Alan, I agree that dolphin poussette is an apt description for what's going on; and concur that it probably wouldn't help all the dancers (and less so in Contra than in English, I think).
The star bursts as envisioned below definitely have a dolphin hey poussette feel, with the two couples curving around each other.
Here's another triplet with a star burst.
Cabot Starburst Triplet
Formation: Triplet
A1 -----------
(1s improper, 2s and 3s proper)
(16) 1s & 2s Neighbor balance and swing (optional: 3s with partner)
End with 1s in the middle of the group of 3
A2 -----------
(8) Lines of 3, forward and back
(8) 1s & 3s Left hand Star
B1 -----------
(8) 1s & 2s Right hand Star
(8) 1s & 2s starburst; ladies lead out and to the right (1s & 2s swap); 3s come up through the middle to the top (now 3-1-2)
B2 -----------
(16) Partner gyre and swing
New 1s face down, 2s and 3s face up
I spent an hour tonight rocking a baby to sleep; so there's another contra with the figure; that gets rid of the star 3/4 that the last improper formation had.
Star Burst Insomnia
Formation: Becket-CCW
A1 -----------
(6) Circle Left 3/4
(10) Swing neighbor
A2 -----------
(8) Long lines, forward and back
(8) Left Hands across star
B1 -----------
(8) Star Burst, gents lead out and curve left, ladies lead in
(8) With new neighbors, Right Hands across star
B2 -----------
(8) Women allemande right 1-1/2
(8) Partner swing
As a side note, about a decade ago, I wrote in to shared weight asking about ladies allemanding before a swing; which hand works better? (And started a long tradition of finding out someone else had already written the dance in question.) This dance could go either way, depending on if you started with a left or right hand star (switches who leads out, and the direction of progression)
The thousand or so dances I have in Callers Companion are not exhaustive, and reflect my own proclivities in collection and composition; but the stats come out as
40 dances: ladies allemande right->swing
14 dances: ladies allemande left->swing
For comparison, on the gents side, I have
121 dances: gents allemande left->swing
2 dances: gents allemande right->swing
(I'm not counting the allemande to balance or gyre and swings, I'm just looking at when they two happen in the same phrase) So while not as strongly biased as the gents left->swing; the general consensus seems to be that if the ladies are going to allemande into a swing, it's probably better by the right hand.
Thank you again to Shared Weight for being a resource for all these years (both the organizers and the contributors).
I'll refrain from posting any more star burst dances until I actually get to call one for dancers ;-)