[Callers] Wrist-Lock Stars

Jane Thickstun via Callers callers at lists.sharedweight.net
Mon Oct 10 06:47:52 PDT 2016


When I was dancing in Michigan, I found it to be a mess, with maybe half
doing wrist grip and half hands-across, and everyone just throwing their
hands in the middle without doing either.  I wish callers would specify for
each dance which kind of star they recommend, to avoid this kind of thing.

Jane Thickstun
currently in Ithaca, NY

On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 9:41 AM, Tim Klein via Callers <
callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> I call for dances in Knoxville, TN and occasionally in the surrounding
> area (Jonesboro, Chattanooga). I've been dancing here for 30 years. Kaufman
> was correct. I recall hands across stars in Knoxville, Atlanta, Brasstown,
> Asheville and points between, but wrist grip stars in Lexington, Louisville
> and Nashville. I'm certain about Knoxville, but perhaps others can confirm
> for the other cities.
>
> The wrist star has gradually taken over as the default in the area, but a
> couple of us old-timers are still holding out. I still teach the hands
> across star in the pre-dance lesson because it's quicker, but acknowledge
> that there are variations. When I call and dance, I still prompt and
> encourage the hands-across grip. We've got to hold onto our traditions and
> fight the globalization of contra, right?
>
> Of course, there are situations where one variety works better than
> another - to/from a move with an adjacent person (star to alemande,
> courtesy turn to star) suggests a wrist star, while moves where the contact
> is across (star old neighbors to star with new, ladies start star then
> gents join in) suggest the hands across. In those cases, I'll explicitly
> suggest one version in the walk through.
>
> Tim Klein
> Knoxville, TN
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Dave Casserly via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net>
> *To:* John Sweeney <john at modernjive.com>
> *Cc:* "callers at lists.sharedweight.net" <callers at lists.sharedweight.net>
> *Sent:* Monday, October 10, 2016 8:37 AM
> *Subject:* Re: [Callers] Wrist-Lock Stars
>
> Jeff Kaufman wrote a paper on regional variations in contra dance.  Here's what
> he found
> <https://www.swarthmore.edu/sites/default/files/assets/documents/linguistics/2007_kaufman_jeff.pdf>
> for wrist-grip stars (page 31 of the link).  Basically, they're common
> everywhere in the US except in some parts of the South.  This is based on
> data from ten or more years ago, so I'm not sure if that's still true.  I
> would not be surprised if it isn't-- there's enough cross-contamination
> that wrist-grips could have taken over even in the South.  We do have
> people from Georgia and North Carolina on the list; hopefully they'll chime
> in.
>
> -Dave
> Washington, DC
>
> On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 4:31 AM, John Sweeney via Callers <
> callers at lists.sharedweight.net> 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
> <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   john at modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802
> 940 574
> http://www.modernjive.com for Modern Jive Events & DVDs
> http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent
>
>
>
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>
> --
> David Casserly
> (cell) 781 258-2761
>
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-- 
Rev. Jane Thickstun
Interim Minister
First Unitarian Society of Ithaca
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