Cotillion and Formal Ball for Teens

Was it Cinderella at the Ball?  Or might it have been students of the Brazos Valley?  Fifty-six of our local youth, ages 11-17, practiced their manners, their dining skills, and their dance skills at the annual Brazos Valley Cotillion, held the month of February on Thursday evenings.  Their Formal Ball was a special affair.  Each couple had the privilege of walking under the Saber Arch of the Ross Volunteers from our honorable Corps of Cadets.  Seated at beautifully decorated tables, the young ladies and gentlemen enjoyed a four-course meal followed by ballroom dancing.  Individual Dance Cards were provided giving the  order of dances for the evening.  Special performances were provided by Jordan and Ben Fisher, Amanda Vorpahl and Jordan Garcia, Irina Popova and Andrew Penn.  Our beloved DJ was Tom Byar.  Michael Bobinski of Bluefish Photography, was on deck to capture those special moments on camera. 

The next Cotillion will be this summer, June 17-20, at our annual Class Act Etiquette & Dance Camp.  http://www.susansballroomdance.com/youth-classes/

Are Bad Manners Ever OK?

 Is it every okay to have bad manners?

 That might seem like a strange question coming from someone who is so passionate about etiquette.

 However, the answer to this question could save your life.

 Last evening, there was a knock at my friend’s door. She was home alone with her 3-year-old daughter, cooking dinner. It was just getting dark outside.

 She peaked out the door, and a large woman was standing there. She asked her what she wanted and she started making all sorts of strange and inappropriate comments.

 Recently her community had an issue with teams of thieves in which one person knocked on the front door to distract the occupant, while the rest of the team broke into the house from the back.

 Her husband was not going to be home for a couple of hours, and she was scared. Something was clearly wrong with this situation. She spoke very sharply to the woman at the door and told her to go away immediately. Then she called the police and had her husband rush home.

 The fact is….there is a time to have bad manners — for you, and perhaps more urgently, for your kids.

 When we are in a situation that raises red flags and doesn’t seem right, or where we feel like we are or could quickly get into danger, then we need to react swiftly and with urgency.

 If you ever take a self-defense class the first thing they teach you is….

 When you are in danger, throw out everything you have ever learned about being polite. Scream in public. Make a scene. Do whatever it takes to distract the attacker and escape. If it comes to it, you bite, scratch, kick, and spit. Use anything around you as a weapon. Do what it takes to find an opening and get near people who can help. 

This is especially relevant for our kids. We live in challenging times. Predators seem more common than ever before — and often they are people that our kids know and are supposed to trust. We need to teach them that in most situations, good manners are essential. However, we also need to teach them to get good at recognizing red flags, and knowing when it is acceptable and required to speak up, make a scene, and get out of danger fast. 

Last night, thank goodness, some sharp words and a call to the police did the trick, and all is well at my friend’s home this morning. For once, bad manners paid off! 

Check out Cotillion that starts February 7.  We won’t teach you self defense, but we will teach you good manners!

Watch for Me on an Upcoming Reality TV Show!

This morning I debuted in my first reality TV show!  About 6 weeks ago the phone rang and a lady told me they needed me to teach an etiquette lesson to a young lady for her Quincinera.  The conversation continued something like this: 

MTV3 would be filming a reality show called “Quiero Mi Quincinera” with a young lady from Bryan, Tx.  Would I help them out?  The girl is a basketball player and needs to learn to walk in highheels. She is a bit of a tomboy.  So whatever you want to teach her is fine—as long as you teach her to walk in highheels.   We need a location for filming.  The date will be August 23, 10:00am-Noon.  

The New York film crew arrived Wednesday in time to meet me at Briarcrest Country Club—our film location.  This morning when I walked into the room, the film crew was ready, we did a mike check, I was given 5 minutes of preparation, then “LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION” 

“Good afternoon, girls, how may I help you?”  For the next hour I had a great time teaching these two young ladies about making a good first impression.  We practiced good posture, poise, how to sit, how to get in and out of a car, how to stand, how to walk (in high heels, of course—and they were very high), and how to articulate our voice.  Jordan was quick to learn and such a joy to teach. 

 “Quiero Mi Quincinera” will air in about 2 months on MTV3.  Stay tuned for further updates!

