Susan, thanks for relating some of LCD's history! I had figured Louisville's hands-across was due to historic influence from regional square dancing. I'm curious of the actual cause of the the (relatively recent, it seems) switch from wrist-hold to hands-across. I'll ask some folks next Monday.
On Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 9:21 PM, Susan McElroy-Marcus < smcelroymar...@earthlink.net> 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 <callers@lists.sharedweight.net> > *Sent:* Monday, October 10, 2016 9:44 AM > *To:* Tim Klein <mrtimkl...@yahoo.com> > *Cc:* callers@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 < > callers@lists.sharedweight.net> 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 <callers@lists.sharedweight.net> >> *To:* John Sweeney <j...@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 >> <https://www.swarthmore.edu/sites/default/files/assets/documents/linguistics/2007_kaufman_jeff.pdf> >> 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 < >> callers@lists.sharedweight.net> 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 >> <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 j...@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@lists.sharedweight.net >> http://lists.sharedweight.net/ listinfo.cgi/callers- sharedweight.net >> <http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> David Casserly >> (cell) 781 258-2761 >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Callers mailing list >> Callers@lists.sharedweight.net >> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Callers mailing list >> Callers@lists.sharedweight.net >> http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net >> >> > > ------------------------------ > _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > Callers@lists.sharedweight.net > http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/callers-sharedweight.net > >