Cotillion classes benefit students, participants say

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COTILLION CLASSES BENEFIT STUDENTS, PARTICIPANTS SAY

January 2, 2000

This fall, Y-Press visited a cotillion class at Woodland Country Club in Carmel taught by Rebecca Malenko .

Following the session, we interviewed Caroline Valentine, 14, Ben Snipes, 14, Craig Wildey, 13, and Nate Downing, 14, all third-year students in Malenkos' Supper Club.

Getting started

CRAIG: I found an article in the newspaper three years ago on (cotillion), and I read it and I showed it to my parents. Before I knew it, they had signed me up.

CAROLINE: In sixth grade they send letters, and if you want to do it then your parents will send it back. My brother did it and said it was a lot of fun. My mom wanted me to do it.

BEN: My mom and dad said, "OK, you're gonna do cotillion now."

NATE: (My friend) Ben said that he's gone (to cotillion) and it was pretty cool, and my mom kind of pushed me to go.

The classes

NATE: It's a lot of fun. I'd define it as a class to learn . . . the right manners, and learn how to go places like nice restaurants.

CAROLINE: You learn formal dances and how to eat, with what fork to eat. For the sixth and seventh grade, you do just normal dancing the whole time. Then, for the eighth grade they just do supper club.

BEN: You'll have to know how to tie a tie if you come to class. It's dressy and you're gonna be dancing, and it's pretty fun.

The hardest part

NATE: Figuring out what utensil to use is pretty easy. But the steps, you can get confused with the different dances.

CRAIG: I think the hardest part is really trying to make conversation with the girls.

CAROLINE: I think the fox trot is hardest.

BEN: Yeah, I think the fox trot is probably the hardest one. None of them are very hard, but that one you usually do at a faster tempo, so going faster you might forget something because she's not saying the steps and you just go off and do your own thing.

Usefulness of class

BEN: Usually you don't have the opportunity to show what you learn in this class.

CRAIG: Adults usually expect you to be more grown-up and act like them.

CAROLINE: When I go to my friends' houses, I try to make a good impression on their parents so that they'll let me come back. So I use the best manners I can while eating.

NATE: Adults see you as a better kid. When my grandma comes over, she'll be like, "Oh, you have nice manners" and stuff.

The best part

CRAIG: I'd say the contests we have are real fun. We have different things, like there was one where the girls kept one shoe and they'd put the other shoe down, and we had to pick a shoe and find the girl whose foot went in it.

BEN: Then there's one we had where they put stickers on the back of our name tags. (The stickers) said the same thing in different languages, then you had to go find the partner who had the same word as you did.

CAROLINE: I would probably say the refreshments 'cause you can just talk to all your friends.

NATE: I'd put the food first and then the girls.

EDITED BY: Elizabeth Stringer, 15.

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Katie Beyer, 17.

REPORTER: Courtney Sampson, 12.

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