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Wednesday, February 05, 2003

By Cooper Munroe

Until recently, 12-year-old Kelsey Hayes didn't know much about the fox trot, the electric slide or disco.

	Dance instructor Howard Ziegler demonstrates a disco dance turn with student Caryn Treblow during the Fox Chapel Cotillion dance classes. The lessons are offered to 6th and 7th grade students in the Fox Chapel area by All Of Us Care, a nonprofit that promotes safe schools and healthy communities. (Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette)

"I have seen my mom and dad do disco at weddings and stuff, and I thought it looked funny," said the sixth-grader at Dorseyville Middle School. "But now I am getting used to it. It's pretty fun."

Along with 71 other sixth- , seventh- and eighth-graders, Kelsey is enrolled in the first Fox Chapel Cotillion, a series of nine classes in ballroom dancing and social etiquette, plus a class in dining etiquette and table manners.

The program, held at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Fox Chapel, is sponsored by All of Us Care, a Sharpsburg-based nonprofit community organization. The program is open to middle-schoolers who live in the communities served by Fox Chapel Area School District. Classes are being held on Saturday evenings through April, and the program will end with a graduation dinner dance with parents at the Fox Chapel Golf Club.

Instruction includes lessons in the waltz, the fox trot, swing, disco and the electric slide with a focus on step patterns, leading and following.

	Dance instructor Linda Plowman coaches Amy Funk and Patrick Burke through a foxtrot during the Fox Chapel Cotillion dance classes. (Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette)

"I like the faster dances," said Charlie Phillips, a seventh-grader at Shady Side Academy in Fox Chapel, voicing an opinion shared by many other boys in the program. In other words, the boys tend to prefer dances that don't necessarily require a partner.

Incorporated throughout the cotillion are lessons in social graces, such as how to cut in for a dance or how to ask for a refreshment.

"It's all mannerly," said Kristen Boyle, a seventh-grader at Dorseyville Middle School. Kristen, 12, said students file into a receiving line at the end of each class and are expected to give their instructors and chaperones a firm handshake and a clear thank you, all the while maintaining eye contact. "If you don't, you go to the back of the line," she said.

Youngsters must follow a dress code -- skirts or dresses for girls and coat and tie for boys. When they get to class, they are handed a laminated list of rules, including:

When seated, girls must cross their legs at the ankles.

When asking someone to dance, the student must say, "Hello [name], would you like to dance?"

When declining an invitation to dance, the student must say, "Not now, I'm resting."

Kelsey said she would say no to a dance request "if a boy is not that good of a dancer and I'm afraid of getting stepped on."

	Ashley Perrelli suffers though a temporary lack of boys by learning her dances moves without a partner during the Fox Chapel Cotillion dance classes. (Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette)

The girls don't turn down too many dance offers, however, because the class has about 15 fewer boys than girls. During every dance, some girls have to dance by themselves.

Dance instructor Howard Ziegler, however, expects the students to pay attention, even if they don't have a partner.

"The instructor, Mr. Ziegler, is really nice, but if you are talking and not listening, he will pull you up and dance with you," said Rachel Marino, a sixth-grader at Dorseyville Middle School. "I was the first person he pulled up. He made me stay up there for a while. It was really embarrassing."

Ziegler has been teaching ballroom dancing in the Pittsburgh area for 35 years.

"I love it," said Ziegler, who teaches to the sounds of big band leaders such as Ray Anthony and Tommy Dorsey.

His love of ballroom dancing started in high school when a girl asked Ziegler to the prom and he didn't know how to dance.

"So I went to Arthur Murray's, I took the girl to the prom and it worked out fine," Ziegler said. Not only that, Ziegler started to work part time at the Arthur Murray dance school.

Now, he teaches dance workshops at the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Lifelong Learning and The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, as well as a cotillion for middle school children in Mt. Lebanon.

One of Ziegler's three assistant instructors is Linda Plowman, who has been teaching with him for seven years. Both Plowman and Ziegler agree that middle school is a good time to teach ballroom dancing.

"Middle school is the best time to learn. And dance instruction is so important for poise and social skills. It is never outdated, how to treat people," Plowman said.

One of the challenges of teaching middle school youngsters how to dance is helping the boys overcome their reluctance to put their hand on the small of their partner's back.

Ziegler said the best way to deal with shyness is to point out to the group when a boy is in the correct dance position.

"I will say to the young man, 'Thank you, you're doing fine' and everyone will clap. That always helps," he said.

The Fox Chapel Cotillion is the brainchild of Linda Ban and Janice Barrington, who both moved to the area with their families about two years ago. Barrington, who moved from Omaha, Neb., and Ban, who moved from Charlotte, N.C., met through the Fox Chapel Newcomers Club.

"We got to talking at the newcomers club and found we both love ballet," Barrington said. "So, last spring we went to the ballet together. After, we went out for drinks. Over a couple glasses of wine, we came up with the idea of a cotillion."

According to Barrington, cotillion programs are common in the South and Midwest, but few are found in the northeastern part of the country.

"We thought it was such a shame that there wasn't one here," said Ban, who, along with Barrington, has children who are middle-school age. "A cotillion provides young people social skills for a lifetime. They will always use those skills," she said.

Barrington and Ban approached Beth Harrison, director of All of Us Care, and suggested that proceeds from the cotillion benefit her organization, which promotes safe schools and communities through programs such as drug awareness forums, bike safety classes and parenting workshops in Sharpsburg, Aspinwall, Blawnox, Fox Chapel, O'Hara and Indiana Township.

Early last summer, Barrington and Ban started to pull the cotillion together.

"They have done a pile of work to get this done," Harrison said. "I am really thrilled they have come up with this idea. We have had a great response, and parents really appreciate the opportunity for this type of program."

Harrison said she hoped to hold more cotillions in the future.

The cost of the class is $200 per child and, after expenses, all proceeds go to All of Us Care.

Navigating ballroom dance and social etiquette lessons has been fun for Janice Barrington's daughter, Elizabeth Barrington, a seventh-grader at Dorseyville Middle School. But she questions at least one tradition. "I don't know. Sometimes it just seems like the girls should lead," she said.

Kristen, however, enjoys the traditional roles.

"I like how the boys have to treat us all night," she said. "They have to pull out chairs and everything."

For more information on the Fox Chapel Cotillion, call All of Us Care at 412-782-6855.

Cooper Munroe is a freelance writer.