Sand benders displayed a unique technique of being able to bend the sand in the form of a tornado. This was used as a means of transportation with a sand sailor, not free travel so maybe manipulate the moves mechanics and possibilities to suit Minecraft?
SandSwirl-
-Sand benders look at a piece of soft earth material and hold shift continuously to start a small swirling vortex of sand on top of it, the player can then move the cursor around in a small range to move the tornado. Any mob or player in a range of this would begin taking small damage, and eventually the sand tornado's current would stop flowing due to friction.
-The move would not last forever, but a decent amount of time to apply fast, manageable damage. Possibly if the player gets near it they would take the minimal damage from it but as it approaches them(or vis versa) they begin to take more damage from the dense, piercing sand.