<div dir="ltr">In refereence to John's comment about hairy, sweaty wrists in MWSD, it has been an unwritten rule, or at least a courtesy, that men wear long sleeve shirts to avoid such hairy, sweaty, contact. Long sleeves are still the norm in MWSD.<div>Rich Sbardella</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Oct 19, 2016 at 5:40 AM, John Sweeney via Callers <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net" target="_blank">callers@lists.sharedweight.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Thanks to all those who contributed. Here is a summary of the key points<br>
that were made. It is clear that the wrist lock star is indeed the standard<br>
across the USA, with only a few areas using hands across.<br>
<br>
Summary<br>
<br>
Names: Wrist Star, Box Star, Wrist-Grip Star, Wrist-Lock Star, Pack-saddle<br>
Star, Wagon-Wheel (Star), Basket Handhold<br>
Also, but these can mean Hands Across: Millstone Star, Mill, Windmill,<br>
Moulinet, Old Mill<br>
Alternative Star Holds:<br>
Hands Across (that term goes back to at least 1650!)<br>
Palm Star (MWSD only)<br>
Lump (Bunch of Bananas, Limp Lettuce) - to be avoided at all costs<br>
<br>
Etymology of Mill references:<br>
Alan Winston: Go back far enough (1700s) and you get "moulinet" in French<br>
sources, "mill" in some English sources, for what I'm pretty sure are<br>
hands-across stars.<br>
Colin Hume: In the Netherlands it's called "molen" which means "windmill".<br>
John Sweeney: The early 19th century Quadrilles and dances like The Lancers<br>
used the term Moulinet for Star. As far as we know it was always a Hands<br>
Across Star. Moulinet means turnstile, crank or propeller. Whether it<br>
independently became known as a Windmill/Mill or whether it was badly<br>
translated as Moulin = Windmill is unclear.<br>
<br>
Wagon-Wheel: in the Appalachians it was a shoulder star - see 2 minutes in<br>
at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht9kjeKcOsg" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr>v=Ht9kjeKcOsg</a>.<br>
<br>
There is a general view that the term Wrist-Grip should be avoided, and that<br>
it should be emphasised that you don't grip (keep your thumb up top with<br>
your fingers!).<br>
<br>
I like the term "Wrist Lock" since it makes it clear that we are using<br>
wrists, and since the shape you make looks like the Lock that sword and<br>
rapper dancers make when they interlink them all and raise them high. I<br>
also love that wrist-locks work perfectly for three or five dancers in a<br>
star (I call lots of different styles). But I am sure that although the<br>
move may become even more ubiquitous, the terminology will retains its local<br>
flavour.<br>
<br>
Any ideas on when it started?<br>
<br>
Dan Pearl: Sylvia Miskoe, in rec.folk-dancing on March 4, 1999 said: "Wrist<br>
grip stars became popular after the appearance at New England Folk Festival<br>
(NEFFA) of the Lithuanian Dance Group doing their dances and they all used<br>
wrist grips. The square dancers thought it was a neat idea and adopted it."<br>
Any idea when that festival was?<br>
<br>
1964 in Northern Vermont shows wrist-lock stars:<br>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZubTju7g_s" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr>v=pZubTju7g_s</a><br>
1981 Ted Sanella's "Balance & Swing" defines a star in New England as "grasp<br>
the wrist of the dancer ahead".<br>
1983 Larry Jennings' "Zesty Contras" refers you to Ted's book.<br>
<br>
Exceptions:<br>
When choreography dictates, e.g. "men drop out, ladies chain" works<br>
better with hands across<br>
One night stands<br>
<br>
Dave Casserley:<br>
<a href="https://www.swarthmore.edu/sites/default/files/assets/documents/linguistics/
2007_kaufman_jeff.pdf" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.swarthmore.edu/<wbr>sites/default/files/assets/<wbr>documents/linguistics/<br>
2007_kaufman_jeff.pdf</a><br>
This shows that ten years ago wrist-stars were common everywhere in the US<br>
except in some parts of the South.<br>
<br>
Amy Wimmer (Seattle):<br>
The wrist lock is the common star formation in the Northwest, with a hands<br>
across being the exception.<br>
<br>
Tim Klein (TN):<br>
I call for dances in Knoxville, TN and occasionally in the surrounding area<br>
(Jonesboro, Chattanooga). I've been dancing here for 30 years. I recall<br>
hands across stars in Knoxville, Atlanta, Brasstown, Asheville and points<br>
between, but wrist grip stars in Lexington, Louisville and Nashville.<br>
<br>
Chet Gray (KY):<br>
I tend to consider my home dance, Louisville, KY, and nearby Lexington, as<br>
two of the last bastions of hands-across-by-default. Wrist-grip seems to be<br>
the default even in relatively nearby cities: Indianapolis, Bloomington, IN,<br>
Nashville, Cincinnati. Not sure about Berea and Somerset, KY, also nearby.<br>
<br>
Jerome Grisanti (Midwest):<br>
I agree with Chet that Louisville's default star is hands-across, although<br>
weekend festivals in nearby cities tend toward the millstone star. The<br>
Midwest where I dance/call now is pretty solidly wrist-star territory (St.<br>
Louis, Columbia MO, Kansas City, Lawrence).<br>
<br>
BUT...<br>
Susan McElroy-Marcus:<br>
Just a bit of Louisville dance community history on this subject-when my<br>
husband started dancing there in the late '70s and I came in 1982, the<br>
Monday night dance was a mix of English and contra. The default contra<br>
dance star grip was the "wrist lock" not hands across as in English. We<br>
called it a basket handhold or wrist grip. Our influence came from New<br>
England because our friend, Norb Spencer, who started the group along with<br>
Marie and Frank (Cassidy?) and who called much of the time-learned in New<br>
England. We then taught it that way when we moved to Cincinnati and started<br>
that group. Louisville only became a "bastion of hands-across-by-default"<br>
sometime in the late 1990s or early 2000s during my calling hiatus. When I<br>
re-entered the calling scene 6-7 years ago, I was surprised and bemused upon<br>
calling in Louisville to learn of the high regard held for their<br>
'traditional' hands-across star style.<br>
<br>
Andrea Nettleton:<br>
Somewhere south of Asheville and leading west possibly into the lower<br>
Midwest, is the land of hands across stars. They are standard in Atlanta,<br>
the heart of hands-across-land.<br>
<br>
George Mercer:<br>
The wrist lock dominates everywhere I've danced over the years<br>
<br>
Meg Dedolph (Chicago):<br>
Checking in from Chicago, where wrist-grip stars are the norm and<br>
hands-across stars need to be specified. When I started dancing, 14 or 15<br>
years ago, in Michigan, many dancers reached for a hands-across star first,<br>
though I don't see that so much anymore.<br>
<br>
Jane Thickstun (Michigan)<br>
When I was dancing in Michigan, I found it to be a mess, with maybe half<br>
doing wrist grip and half hands-across, and everyone just throwing their<br>
hands in the middle without doing either. I wish callers would specify for<br>
each dance which kind of star they recommend, to avoid this kind of thing.<br>
<br>
Angela DeCarlis (Florida):<br>
Where I've called recently, in the Northeast and in New England, wrist-grip<br>
is definitely the default, and I wasn't aware that parts of the south<br>
default to hands-across. Neat!<br>
Here to comment that Florida, where I'm from originally, holds true to its<br>
role as the Exception to the Rule: despite being in the South, they<br>
definitely default to wrist-grip there, as well.<br>
<br>
Jacob Bloom:<br>
When I attended the Berea Christmas Dance School forty years ago, and put my<br>
hand on the wrist in front of me during a walk through, someone complained,<br>
saying, "He said a star, not a mill!"<br>
<br>
Don Veino:<br>
"lay it on the wrist of the person in front of you, like a pack saddle on a<br>
horse" [Thanks! I could never work out why it was called a pack saddle! JS]<br>
And yes, very much the default star form from my experience.<br>
<br>
Louise Siddons (Stillwater, OK):<br>
Here in Oklahoma I call it a wagon-wheel grip, but I think I picked up that<br>
term in either Michigan or California when I was starting to dance contra<br>
circa 2008. Wagon-wheel stars are the default in OK/TX/KS/MO local dances,<br>
and also seem standard in the SF Bay Area.<br>
<br>
Neal Schlein:<br>
Whatever you call it, today a wrist star is the US standard for most of the<br>
country.<br>
<br>
Joy Greenwolfe (Durham, NC):<br>
Central North Carolina here. In this region, wrist-grip or wagon-wheel stars<br>
are the default. Some dances specify hands-across if the choreography asks<br>
for it.<br>
<br>
John Sweeney (itinerant):<br>
I have danced in Florida, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Asheville,<br>
Phoenix and festivals such as Berea Christmas Dance School, LEAF, Flurry and<br>
don't remember ever seeing anyone do Hands Across in a regular contra dance.<br>
<br>
Chet questioned the relevance of dance weekends, but my point was that when<br>
people from different area get together, in my experience, they tend to use<br>
wrist-lock stars, which, to me, does seem to be an indicator that it is<br>
accepted as the default. Of course, as Chet says, some of those dancers may<br>
well use their regional style at their home dances.<br>
<br>
Rich Sbardella referenced MWSD: In MWSD, hands are often just put into the<br>
center, sometimes raised as in a contra allemande, sometimes just straight<br>
forward from the shoulder.<br>
>From CallerLab: "Palm Star: Place all hands together with fingers pointing<br>
up and thumbs closed gently over the back of the adjacent dancer's hand to<br>
provide a degree of stabilization. Arms should be bent slightly so that the<br>
height of the handgrip will be at an average eye level.. Men's outside arms<br>
in natural dance position, women's outside hands work skirt. Some areas<br>
dance any stars containing men with a Box Star/Pack-saddle Star: Four men<br>
with palms down take the wrist of the man ahead and link up to form a box."<br>
<br>
Neal Schlein:<br>
The Palm Star was the standard style around Colorado in the 1930s when Lloyd<br>
Shaw got started, and for many years after. Pretty much, you'll only find<br>
it among square dancers, people who danced with Calico and Boots in Boulder,<br>
Colorado, or folks with an exaggerated respect for history. Guess I qualify<br>
as all three.<br>
<br>
John Sweeney:<br>
I have heard that ladies don't join in wrist-stars in MWSD because of the<br>
hairy, sweaty men's wrists in the south!<br>
<br>
Happy dancing,<br>
John<br>
<br>
John Sweeney, Dancer, England <a href="mailto:john@modernjive.com">john@modernjive.com</a> 01233 625 362<br>
<a href="http://www.contrafusion.co.uk" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.contrafusion.co.uk</a> for Dancing in Kent<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br></div>