The wrist lock is the common star formation in the Northwest, with a hands across being the exception. -Amy Seattle On Oct 10, 2016 5:37 AM, "Dave Casserly via Callers" < callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote:

I tend to consider my home dance, Louisville, KY, and nearby Lexington, as two of the last bastions of hands-across-by-default. Wrist-grip seems to be the default (for contra; squares are a different matter) even in relatively nearby cities: Indianapolis, Bloomington, IN, Nashville, Cincinnati. Not sure about Berea and Somerset, KY, also nearby. I'd be hesitant to use weekends, Flurry in particular, as bellwethers of what is typical in anything but weekends. I'd wager that the vast majority of contra dancers, even habitual dancers, have never been to a dance weekend, perhaps not even their "home" weekend. Just as there is a sort of "weekend-style" dance program, there is a "weekend-style" of dancing that is a pidgin not necessarily representative of any particular regional style. On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 9:41 AM, Tim Klein via Callers < callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote:

Just a bit of Louisville dance community history on this subject—when my husband started dancing there in the late 70’s and I came in 1982, the Monday night dance was a mix of English and contra. The default contradance star grip was the “wrist lock” not hands across as in English. We called it a basket handhold or wrist grip. Our influence came from New England because our friend, Norb Spencer, who started the group along with Marie and Frank (Cassidy?) and who called much of the time—learned in New England. We then taught it that way when we moved to Cincinnati and started that group. Louisville only became a “bastion of hands-across-by-default” sometime in the late 1990’s or ealy 2000’s during my calling hiatus. When I re-entered the calling scene 6-7 years ago, I was surprised and bemused upon calling in Louisville to learn of the high regard held for their ‘traditional’ hands-across star style. Susan McElroy-Marcus From: Chet Gray via Callers Sent: Monday, October 10, 2016 9:44 AM To: Tim Klein Cc: callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net Subject: Re: [Callers] Wrist-Lock Stars I tend to consider my home dance, Louisville, KY, and nearby Lexington, as two of the last bastions of hands-across-by-default. Wrist-grip seems to be the default (for contra; squares are a different matter) even in relatively nearby cities: Indianapolis, Bloomington, IN, Nashville, Cincinnati. Not sure about Berea and Somerset, KY, also nearby. I'd be hesitant to use weekends, Flurry in particular, as bellwethers of what is typical in anything but weekends. I'd wager that the vast majority of contra dancers, even habitual dancers, have never been to a dance weekend, perhaps not even their "home" weekend. Just as there is a sort of "weekend-style" dance program, there is a "weekend-style" of dancing that is a pidgin not necessarily representative of any particular regional style. On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 9:41 AM, Tim Klein via Callers &lt;callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote: 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. Tim Klein Knoxville, TN ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Dave Casserly via Callers &lt;callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; To: John Sweeney &lt;john(a)modernjive.com&gt; Cc: &quot;callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&quot; &lt;callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; 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 On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 4:31 AM, John Sweeney via Callers &lt;callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; 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- sharedweight.net -- David Casserly (cell) 781 258-2761 _______________________________________________ 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ Callers mailing list Callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net

When I was dancing in Michigan, I found it to be a mess, with maybe half doing wrist grip and half hands-across, and everyone just throwing their hands in the middle without doing either. I wish callers would specify for each dance which kind of star they recommend, to avoid this kind of thing. Jane Thickstun currently in Ithaca, NY On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 9:41 AM, Tim Klein via Callers < callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote: -- Rev. Jane Thickstun Interim Minister First Unitarian Society of Ithaca

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&gt; wrote:

Checking in from Chicago, where wrist-grip stars are the norm and hands-across stars need to be specified .... When I started dancing, 14 or 15 years ago, in Michigan, many dancers reached for a hands-across star first, though I don't see that so much anymore. Meg On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 12:00 PM Robert Livingston via Callers < callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote:

When I’m teaching, I make the point that it’s pretty much the only move in contra where you _shouldn’t_ give weight even though you could—human wrists being neither strong nor flexible in that direction. And that if someone behind you is uncomfortably giving weight, you can just let go and turn it into a single file for yourself, since you’re not giving weight to aid the circle's momentum anyway. Read Weaver Jamaica Plain, MA http://lcfd.org

On Oct 10, 2016, at 1:34 PM, Read Weaver via Callers &lt;callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote, in reference to wrist-hold stars: In a wrist-hold star, I think it feels best if everyone, (including the person behind me), does give at least a *little* weight--maybe not enough to achieve any significant transfer of momentum around the star, but enough so that there's some sense of connection rather than each dancer just laying their hand like a dead fish on the wrist ahead. The amount of "weight"/force needed to get a such a feeling of connection is much, much smaller than the amount involved in carrying even a typical ten-year-old child in a "four-handed seat" of the sort shown on page 4 of this document; http://adminopsnet.usc.edu/sites/default/files/all_departments/FireSafetyEm… Of course, if someone has a weak or injured wrist, the other dancers should give consideration for that priority over their own preferences about just how strongly connected they'd like the star to be. --Jim

go back far enough (1700s) and you get "moulinet" in French sources, "mill" in some English sources,f or what I'm pretty sure are hands-across stars. -- Alan Winston On 10/10/16 9:57 AM, Robert Livingston via Callers wrote: