Ga'aguim

Hebrew: געגועים (longing, yearning)
Alternative transliteration: Gaaguim

Dance by Moshiko Halevy, sometimes done as a circle dance and sometimes as a couple mixer. Moshiko himself has been known to teach it both ways.

As a mixer, the formation is unique. The dance is done once through in a big circle, all holding hands, the woman to the right of her partner. At the end of once through the dance, the woman steps backward out of the circle, to begin behind her partner with no handholds. At the end of this second time through, the woman steps forward to reform the large circle, stepping to the left of her original partner to the right of her new partner.

In the teaching videos at Rokdim, Ga'aguim is presented as a circle dance with the comment that it was originally done alternately in circles and partners, but that in Israel it isn't danced that way. (No mention of couple mixing.)

Moshiko taught it in the UK in 1978 and at Hora Shalom 1982 as a couple mixer. However, on his own teaching videos, he teaches it as a circle dance. He has said that he has been forced to do so because the music is typically cut short; there aren't enough repetitions to make it a reasonable mixer. Also, many markidim don't want to force dancers to mix, since so many come with a fixed partner. But he still prefers it as a mixer. He says:

You can't play mixer dances because [the dancers] don't want to change partners, they want to stay with their private partner. Unfortunately they are missing the point of how to share in society. In many recreations people, when there are couple dances, some of the men or the women don't get a partner so they sit on the side and wait until couple dances are finished. But when you're coming to dance you're coming to share, not only to get what you can get from the recreation, you're coming also to share yourself. They behave in a very egoistical [manner]. No no I didn't change [the formation], [a mixer] is the beautiful way of how to share with each other. They don't like to leave their partners, they stick with them, missing the point of sharing. So they do it in a circle version, not in couples. They give up the couples.

Prior to the first Karmiel Festival in 1988, a workshop was held for the guest North American performing groups and teachers. Twenty classic Israeli dances were presented as outstanding representatives of the genre (no connection to the "Twenty Best" list in Dances of the Twentieth Century). The dances were taught by Yonatan Gabai, Bracha Duda'i, and others. Through what some considered an egregiously biased selection process, Ga'aguim was the only Moshiko dance to be included. It was taught as a circle dance.

External Links

Ga'aguim at israelidances.com

Video at Rokdim