There used to be an old amusement part ride where everyone got into a large cylindrical room with rubberized walls, and everyone lined up in a circle facing inward, with their backs to the wall. The room would then start spinning, faster, and faster, until the centrifugal force exerted so much force that their backs were pushed against the rubberized wall.... and then the bottom would drop out of the floor, leaving people stuck to the wall only due to the centripedal force.
The same thing happens if you're spinning in a tight circle. As far as your inner ear is concerned, when you're spinning very rapidly, the only thing you feel is a constant pull outwards due to the spinning, as if you were laying down on the ground. That's why staring at something which is spinning along with you is so helpful. In the amusement part ride, if you stare straight across the spinning room, you're fine, because your inner ear doesn't feel any sense of spinning other than the initial acceleration when the room started up. But if you look up at the roof, which is in spinning, you will get dizzy, because your eyes tell you are spinning even though your inner ear doesn't feel things that way.
As far as the implications of looking into someone else's eyes, I suppose one of the appeals of contra dancing is that there isn't any meaning associated with it, or at least not much more than light-hearted flirting. (It's only for 4 or 8 bars of music, tops, after all, and afterards you're gazing into someone else's eyes; no real room for misunderstasnding.) I can understand though why some people might be uncomfortable with that, given that in many other contexts it can lead to really bad misunderstrandings that could cause major ugliness.
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The same thing happens if you're spinning in a tight circle. As far as your inner ear is concerned, when you're spinning very rapidly, the only thing you feel is a constant pull outwards due to the spinning, as if you were laying down on the ground. That's why staring at something which is spinning along with you is so helpful. In the amusement part ride, if you stare straight across the spinning room, you're fine, because your inner ear doesn't feel any sense of spinning other than the initial acceleration when the room started up. But if you look up at the roof, which is in spinning, you will get dizzy, because your eyes tell you are spinning even though your inner ear doesn't feel things that way.
As far as the implications of looking into someone else's eyes, I suppose one of the appeals of contra dancing is that there isn't any meaning associated with it, or at least not much more than light-hearted flirting. (It's only for 4 or 8 bars of music, tops, after all, and afterards you're gazing into someone else's eyes; no real room for misunderstasnding.) I can understand though why some people might be uncomfortable with that, given that in many other contexts it can lead to really bad misunderstrandings that could cause major ugliness.