This Year’s Etiquette Camp was the Best!

This summer’s Etiquette Camp has to have been the best Etiquette Camp we’ve ever had.  I think all my assistants, all the campers, and all the parents would agree with me that this really was a great camp.  I’m not sure who was more excited to get to the class each day—the boys and girls in the younger Etiquette Camp or the teenagers in the older camp. By way of fun games and activities, we learned that manners matter.  We talked about cell phones and social media, we practiced common courtesies, our dining skills and table manners. Of course the highlight for everyone was the dancing.  In four days the older campers learned Cha Cha, Merengue, Swing Dancing, Waltz, and Foxtrot.  They got to practice all their dance skills at their final banquet and dance held at the Briarcrest Country Club.  Check out this clip of the final banquet: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCCkC1jkpx8&feature=g-upl

 A highlight for me was the 3 young men who separately walked up to tell me how glad they were that their moms had made them attend.  Three weeks ago in the grocery store a college boy stopped me and asked if I remembered him.  (I did).  He told me he had been in my Cotillion class in the 5^th grade.  He said he saw no relevance to the class at the time, but now that he is in college, all the information was coming back to mind and he was using it as he socializes with the young ladies and as he is starting to interview for jobs.  Yes, manners do matter as we go through life.  It’s all about building character, confidence and courtesy.   

 I am already having inquiries about our February Mini-Cotillion and Formal Ball!  We invite you to join us!

Two Teen Dancers win First Place

Two of my teen dance students, Jordan Fisher and Paul Hinton, recently won FIRST PLACE in choreographed routines in the senior division at District 9 4-H Round U!  Wow!  That is impressive!  The event was held in Conroe.  They will now go to state competition to perform at 4-H RoundUp in Lubbock next month.  

Paul and Jordan have studied dance with me for 1 ½ years. They have taken numerous adult dance classes as well as the teen classes.  To prepare for this competition, they added several private lessons to perfect technique of their footwork, their body movement, nice flowing arm styling, and to work on choreography.  The video of their last practice before going to district competition is on my website.  Here is the link:  http://www.susansballroomdance.com/videos-2/ 

Both Jordan and Paul are graduates of  my Class Act Etiquette Camp and my Brazos Valley Cotillion.  Jordan will serve as one of my assistants for this summer’s Etiquette Camp.  By the way, the early bird registration deadline is rapidly approaching.  If you register by June 4 you will save yourself money!  Class Act Etiquette Camp is for children ages 6-18.  For more information go to:  http://www.susansballroomdance.com/teen-classes/ 

As you plan your summer activities, not only join us for Etiquette/Dance Camp June 25-28,and  you will want to be a part of our Teen/Pre-Teen Dance Camp July 16-19.  Join us!  Meets 3:30-5:30pm.  We will have a dance and pizza party on the evening of July 19.

 Once again, congratulations to Jordan and Paul.  Best of luck to them in Lubbock.

What is Proper Etiquette for Removing A Wasp from the Dining Table?

That is the question a university student asked me Thursday night at a Dining Etiquette seminar I conducted at Ottawa University (in Kansas, not Canada).  This particular dining etiquette seminar was held to prepare students for upcoming job interviews. About a third of job interviews are lost over poor dining skills, so it’s worth brushing up on etiquette before tackling an interview. 

But back to the flying wasp hovering over the dining table.   The student asked, “do we wave a broom around and hope we can smash him?”  I laughed and responded, “probably not the best approach.  Let’s redirect that wasp toward a window.”  The young man opened a window, then picked up a table tent with a metal base.  He held it up high, guiding the wasp — which unfortunately didn’t follow his lead and instead did a nose dive toward me.  With calm, quiet dignity (I hope), I stepped to the side, at which time the wasp chose to redirect his flight to the glass of the window, not the open window.  The “helpful” student promptly smashed the wasp on the glass with the metal base.  As he started to replace the table tent back on the dining table, I quickly said, “come with me.”  I grabbed a napkin from the punch table, exited the room and wiped off the smashed wasp, then scrubbed the bottom of the weapon. 

 We returned to the room, and as the young man replaced the clean stand on the dining table and closed the window, I smiled and said, “now that is the proper etiquette for removing a wasp.”