[Callers] Wrist-Lock Stars

Tue Oct 11 07:37:21 PDT 2016

Susan, thanks for relating some of LCD's history! I had figured
Louisville's hands-across was due to historic influence from regional
square dancing. I'm curious of the actual cause of the the (relatively
recent, it seems) switch from wrist-hold to hands-across. I'll ask some
folks next Monday.

On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 9:21 PM, Susan McElroy-Marcus <
smcelroymarcus at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Just a bit of Louisville dance community history on this subject—when my
> husband started dancing there in the late 70’s and I came in 1982, the
> Monday night dance was a mix of English and contra.  The default
> contradance star grip was the “wrist lock” not hands across as in English.
> We called it a basket handhold or wrist grip.  Our influence came from New
> England because our friend, Norb Spencer, who started the group along with
> Marie and Frank (Cassidy?) and who called much of the time—learned in New
> England.  We then taught it that way when we moved to Cincinnati and
> started that group.  Louisville only became a “bastion of
> hands-across-by-default” sometime in the late 1990’s or ealy 2000’s during
> my calling hiatus.  When I re-entered the calling scene 6-7 years ago, I
> was surprised and bemused upon calling in Louisville to learn of the high
> regard held for their ‘traditional’ hands-across star style.
> Susan McElroy-Marcus
>
> *From:* Chet Gray via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net>
> *Sent:* Monday, October 10, 2016 9:44 AM
> *To:* Tim Klein <mrtimklein at yahoo.com>
> *Cc:* callers at lists.sharedweight.net
> *Subject:* Re: [Callers] Wrist-Lock Stars
>
> I tend to consider my home dance, Louisville, KY, and nearby Lexington, as
> two of the last bastions of hands-across-by-default. Wrist-grip seems to be
> the default (for contra; squares are a different matter) even in relatively
> nearby cities: Indianapolis, Bloomington, IN, Nashville, Cincinnati. Not
> sure about Berea and Somerset, KY, also nearby.
>
> I'd be hesitant to use weekends, Flurry in particular, as bellwethers of
> what is typical in anything but weekends. I'd wager that the vast majority
> of contra dancers, even habitual dancers, have never been to a dance
> weekend, perhaps not even their "home" weekend. Just as there is a sort of
> "weekend-style" dance program, there is a "weekend-style" of dancing that
> is a pidgin not necessarily representative of any particular regional style.
>
> 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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