Once we got to the children's wing, we noticed that they had a dance classes to teach you the quadrille every third Saturday at 3:00. And it just happened to be the third Saturday just after two, which we took to be a sign. So after we had dressed up and taken pictures, we got to go upstairs to this room where a skinny, skinny man taught everyone the quadrille. Everyone, that is, except me and my four boys. There were nineteen women and girls and one very obliging father all dressed up, but my boys and my husband were not having any of it. I was holding Joss. Rob was taking pictures. The other two were feeling their masculinity threatened. Such a shame, because they looked so good in those jackets!I think I'm going to sign them all up at Willi's Tanzschule on Porzellangasse in our neighborhood. It is evidently still de rigeur to attend a dance school and learn etiquette so that one knows how to waltz and comport oneself for invitations to the opera ball or the new year's concert or other social obligations.
I have no idea what this room was originally for. This is what happens when you have a centuries-old dynasty and a surfeit of rooms in your palace. It was probably someone's bedroom or their meet-and-greet room; it was about the same size. Maddie took it all quite seriously and learned the steps and worked hard to help her partners through the moves. In an hour Herr Willi had them all dancing like royalty. It ended up making us late for the next item on our agenda, but for Madeline, I think this might be the pinnacle of her summer experience.
2 comments:
Very cool!
I think Ike would balk, too--in fact, I'm sure he would. Henry wouldn't, until he realized that Ike was.
Oh, it was de rigeur in Weston to take ballroom dance lessons and wear white gloves and fancy dresses every Wednesday night in late elementary school and middle school. So I'm not surprised by quadrille being en vogue. ~Kaki
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