Sarah's Journey

by Gene Hubert

Sometimes it's not so much about the figures as it is about the space between the figures. In "Sarah's Journey," it's all about the transition, using the momentum of both people coming out of the box the gnat. In the A1, the men use that connection to pull themselves across the center to launch into the swing, while the women use the same momentum to keep turning clockwise to scoop up their partner into the swing. It all fits together into one large meta-figure, and then everyone gets to experience it again from the other perspective.

(This is a case where teaching tips are important, to point out the key transitions. This lets the dancers transform a listless experience into the dance's vibrant potential.)

Everything else fits into place cleanly -- the do-si-do is needed to reset the hands between the circle and box the gnat; and star flows wonderfully out of the right and left through and into the next neighbor box-the-gnat; and so on. It's another of those dances where the sequence is the only thing it could be.

Instructions for this dance can be found here.
A video of this dance can be found here.
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