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.
From: Dave Casserly via Callers <callers@lists.sharedweight.net>
To: John Sweeney <john@modernjive.com>
Cc: "callers@lists.sharedweight.net" <callers@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 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