Eleven Jr. campers and 32 older youth, ages 6-17, safely with masks and lots of hand sanitizer, practiced their manners, their dining and dance skills at our annual Class Act Etiquette & Dance Camps, held July 13-16 at the Hilton. We want to guide young people to focus on respect, consideration and awareness in all that they do and say. Kids learned common courtesies, posture, poise and appropriate dress, dining etiquette, cell phone behavior, and conversation skills. The etiquette camp concluded with a banquet and dance for the older camp members. The kids were so excited to be together and to dance. Because the kids haven’t been able to have a dance party since March, that made the banquet and dance extra special. I think they could have danced all night.
In all my years of Etiquette Camps, I’ve never had a class work so hard to achieve good dance frames. This was an amazing class. In spite of COVID-19, we practiced good handshakes. A father as well as businessman, commented that over the years of interviewing young men for jobs, he wished they had been taught a good handshake. Hopefully our class campers will always give a good handshake.
I wanted to share two thank you’s received:
“Dear Dr. Quiring, Thank you so much for having this class in spite of COVID-19. It was awesome to get to learn all of those dances; foxtrot is my favorite! Every day was so much fun; I always hated to have to leave.” - E J
And another, “Dear Dr. Quiring, …. My family went out for lunch and our waitress told us we were the most polite chilldren. We all smiled and laughed since only yesterday we were at your etiquette camp! Thank you so much for etiquette camp! “ - H B
Special awards went to: Best First Impression—Teddy Kuhlmann, Avadelle Stockberger, Austin Labowitz; Most Mannerly—Reece Ohendalski, Anna Johnson, Nathan Johnson; Most Congenial: Nathan Stephens, Machaiah Wilson, Brendan Owens; Best Dancer—Emma Dacumos, Patty Grace Mayer, Justin Ohendalski, Claire Watt, Ross Versari; CLASS ACT AWARD—Ben Wilson, Emma Johnson, Tyler Aycock.
Hopefully we can start teen dances again soon. In the meantime we will keep learning new dance steps each week. We welcome you to join us! Also, Brazos Valley Cotillion will be January, 2021. And we are considering offering a mini etiquette camp in another 10-12 days! www.susansballroomdance.com
