Thread: Wearing glasses while performing--fashion faux pas?

So I gotta admit, I've never seen a belly dancer with glasses on. I happen to wear them and just wonder if this is a big fashion no-no. I'm not legally blind or anything, but I have to use them for distance. I'm thinking maybe it's a good thing to perform without them, it might help with stage fright if I can't see everybody in the crowd.
Or am I just being paranoid, and no one really cares? My glasses are cool & modern, and I think I look dang sexy in them, but not quite sure how it would look with a belly dance costume....
Any feedback? Any other blind mice in the crowd?:shades:

I think if you need them then they are fine for student performances, recitals etc.
I wear contacts and can't see without them, so I understand needing to see.
Not appropriate for professional gigs, though.

I'm blind as a bat, but I wear contacts.

To me, glasses conjure up images of everyday life and detract from the fantasy that we create with our costuming, hair and makeup. For student shows, they're fine, but I personally wouldn't recommend wearing them to a pro gig. Your audiences are paying for glam, not for "that cool chick in the cubicle next door," you know?

Not to mention, I wouldn't feel very secure spinning and doing head tosses with them. Knowing my luck, they'd probably sail off my head and into the crowd!

That being said, I do secretly wanna encrust a pair of frames with tiny AB crystals in the event that I can't wear my contacts to a show

Here is an earlier thread with several opinions.

http://www.bhuz.com/forum/belly-danc...erforming.html

{{{HUGS}}}

Originally Posted by SamiraShuruk

I think if you need them then they are fine for student performances, recitals etc.
I wear contacts and can't see without them, so I understand needing to see.
Not appropriate for professional gigs, though.

Ditto

I haven't read the other thread, but I agree; if at all possible, don't wear glasses.

If you have to, then go for something that's almost invisible, and non glare.

Here's a dancer wearing glasses during one of her classes (one of my favorites).
The glasses were a bit distracting. Might have been better if her hair was down, and more eye make-up.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmvviZHOypA]YouTube - Haifa gothic belly dance[/ame]

Student shows-ok.
Teaching-ok.
Pro gigs-no way.

Can you picture any "name" dancers wearing glasses?

I go to class with glasses and wear glasses every day. However, I perform solo at my teacher's student nights and wear contact lens, and the other dancers are all pros advertising that they are available for gigs. It seems better that way as no one on the streets recognize me as a belly dancer since I wear glasses.

I also don't know any dancer doing gigs wearing glasses.

What if they can't wear contacts at all?

:-(

I would never wear my glasses to perform. I wear one contact (right eye) so I can see distance. I think glasses are distracting and take away from the persona you are trying to create.

agreed!

i have very bad eye sight and was very angry at my first teacher for making me get contacts, but there you are, she was right.

i do fear that sometime i wont be able to wear contacts anymore. ha, i'll have a designer make some matching eye wear then. lol. rinestone incrusted matching the colours of my bella.

for students shows i'm totally fine with my students wearing glasses.

i really do NOT want my students dancing without glasses and NOT seeing. they NEED to see the space, the stage, the other dancers, and the audience. so if you want to dance without the glasses, go and try out contacts. try out day lenses. many lens centres will let you have cheap trial packages. and that way by the time you NEED to have them (a more professional gig), you've tried them out already.

i have seen glasses on a girl in an ATS troupe, that did NOT disturb me as an audience member at all. but i cant picture it for oriental or am cab.

my glasses made me tilt my head just slightly. my posture much improved when i started dancing with contacts instead.

Originally Posted by eshe

Student shows-ok.
Teaching-ok.
Pro gigs-no way.

Can you picture any "name" dancers wearing glasses?

My teacher told me to get contacts to help with turns & spins (it did help).

But the thing about glasses is they are between you & the audience - not good. Your eyes are the most important part of your face, and your face is the most important part of your performance. Not for beauty, but for the emotions it shows (or should!). So go without if at all possible.

