Issue date: March 24, 1999
By BARBARA WOOD
Imogene Woodruff routinely accomplishes something that probably leaves the average parent of a middle schooler in complete disbelief: she teaches manners, etiquette and ballroom dancing to young people, ages 11 to 14 -- and she's taught many thousands of them.
Mrs. Woodruff takes children who may normally refuse to look adults in the eye, who wear pants in danger of falling off with a misstep, and who communicate in grunted mono-syllables. She changes them into, for at least a few hours a week, young gentlemen and ladies.
She has been teaching cotillion classes for a long, long time, "40 or 50 years," she says, often five nights a week and several sessions a year.
Her thousands of clients include the children, and even grandchildren, of her original students.
Mrs. Woodruff says the skills she imparts are best absorbed by middle schoolers. "For sixth-, seventh-, eighth-graders, it sinks in," she says. "If you wait until high school, it's too late."
The lessons do stay with the kids, she says. "You ought to read the letters I get from them off in college," she says, telling how they've taught all their roommates and friends to dance.
Mrs. Woodruff, a long-time Woodside Hills resident who not long ago moved to Emerald Hills, hints she may retire some time in the not-too-distant future. One of her sons, Barry Woodruff, is taking over her business.
Last week Mrs. Woodruff, who says she won't reveal her age because "the kids wouldn't come near the place if they knew," presided over the final night of the Woodside Elementary School 8-session cotillion class. A fund-raiser for the eighth-grade class, the cotillion this year attracted 50 students.
As the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders file into the school gym, most of them freshly scrubbed and uncomfortably dressed in their finest, their proud parents, few of them as nattily attired, watch from the bleachers.
The young gentlemen and ladies sit, not slouch, backs straight, both feet on the floor -- on two rows of folding metal chairs, girls on one side, boys on the other.
Looking at them you can believe, as Mrs. Woodruff likes to say: "There's not one bad child in the world. It's only parents who don't see."
And then, accompanied by a 45 rpm record playing on a well-worn turntable, the children file onto a dance floor which 20 minutes earlier had been filled with sweating basketball players. Each young lady slips her arm through the crooked elbow of her partner, they circle around and begin the foxtrot.
Mrs. Woodruff's helpers fill in when partners are needed, correct missteps and hand out friendly advice.
One of the helpers, Dyanne Gavin, took lessons from Mrs. Woodruff 30 years ago when she was growing up in Woodside. One of Mrs. Woodruff's star pupils, Ms. Gavin participated in national dance contests and was part of a troupe that performed around the state. Now her son Christopher is in the cotillion classes.
"He really enjoys it," Ms. Gavin says. "He learned manners and some etiquette." The students, she says, seemed to relish the unaccustomed roles they play in the class.
"They really took pride in treating each other with respect," she says.
Back on the dance floor Mrs. Woodruff, microphone in hand, is coaching her students. "Way up tall, girls. No slouching," Mrs. Woodruff says, then singles out a girl who would tower above her partner even without her platform shoes. "See how she is -- beautiful posture," she says.
When the dance ends, words to warm a mother's heart drift out, loud and clear: "Thank you, Juliane," a young man says to his dance partner.
The dancers amaze their parents as they waltz, cha cha, and even tango. And then it's time for the dance contest. As couples are eliminated one by one, tension mounts. The final two couples left in the dance contest -- Ariel Miller and Peter Livingston, and Ashley Williams and Rory Buttelmann -- waltz across the floor in perfect synchronization, standing tall, elbows high. Only the fact that they are counting steps under their breath leaves them out of the league of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.
"I can't find any mistakes," Mrs. Woodruff announces, before finally bestowing the blue ribbon on Ms. Miller and Mr. Livingston, who despite their tender age surely deserve courtesy titles for their impeccable dress and behavior.
The next contest is a bit more fun. Each couple receives a balloon, which they must hold between their foreheads as they glide across the gym. Stavros Pardini and Kristi Hynding are the winners this time.
The dancing isn't the only thing that amazes the parents. The young men escort their partners to their seats when the dance is finished. At refreshment time, the gentlemen bring cookies and drinks to the ladies.
"I just love to work with children," Mrs. Woodruff says. "They just absorb everything."
"This age is so wonderful. I love 'em."
There's even hope for adults who yearn to look like these kids on the dance floor. Imogene Woodruff and her son teach ongoing ballroom dance classes at the Highlands Community Center, off Fernside in Redwood City. Call 368-4187 for information. The eight-week cotillion class for children costs $60.
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