[Callers] Opposite StarThru and functional difference in LD v Slide

[jim saxe]

On Mar 21, 2019, at 2:29 PM, Rich Sbardella  wrote (in part):

> Many MWSD calls have left versions.  For example Pass Thru (by right shoulder) and Left Pass thru (by left shoulder).  Swing Thru is another.  Swing thru is turn half by the left, half by the right, but Left Swing Thru is turn half but the left, then half by the right.  Left Square Thru is one that starts with the left hand, BUT the dancers walk the exact same pattern as a normal, right handed square thru.
> 
> In the case of a star thru and slide thru, I have never danced or called a Left Star Thru or a Left Slide Thru.  ... 

The term "Left Star Thru" was indeed sometimes used in to refer to a varian of Star Thru using the gent's right hand and lady's left.  That usage now appears to be deprecated.  The reason, I presume, is that in contrast to calls like "Left Pass Thru" or "Left Swing Thru," the call "Left Star Thru" exhibits the historical bias of directing calls preferentially to the gents.

As an example, in the current version of the definition document for the CallerLab Advanced program, the call "Double Star Thru" is defined as follows:

     From any appropriate formation (e.g. Normal Facing Couples):
     Those who can Star Thru. Those who can do the mirror image
     of a Star Thru (an arch is made with the man's left hand and
     the woman's right hand; the man goes around the arch while the
     lady goes under). In each part of the call, some dancers must
     be active. Normal facing couples will end as sashayed couples
     back-to-back.

I've seen versions of the document from c. 2000 that describe the second half of Double Star Thru as a "Left Star Thru" (for those who can) rather than as "the mirror image of a Star Thru."

--Jim

On Mar 24, 2019, at 3:53 PM, Andy Shore via Callers <callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote (in part):

> Left Star Thru (edited slightly)
> From a boy facing a girl: boy holds left hand up and girl places her right palm against it. boy steps forward and does a quarter left as the girl passes the boy left shoulders under the raised arms and does a quarter right. Finishes as a couple.
> https://www.ceder.net/oldcalls/viewsingle.php?RecordId=3616