http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20110506/NEWS02/705069981
Published May 6, 2011 in the Rutland Herald
55th annual Apple Blossom Cotillion this weekend in Springfield
By SUSAN SMALLHEER
Pam Church put the high school couples through their paces, but while she liked their footwork, there was something else on her mind.
“Don’t do it to the walls! Do it to the audience!” she told the 11 couples during a rehearsal for the 55th annual Apple Blossom Cotillion earlier this week, urging the still stage-shy group to enjoy their performance and share their fun with the audience.
The couples will take center stage this weekend in royal blue gowns and black and white tuxedos during the cotillion.
Thousands of people attend the popular community pageant, which is also a major scholarship fundraiser, this year benefitting the new Dr. E. Sherburne Lovell Health Career Award.
Church is one of the co-directors in this year’s show: “Days Gone By.” The cotillion features high school senior girls from the region, along with their escorts. They sing and dance to popular music from the current day back to the 1950s, dressed in formal dress.
This year’s theme of “Days Gone By,” features favorite songs from previous cotillions, said Larry Kraft, the master of ceremonies for the cotillion, and the head of the Springfield Hospital Foundation, which sponsors the cotillion.
The couples rehearse every Sunday afternoon, starting in January, with daily, evening rehearsals in the week leading up to the cotillion.
None of the boys, and only a few of the girls had dance training before they signed up for the cotillion, said co-director Carrie Jewell.
But Jewell said many of the students had innate ability, and she predicted a fun show, as the students run through numbers like “Hound Dog,” “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” and “Rockin’ Robin.”
“This has been a fantastic group of kids, they have a lot of energy,” said Jewell during a break in Monday’s rehearsal.
It was 8 p.m., and the 48 grade school kids, who make up the “future cotillionaires,” were heading home with their parents. The big kids still had plenty of rehearsing to do.
With the girls dressed in jeans, leggings or skirts, they started breaking in their cotillion silver sandals. They practised everything from their introduction number to sweeping curtsies. They then switched to the energetic dances with their escorts.
This year Church and Jewell brought in professional instructors for the couples, with some ballroom dancing instruction on the waltz, and another dance instructor giving the teens the fine points of swing dancing.
Kraft said as a tribute to earlier cotillions, which featured limited dining and refreshments served at tables on the floor for the audience, tables will make a reappearance – but the 11 cotillion couples will be using them instead.
Kraft said the relatively small number of cotillion couples this spring (some years upwards of 20 couples participate) gave the directors more space on the gym floor.
Jewell and Church have been directing the show for the past eight years. The two women have given notice that the 2012 pageant will be their last, said Jewell. The two women both have personal and family commitments they put aside during the long Sunday rehearsals, and the planning, which is essentially year-round, said Jewell, who owns a community care home in Windsor.
Anthony Knox participated in the cotillion as a student. “I hadn’t even heard of it as a senior,” said Knox, but he comes back every year to run the sound system.
“I put everything on my iPod, and it’s ready to go,” said Knox, who has been helping out for the past six years.
“I live in Lebanon and I drive down every Sunday, I just enjoy doing it,” said Knox. “Everybody has fun.”
In addition to the new Lovell Award, the money raised by the cotillion will also fund nutrition education and physical activities for area youth, Kraft said.
Festivities start tonight, and Saturday’s performance features the crowing of the queen and her court.
Tickets for tonight’s performance cost $10. Tickets for Saturday’s event cost $15. All tickets may be purchased in advance at Tina’s Hallmark in the Springfield Plaza or the gift shop at Springfield Hospital..
Both performances are at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 6 p.m. at Dressel Gym at Riverside Middle School.
As in past years, there will be an historical display of past cotillions, including gowns and programs.
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