I have been wearing glasses since I was 4 years old. I am able to see nothing but vaguely fuzzy shapes and colors without them. When I was dancing as a student, taking weekly classes and even performing with a student troupe, I wore them, but the minute I joined a professional troupe and ventured out into professional solo dancing, I got contacts. Now I wear them every day, usually.

Not for performances. ( Although for certain outdoor gigs in the summer I don't care, I will wear my funky coloured lens prescription sunglasses)

I prefer not to deal with contacts and I am short-sighted..been wearing glasses since I was 7. But yeah, I just go without when its an actual show. I've never had a problem.

I always wear glasses in my everyday life, as I prefer them to contacts (for both practical purposes and aesthetic reasons). This includes dance class.

I definitely need vision correction at all times, especially when performing, because I get disoriented and dizzy without it. But since my glasses could fly off and don't really go with my belly dancer "look," for performances I opt for contacts.

That being said, some people who do wear glasses in everyday life can go without either contacts or glasses for performances (my teacher is an example), but if it doesn't work for you then it doesn't work for you.

I think it's a matter of finding out what's best for you as an individual. If for whatever reason you can't dance with contacts on and you need the vision correction, then I don't see why not wear your glasses when performing. Tourbeau made some great points in the other thread that was linked here. And if you get creative, there are ways to make your costume and your glasses go well together so that the glasses aren't ruining your persona.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I can see without my glasses, just not clearly. Like I mentioned before, I'm not completely vision impaired. However, I'm not sure contacts will work for me. I have a hard time putting in friggin' eye drops, so touching my eye BALL gives me the heebie jeebies.
BUT, I am willing to give contacts a try if just for performance reasons. I posted this question because I couldn't personally recall ANY belly dancer that wore them. I hadn't seen the other thread on this topic, so thanks for posting that as well.
Thanks again!!!

IMO wearing glasses, watches, cell phones, pagers, a key ring, Birkenstocks, wallet-bag, etc when performing distract from the dance and dancer. Those are everyday items. I saw a dancer perform wearing glasses over the weekend. She stated she did not care how it looked. Her reflective lenses were a total distraction and caused video challenges. Most of her routine was edited from the show DVD, every time she turned toward the lights it caused huge arcs of light (probably not a good description), and blurred the footage. Still pictures were also affected. The dance area was the same level as the floor so it wasn't as if she would or could fall from the stage. The reporter covering the gig did not take a single picture of her performance. I later asked if there was a reason. He stated his sister was a dancer and she would choke him if he even thought about including pictures of any performer wearing glasses.

Eh, I am in two minds about this one, really. I am fortunate in that I don't actually NEED my glasses, but I know people who do, and I also know people who physiologically cannot wear contacts. A lot of glasses-wearing students of mine would happily dance in a blur, and said it helped them with stage fright because they couldn't SEE anyone.

But there are going to be occasional dancers who *need* to be able to see, *cannot* wear contacts and *do* meet every single other requirement - great dance skills, good body, great face, etc.

While I think it is a lot less likely that a dancer would get hired for pro work wearing glasses, I can imagine the *right* dancer could get away with it. It could even be a personal trademark. What that dancer would need to do is market themselves straight up front with glasses on. All pro photos with glasses. IF people didn't book them it would probably be the reason why, but they might get some bookings. It would be a lot harder. But I don't think there should be a blanket ban.

I think you would need idiosyncratic costuming and really good, flattering glasses. Modern orientale costumes might look weird, but I honestly think the more cluttered old-school/fusion looks could work with a cool pair of specs.

A lot of eye expressions are part of the dance but it would not be as noticeable with glasses. So I think it wouldn't be a good idea, even if they were pretty hot.

I've seen some funky glasses that looked good during performance - lent to the costume (they were Tribal.) It wouldn't work for other styles though.

I am so blind I can't wear glasses in everyday life and have to wear contacts to see clearly. Try them if you can!

Honestly, I've done it on occasion for student shows, haflas, etc, and nobody has cared. I've got a recurring eye infection, and sometimes I just can't wear my contacts. For a pro troupe gig, though, I wouldn't do it.

