When I attended the Berea Christmas Dance School forty years ago, and put my hand on the wrist in front of me during a walk through, someone complained, saying, "He said a star, not a mill!"
Is the term "mill", or the term "millstone", commonly used to refer to wrist stars in areas where hands-across is the default way of doing a star? Jacob Bloom On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 10:29 AM, Jerome Grisanti via Callers < [email protected]> wrote: > 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 >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > > -- [email protected] http://jacobbloom.net/
