[Callers] Wrist-Lock Stars

Jacob or Nancy Bloom via Callers callers at lists.sharedweight.net
Mon Oct 10 08:36:59 PDT 2016


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 <
callers at lists.sharedweight.net> 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 <
> 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
>>
>>         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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>
>
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-- 
jandnbloom at gmail.com
http://jacobbloom.net/
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