Seasonal Cotillions

Once more, some cotillions, this time to wrap up the year with midwinter cheer!  As with the North Pole figures, these are taken from H. Layton Walker's Twentieth Century Cotillion Figures (Buffalo, New York, 1912).  This trio of figures is pure fun, however, with no special historical significance.  Three figures aren't enough to comprise an entire party on their own, but mixed with standard, non-winter-themed figures, they add a nice seasonal touch.

But first, let's let's decorate the ballroom with a winter theme...

Snow Flake Dance (party decor)
I can do know better than to quote Walker on the details:

Produce a winter scene that would cheer rather than chill the dancers.  Ceiling to be festooned with crepe paper, and hung with ornaments.  Under these decorations have network of wires loaded down with artificial snow.  Provide serpentine [long, string-like confetti] to the participants which is to be thrown over the snow-laden festoons and wires, sending down the shower of flakes.  The effect is very pretty.  Souvenirs for the dance are caps for the ladies and hugh [sic] chrysanthemums for the gentlemen.  Orchestra can occupy an ice cave at the end of the hall and all the decorations of the room are to be consistent with the snow-flake effect.

Presumably those are huge chrysanthemums for the gents.  

As is often the case, I am bemused by the level of effort and money this description implies.  The orchestra can occupy an ice cave?  A real ice cave?  A fake one seems like it would be less messy and less likely to result in frozen fingers wrecking the music, but with the conspicuous-consumption aspect of cotillions, one can't be quite certain they didn't actually consider building the orchestra a giant igloo.  But least the whole thing seems safer than decorating with evergreens.

On to some figures...

Mistletoe and Holly
This figure is a nice example of how to adapt a standard figure for a special theme, in this case the winter holiday season: it is nothing but a slightly more elaborate "favor" version of the classic Pyramid figure.  The basic figure is the standard one - the leader places the ladies in pyramid formation, then leads the gentlemen. single file, weaving through the lines until everyone is more-or-less opposite a partner to dance with.  The differences in this version:

1. The ladies all receive bouquets of flowers with mistletoe and the gentlemen boutonnieres with one flower and holly.  
2. There is a little additional setup: all couples waltz, then the ladies and gentlemen each form a circle, as large as possible, the gentlemen's circle outside the ladies'.  The leader then has the ladies follow him single file inside the gentleman's circle to make the pyramid.
3. Once the pyramid is formed, the ladies raise their bouquets over their heads, making a "human bouquet".
4. When the gentlemen have been dispersed through the pyramid, the waltz music stops and each gentleman kisses "the girl he discovers under the mistletoe near him".
5. The band then plays a two-step and all dance with their new partner.

This is a figure best done within a group that knows each other well and is comfortable with polite cheek kisses or perhaps just air kisses.  But a small, relatively intimate group is standard for a historical cotillion party anyway.

Sleigh-Riding Party
This figure, on the other hand, is pure silliness, basically a children's game for adults.  

All couples two-step; at the signal, they stop dancing and the ladies leave for another room while each gentleman fetches a chair and stands with it outside the door through which the ladies have left.  As the ladies return, each one sits in a chair.  The gentlemen proceed to run around the room, pushing the "sleighs" in front of them while the band plays a two-step accompanied by sleigh bells and tin horns.  Walker casually notes that "Some will go fast and some will go slow and some will have a collision, but it will be great sport and will receive great applause."

Walker does not actually specify that this is a mixer, but the general spirit of most cotillions would call for that.  To make it random, have the gentlemen line up with their chairs and each lady, as she comes through the door, take the next "sleigh" in line.

It's also not clear whether the couples dance at the end of this, or whether the gentlemen eventually park the "sleighs" back in their normal positions around the room and move on to the next figure.  I lean toward the latter, since I think this is enough exertion for the gentlemen for one figure, but it could also be quite amusing to have couples who get tired of "sleighing" park their chairs and begin to two-step, trying to avoid any other couples who are still "sleighing" around.  That could be a little bit dangerous for spinning couples, however, so it's best saved for a group of experienced dancers.

Next Year's Kisses
Gentlemen select partners and waltz (not actually specified, but implied later in the figure).  After a minute or so, "youngsters" hidden behind a screen or screens at one or both ends of the ballroom make loud "smacking" noises -- I think this should be blows rather than kisses, since they have to be heard over the music -- and, to quote Walker:

...the effect is as magic as though done by the Cotillion Fairy of Thanksgiving.  At the first smack, the couples drop hands and the young ladies waltz away from their partners, throwing kisses meanwhile.  As they separate further and further, the kissing continues, pretty hands wafting them toward the masculine partners, who hold out appealing hands.  As the door is reached, there is a final round of kisses and the girls vanish through the door.

This may not be meant specifically as a New Year's figure, but I think the name is suggestive.  It also works very well as a setup for a figure like Sleigh-Riding Party or any other figure where some setting up needs to be done out of the view of the ladies.

As for the "Cotillion Fairy of Thanksgiving"?  I have no idea.