I agree with Chet that Louisville's default star is hands-across, although weekend festivals in nearby cities tend toward the millstone star. I avoid the terms wrist-lock or even wrist-grip star, as I prefer the fingers to lay atop the adjoining wrist without using the thumb to "grip" in any way.
The Midwest where I dance/call now is pretty solidly wrist-star territory (St. Louis, Columbia MO, Kansas City, Lawrence). When I call one-night events (parties, weddings), I dictate hands-across stars, but when calling for an established contra community I ask for the default. --Jerome Jerome Grisanti 660-528-0858 http://www.jeromegrisanti.com "Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it." --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 3:31 AM, John Sweeney via Callers < [email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > I have been to contra dances and festivals all over America and > everywhere I have danced everyone automatically uses a wrist-lock star > (unless the caller has specified hands-across because of the subsequent > choreography). > > But I am constantly challenged in England by people claiming that > wrist-lock stars are not the standard in America. > > When I go to somewhere like The Flurry and see 600 people from all > over the country all doing wrist-locks it seems to me that it must be the > standard way of doing things. > > And obviously it has been common in America for a long time; this > video is from 1964 in Northern Vermont and shows wrist-lock stars: > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZubTju7g_s > > So, are there still significant communities that don't use > wrist-locks? > > Is the wrist-lock the de facto standard? > > Thanks. > > Happy dancing, > John > > John Sweeney, Dancer, England [email protected] 01233 625 362 & 07802 > 940 574 > http://www.modernjive.com for Modern Jive Events & DVDs > http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent > > > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net >
