<html><head></head><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_7500"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_7546">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.<br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_8187" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_7546"><br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_8195" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_7546">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?<br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_7821" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_7546"><br></span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_7879" dir="ltr"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_8706">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 </span><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_7546"><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_8707">(star old neighbors to star with new, ladies start star then gents join in) </span>suggest the hands across. In those cases, I'll explicitly suggest one version in the walk through.</span></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_7566" class="qtdSeparateBR"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_8740"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_8761">Tim Klein</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_8762">Knoxville, TN</div><br></div><div style="display: block;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_7902" class="yahoo_quoted"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_7901" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_7900" style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_7899" dir="ltr"> <font id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_7904" face="Arial" size="2"> <hr id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_7903" size="1"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> Dave Casserly via Callers <callers@lists.sharedweight.net><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> John Sweeney <john@modernjive.com> <br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cc:</span></b> "callers@lists.sharedweight.net" <callers@lists.sharedweight.net><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Monday, October 10, 2016 8:37 AM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Callers] Wrist-Lock Stars<br> </font> </div> <div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_8142" class="y_msg_container"><br><div id="yiv7284825054"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_8144"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_8143" dir="ltr">Jeff Kaufman wrote a paper on regional variations in contra dance. Here's <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="https://www.swarthmore.edu/sites/default/files/assets/documents/linguistics/2007_kaufman_jeff.pdf">what he found</a> 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.<div><br clear="none"></div><div>-Dave</div><div>Washington, DC</div></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_8147" class="yiv7284825054gmail_extra"><br clear="none"><div class="yiv7284825054yqt1030508015" id="yiv7284825054yqt10119"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_8146" class="yiv7284825054gmail_quote">On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 4:31 AM, John Sweeney via Callers <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net">callers@lists.sharedweight.net</a>></span> wrote:<br clear="none"><blockquote id="yui_3_16_0_1_1476103981837_8149" class="yiv7284825054gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">Hi all,<br clear="none">
I have been to contra dances and festivals all over America and<br clear="none">
everywhere I have danced everyone automatically uses a wrist-lock star<br clear="none">
(unless the caller has specified hands-across because of the subsequent<br clear="none">
choreography).<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
But I am constantly challenged in England by people claiming that<br clear="none">
wrist-lock stars are not the standard in America.<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
When I go to somewhere like The Flurry and see 600 people from all<br clear="none">
over the country all doing wrist-locks it seems to me that it must be the<br clear="none">
standard way of doing things.<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
And obviously it has been common in America for a long time; this<br clear="none">
video is from 1964 in Northern Vermont and shows wrist-lock stars:<br clear="none">
<a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZubTju7g_s">https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=pZubTju7g_s</a><br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
So, are there still significant communities that don't use<br clear="none">
wrist-locks?<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
Is the wrist-lock the de facto standard?<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
Thanks.<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
Happy dancing,<br clear="none">
John<br clear="none">
<br clear="none">
John Sweeney, Dancer, England <a rel="nofollow" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:john@modernjive.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:john@modernjive.com">john@modernjive.com</a> 01233 625 362 & 07802<br clear="none">
940 574<br clear="none">
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</blockquote></div></div><br clear="none"><br clear="all"><div><br clear="none"></div>-- <br clear="none"><div class="yiv7284825054gmail_signature">David Casserly<br clear="none">(cell) 781 258-2761</div>
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