[Callers] Wrist-Lock Stars

[Angela DeCarlis via Callers]

I've never heard "millstone" or "mill" before, but it sounds like it has
precedence. My guess is that it was (is?) a useful term at dances where
hands-across stars are default. Since that isn't generally the case in many
places any longer, it makes sense that "hands-across" has become the more
useful modifier.

On Oct 10, 2016 11:37 AM, "Jacob or Nancy Bloom via Callers" <
callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> 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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