitor, but it was wonderful.

Fast forward to when I received the critique tapes. I listened carefully and took into consideration every comment. Then there came one comment that threw me for a loop- “Dancer is not making eye contact. It shows a lack of confidence. You should really look at the judges.”

I turned to my mom at that point- “I was looking at them! I just couldn’t see them!” (I should probably mention here that I have been wearing glasses since the sixth grade, but always danced without them until I discovered contacts in college).

At that point in my dance career, it amazed me that eye contact could mean so much. Now, as a teacher, and a choreographer, I couldn’t imagine teaching without telling my students where their focus is and when to make eye contact.

A dancer’s focus within a piece is always a specific within the choreography. Sometimes we may look down in a moment to convey shyness. Sometimes we may contract our bodies but look up to convey pleading. Sometimes we may look directly forward and confront our audience. All of these different focuses have very different meanings, and must be carried out correctly.

Eye contact draws an audience in. It shows that a dancer is not just dancing in a room by themselves, or dancing for no reason. Eye contact invites an audience to see the dancer. It beckons them to immerse themselves in the dance’s purpose. It brings them into the world that the dancer is creating. Without eye contact, it can come across as aloof, or selfish, or in my case, a lack of confidence. It acknowledges the audience. It allows them to know that you know they’re there.

A lack of eye contact can also be frustrating because it takes away a sense of purpose in the movement. Say you are in a race. Your purpose is to cross the finish line ahead of others. If you are neck and neck with someone within the last few yards of that race you don’t start looking around at the crowd or the scenery, do you? You see the finish line, and you look straight towards it until you have finished. Your eyes don’t move. While a dance movement is not a race, it runs along the same principle. Your goal is to finish the movement. If you’re looking around, and not where you’re going, you lose your audience’s attention on the move. Not to mention you could completely botch the step. Thusly, eye contact not only gives purpose to the movement, but also to the dancer.

Herman Melville is quoted as saying “The eyes are the gateway to the soul.” As dancers, we are driven by our souls to perform what we have been given; to give life to the dance and present it to the audience. If our audiences cannot see our eyes, how do we expect them to see our souls? We need to open them as wide as we open our arms and allow the audience to soak in what we as dancers are graciously giving them. It cannot happen if we are looking at the floor when we dance (one of my pet peeves as a dance teacher) or looking around with wandering eyes.