Re: [Callers] Wrist-Lock Stars

Millstone or  "windmill" - term I've seen used in print for older Canadian dances. Bob Livingston From: Angela DeCarlis via Callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> To: Jacob or Nancy Bloom <jandnbloom(a)gmail.com> Cc: callers <callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> Sent: Monday, October 10, 2016 12:45 PM Subject: Re: [Callers] Wrist-Lock Stars 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(a)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(a)lists.sharedweightght. 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(a)lists.sharedweight.ne t> 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(a)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 ______________________________ _________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/ listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedwei ght.net ______________________________ _________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/ listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedwei ght.net -- jandnbloom@gmail.comhttp://jacobbloom.net/ ______________________________ _________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/ listinfo.cgi/callers- sharedweight.net _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net