I know a few dancers that always wear their glasses when they perform. I never really noticed it until I heard about that it was undesirable for belly dancers to wear glasses. It wasn't that distracting to me.

Originally Posted by Fotia

A lot of eye expressions are part of the dance

They are? Never got taught THAT. Bharatanatyam, yes, specific facial expressions etc, but it has never been suggested to me before that belly dance has "eye expressions" that we are supposed to learn. Could you enlighten me?

I am blind as a bat. Everything is fuzzy to me beyond about 2 feet. I wore contacts for many years, but as time went by, I got more & more annoyed by them. Stuff in eye, irritation from makeup, etc. One day I had an eye infection and wore just one to perform. That was awful for me. I took it out and danced "blind". It felt very freeing to me! I have danced w/out corrective vision for over 10 yrs now. My other senses are heightened. Yes, it takes some getting used to, but for me it is so much better than eye irritation, which really distracts me from dancing in the moment. I have never tripped, knocked into anything, fallen over, etc from my poor eyesight while dancing.

I am blind as a bat and only wore glasses once...first student performance. I wear them to class but to perform, no. I like seeing fuzzy since I don't get distracted and nervous. I make great eye contact being fuzzy...lol... I am used to not wearing glasses for performances now.

Originally Posted by zumarrad

Originally Posted by Fotia
A lot of eye expressions are part of the dance

They are? Never got taught THAT.

I've done most of my ranting in the other thread and won't repeat it here, but I don't understand this remark either. I'm wearing regular eyeglasses, not some bizarre Lady Gaga spectacles that cover my entire face. I'm pretty confident that my mouth, jaw line, cheeks, eyebrows, and forehead are still visible when my glasses are on, and the eyes, despite being the "window to the soul," aren't the only component of a facial expression.

Saying that facial expressions are lost when a performer is wearing glasses would certainly be a surprise to actors who play roles where a character wears them. Pulling an authentic moment--something real, emotional, believable, and charismatic--out of yourself in performance goes deeper than having unimpeded audience access to your eyeballs. It comes from taking your source material, and doing something special with it. It comes from within and it affects your whole body, not just your eyes. Don't kid yourselves, folks. If Dina danced in oversized sunglasses, you'd still be able to feel it. There's a lot of room between "not absolute perfection" and "utter waste of stage time."

And before someone says that camera close ups mitigate the effect of glasses so my earlier comparison to actors isn't relevant, remember that most amateur dancers don't know how to do proper stage makeup for eyes anyway. Their eyes aren't particularly well defined past the first few rows, and the audience is cueing off the mouth and overall body language for most of their impressions. Stage actors wearing stage makeup with glasses trump dancers with no glasses and everyday makeup from the back of the auditorium.

Bharatanatyam, yes, specific facial expressions etc, but it has never been suggested to me before that belly dance has "eye expressions" that we are supposed to learn. Could you enlighten me?

Persian, maybe? I've never heard of it being a specific, codified stylistic element of Egyptian, North African, Levantine, Gulf, or Turkish dance, either.

IA with what everyone has already posted. If I didn't wear contacts, I sure would wear my glasses. My vision is quite bad without correction, and I'd be afraid of dancing into someone.

What if they can't wear contacts at all?

That'd be me then.

I prefer to dance without my glasses, partly because I like not being able to see the bloke in the front row sending texts, partly because my false lashes catch the lenses and partly because I can't afford to coordinate my glasses to my costumes and I'm picky like that.

It had never occurred to me that people might make judgements on dancers based on whether or not they wear glasses, any more than they would do in normal life. My dancing doesn't magically improve when I take the glasses off!

my teacher was blind.....never saw who was out there. then her husband, ansuyas dad, got her contacts....she told ne she had to learn all over. not only were a few of her signiture moves from balance issues due to not seeing, she found she was a bit shy and had to relate to the people.

I have very poor vision. I've just been to lazy to get contacts and don't perform often enough to really justify them. I don't wear my glasses and I'm very careful not to squint. Nobody has ever commented about it to me.

I personally prefer how I look without glasses, but to each their own.