Seven Days Til Christmas...

The Gayla Pink Apple

 

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Seven Days Til Christmas

I decided to share a Christmas memory each day for the 12 days leading up to Christmas day. There's no order - just a random Christmas thought or memory --- today it is 7 days til...

 

 

Little Rock Junior Cotillion
and
Annual Holly Ball

 

Little Rock Junior Cotillion's annual Holly Ball at Christmas time!  Dressing up in formal attire - both children and parents.  Students show off the dancing skills they learned.  Girls dance with their fathers' and the boys dance with their mothers'!  A wonderful memory for parents, at least! 

 

Little Rock Junior Cotillion  (LRJC) - a dance and etiquette program for girls and boys in the 5th through the 9th grades. LRJC began in 1948 under the direction of Mrs. Roger Butts.  The four year program is a tradition for many Little Rock families. The program teaches dance as well as social graces.  Manners and etiquette - line dances and partner dances - and music was live with a four piece band.  Kathleen  Joiner became the director of the LRJC in 1986. 

 

Most of the dances were semi-formal, which required coats and ties or suits for the boys and dressy dresses, dress shoes and white gloves required for the girls.  The dances were held on Saturday nights from September through December with the finale being the December Holly Ball with formal attire. 

 

Holly Ball - 8th grade - 2003

 



As a parent, the LRJC basically was your child's first exposure to being taught formal social skills which would be a life long lesson and afterall, every child should know the proper formal social skills, right?  Regardless of your answer, participation was common at my daughter's school and she wanted to do it.  She loved it - she enjoyed getting dressed up and the weekly dances.   

 

The Holly Ball became a wonderful holiday memory for us - dressing up in formal attire - fine dining before the dance and then proudly taking the floor with your child for a few moves.  The girls carried boutique of flowers (required) and wore white gloves (required) with their formal long gowns.  The mother's wore long formal dresses and fathers stepped out in a formal suit or tuxedo.  My daughter would 'teach' her father before we left home what he was supposed to do that night on the dance floor with her.  Makes me smile!!!

 

 
The Holly Ball -- a wonderful holiday memory for us.

Santa Claus is coming to town,

Gayla