Good manners and dancing in LH
Donning white gloves, suits and ties, pretty dresses and stockings and...dancing, they are also being polite to each other.
Wait. Nicely dressed 6th graders being polite to each other?
Yes indeed, thanks to the Chaplin Cotillion.
This six week course is designed to teach 2nd through 9th grade kids in the Forest Meadow, Lake Highlands, Scofield Christian, Hamilton Park, St. Patrick and Highlander school areas the fine skills of communication, socialization, and dance.
The goal? To help them develop contemporary etiquette skills and feel comfortable and confident in a variety of social settings - and to know which fork to use at a posh dinner.
The word cotillion is French for petticoat, and in years past Cotillions were stuffy gatherings for the youth of high society. But not any more.
Today’s Cotillions focus on teaching respect, courtesy, and sensitivity through the art of ballroom dancing.
The Chaplin Cotillions were founded back in the ‘50’s by Dick Chaplin, an Arthur Murray Dance alum. He enjoyed ballroom dancing so much that he opened a teenage social dance studio in Dallas, which became the largest in the United States.
A few years later, he created The Dick Chaplin Cotillions so he could leave his Floor Director job at KRLD and work full-time in the dance field. While Mr. Chaplin passed away in 2003, his Cotillion classes continue to successfully operate in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Waco and Longview, teaching social dance and etiquette to thousands of young people.
The lead instructors hosting the Lake Highlands Cotillion are Joseph Cutaia and his wife Ann Briggs-Cutaia, both native Texans and both with impressive backgrounds in dance. Along with years of extensive training in all areas of dance, Mr. Cutaia has appeared in a number of Broadway productions.
Ms. Briggs-Cutaia was a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader and has appeared on Dance Fever as well as a variety of commercials, television shows and movies. Both are members of the Dance Council of Dallas.
For $155 for the course, students are taught social graces, basic etiquette, and the fundamental skills of ballroom dancing, which includes the Fox Trot, Waltz, Swing, Country and Western and Latin styles of dance.
They are required to dress appropriately, with the exceptions being a 50’s Party and a Western Party where jeans and theme attire are permitted.
The last lesson is a formal End of the Season Party on February 21st. The candlelight dinner dance will be held in the Westin Park Central Hotel Ballroom, and includes table etiquette instruction, ergo, the correct fork to use.
Says Bernadette Anderson, mother of 12-year-old Blake who is participating in Cotillion, “We’ve only been through one week, and Blake didn’t mind it at all!”
Come the end of February, Lake Highlands can anticipate a whole batch of young people who’ve been instilled with confidence, poise and courtesy!
Whether they’ll still be wearing their nice clothes remains to be seen.
Pictured above are: Boys, L to R: Hunter Ghoreishi, TJ Churchill, Aaron Hassell, Blake Anderson. Girls, L to R: Emilie Meliza, Maya Novit, Dovie Stem, Chelsea Blocker, Haley Taylor, Caitlyn Bosch, Lanie Jackson.
Photo courtesy of Ebby Ghoreishi
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