Metro Times chronicles Detroit debutantes' rite of passage

A white dress. Waltzing. Flowers everywhere. It may be spring, but this isn't a wedding. Detroitbloggerjohn recently stepped behind the curtain to capture the crowning moment for Detroit's youngest debutantes, whom are keeping an age-old tradition -- the society debut -- alive in the Cass Corridor's Masonic Temple. The Southern tradition was an expected tradition for good kids from good families in the Motor City a half-century ago, and the careful ritual has been properly preserved.

Excerpt:

For the high school juniors and seniors selected as debutantes, the road here is long and hard. "It's almost like a mini charm school," Clark says. There are the twice-weekly waltz practices that become weekly as the ball draws near. Months of etiquette lessons. Cultural outings like Brunch with Bach at the Detroit Institute of Arts and tickets to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Detroit Opera House. Volunteer tutoring at the Sickle Cell Center in Detroit. Afternoon tea at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham. Facets of culture that most girls nowadays don't get to experience.

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