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Salmonella Evening | Sarah's Journey | The Second Time Around | Silver Anniversary Reel | Three Thirty-Three

The Second Time Around

by Jim Kitch

It takes a licking, but keeps on ticking.

I've seen this dance take hideous abuse from befuddled and brain-fried dancers, yet it still manages to keep chugging along. How forgiving is it? Let me count the ways:

  • In the A1, they only need to stay in the same general region as their neighbor, and maybe swing.
  • In the relatively tricky A2, men need to cross the set, then both they and their partner need to get to the men's side.
  • In the B1, they need to find and swing their partner, using some of that time to recover from the A2.
  • In the B2, they need to progress in a standard way.
    •

    That's impressive enough on its own. But then consider that when done correctly and on time, it's a wonderfully smooth dance without any breaks or waiting around, with a great aesthetic feel.

    It's not quite the foolproof dance, because such a sequence just hasn't met the right fool. But for a dance that really appeals to the jaded crowd, it's as close as I ever expect to see.

    Instructions for this dance can be found in "Give and Take" and in Jim Kitch's book, "To Live is to Dance."
    A video of this dance can be found here.
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