Olivia Dalberg (foreground, right) and Warner Cohen (far right) dance at the Fredericksburg Area Service League's Cotillion dance at the Fredericksburg Country Club. ROBERT A. MARTIN/THE FREE LANCE-STAR View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

Cotillion helps tweens put best foot forward

It's more than just manners at local cotillion

BY EDIE GROSS

Date published: 2/19/2010

BY EDIE GROSS

Walk, walk, side, close.

Walk, walk, side, close.

From the middle of the Fredericksburg Country Club dance floor, Michael Scott calls out the steps to the fox trot, his pint-size pupils trying their best to keep time around him.

Quite a few have the hang of it, maintaining a firm "dance frame" while staying off their partner's toes.

But it's a middle-school crowd, and inevitably a loafer lands squarely on a Mary Jane or a boy leads his partner into another couple.

And the giggling begins.

Scott, the owner of Strictly Ballroom Dance Studio and the dance instructor for the 70 teens and pre-teens in Junior Cotillion, reminds the boys to look over their partner's shoulder to avoid steering into other people.

A boy in a red tie glances up at the girl he's dancing with--she's at least a head taller--and whispers, "I can't see over your shoulder."

He's not alone, and another round of giggling commences.

In a few minutes, the music will change from Big Band to Black Eyed Peas, and it's the girls' turn to lead--kicking off their high heels and throwing their hands in the air. The boys cluster on the edge for a few moments, before joining them.

While these middle-schoolers in the Fredericksburg Area Service League's Junior Cotillion have learned plenty about ballroom dancing and etiquette over the last few months, the class is about more than navigating the world of salad forks and dance cards.

It's about honing the kids' social skills and raising their confidence levels--so they're comfortable in their own skin, whether they're doing a fox trot or dancing with abandon.

"It's not one of those stuffy, white-gloves kind of cotillions," said Cathy Williams, the Junior Cotillion co-chair for the service league. "It's really an everyday kind of manners class for everybody. It's a great way to help children through this awkward time. It's amazing how you see them standing a little straighter."

KIDS LEARN THE BASICS

The service league offers cotillion for sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders, using money raised from tuition--$210 during the 2009-10 season--to support local children's charities.

The classes started out 15 years ago in the Central Rappahannock Regional Library with a handful of kids. Now, with as many as 110 enrolled at one time, they are held at Strictly Ballroom in Spotsylvania.

Some kids attend for two or three years in a row.

The Fredericksburg Area Service League is a nonprofit women's group that raises money for children's charities. This year, the group will donate $40,000 to Holliann Grace Center for Children with Disabilities, Hospice Camp Rainbow, Hope House summer camps, Kids for a Cure Club--Diabetes Camp and the Olde Forge Community Center's early education program. The league sponsors a Junior Cotillion each year to teach middle-schoolers etiquette, ballroom dancing and basic social skills. Money raised from the program, which includes six classes and two parties, helps support the group's charities. For more information about the organization or cotillion, visit faserviceleague.com.

Read more stories about Fredericksburg
Date published: 2/19/2010

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