To ensure that the almost weekly dance instruction after Mutual didn't go to waste, every month my stake sponsored Cotillion. Cotillion was the place where we danced the night away while learning proper social etiquette. Boys were expected to ask girls to dance. I don't think that there was much standing around on the sidelines. Often, more dance instruction would be given at the beginning of the evening. Then we would either dance to records or a live dance band.
Our stake covered Washington DC and the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. It was through Cotillion that I got to know some of the kids in the Maryland and DC wards. More than once, I had a crush on a boy in a Maryland ward. Cotillion was about the only place that I would have any contact with the boy. Even though Cotillion was a semi-formal event a couple of times a year, dates were not required. We used to go in groups with usually a parent driving.
Cotillion was a big part of my social life as a teenager. I went to Cotillion, almost without fail, from the time I was in junior high until I graduated from high school. These kind of dances, along with the annual Gold and Green Ball, have pretty much gone the way of the dinosaur today. I think that it's kind of sad that an entire generation has missed out of the non-threatening, wholesome fun environment of church dances.
Not growing up in the Church, my Cotillion experience was very different. It was something your mother insisted you attend in hopes you would not end up a social reject. I was shy and terribly uncomfortable with this huge group of kids I didn't know. I loathed it. Cried when I had to go. On one occasion told some boy with whom I had to dance, that I was going to beat him up after class. (He didn't like my lindy.)
ReplyDeleteI think part of the problem was I was so young (maybe nine?) and boys were still pretty creepy. At least in the Church setting, these are kids you know and are already comfortable with
I'm not sure if Cotillion was a church wide activity back then. Our ward had a very talented ballroom dance couple (not the type you see on TV today)who were very involved in teaching the youth proper dance methods. Cotillion may have grown out of their desire to make dancers out of awkward teenagers.
ReplyDeleteJust got a flash of Max and Kirstie Alley teaching at Mutual.
ReplyDeleteOur experts were Afton and Wylie.
ReplyDelete