More memories of "Miz" Sloan's Dancing School
By Cary DuPre Lafaye

We moved back to Columbia when I was in the sixth grade, and one of my first memories of that first year back was that my mother enrolled me in Mrs. Sloan's Ballroom Dancing class. (We said "Miz" because we were Southern, and the more recent Ms. had not come into use.)

Being 11 years old, not having met many friends, and not at all used to ballroom dancing, I was terrified at the thought of attending my first class. Simpson Zimmerman to the rescue! He was one of the kindest gentlemen I had ever met, and he asked me to dance more than once during that first class. He saved the day, building my non-existent self confidence and making me feel one of the group. From then on, I looked forward to dressing up and going to ballroom classes.

I remember that the dances sometimes had themes for Halloween and other occasions, and Mrs. Sloan would always invite some of the older boys to serve as stags so that the girls would have someone to dance with. The chairs were lined up around the Woman's Club ballroom, girls sitting on one side and boys on the other. The less well behaved boys would slide across the floor to their chairs (a definite no-no!). Mrs. Sloan wore a whistle around her neck to keep order. Rumor has it that the whistle was passed down to Mrs. Thomas Edmunds (Lucy), who has taught the Grand March to many a young Columbian for the Assembly and the Cotillion balls.

The Moment of Truth would come when Mrs. Sloan announced the next dance. The girls sat there hoping against hope that a cute boy would ask them to be his partner. If you were asked by a not-so-cute boy, you would at least be relieved that SOMEONE had chosen you. If you didn't get chosen, often Simpson would rescue you, or you could always retreat to the powder room.

Mrs. Sloan also ensured that you would be asked to dance at least once by having the Candy Dance. Everyone would draw a piece of candy from a large crystal bowl and would dance with the person whose candy matched yours. I don't know where Mrs. Sloan found that many different pieces of candy! She also had a dance (I can't quite remember the details) where, by the process of elimination, the leaders of the Grand March at the next class would be chosen.

My mother (Mrs. Moffatt B. DuPre, Betty) had herself attended Mrs. Sloan's in her youth. It seemed as if money was always tight, but Mama never quibbled about buying me a few pretty dresses to wear. That was because, she said, her own mother (Mrs. William Cappelmann, Helen), had made Mama wear her aunt's (Mrs. Henry Cappelmann, "Pete's") old dresses, which Granny thought were perfectly fine.

My mother never seemed to want to go to ballroom class, so Granny and Granddaddy sneaked down to the class one night and peered in the window to see if they could figure out Mama's reluctance to attend. There they spied my pretty mother in a VERY out-of-style dress compared to what the other girls were wearing. Granny felt awful. Buying pretty ballroom dresses for my mother was never an issue after that.

On the subject of dresses, one of the events that caused a lot of tongue wagging was the night that two of the prettiest and most popular girls in our class inadvertently wore the same dress! Oh scandal of scandals! As I recall, both got through the evening with great aplomb and grace.

The other "exciting" part of going to ballroom was the car pool. We had a good neighborhood carpool that included both boys and girls. If you had a nice parent driving, you would be taken to the Zesto for an ice cream cone after class. When one of your parents drove, you had to pray hard that at least your mother or father wouldn't say anything embarrassing and would simply perform as a mute chauffeur.

My sister-in-law remembers that her mother (Mrs. George Lafaye, Mary), liked to collect stray bricks to use in her garden. One night, while driving the carpool, Mrs. Lafaye put on brakes and jumped out to fetch a brick that was on the side of the road and put it in her car trunk. Mortification.

My own daughter (Helen Lafaye Johnson), now married, also attended Mrs. Sloan's, and I believe she enjoyed it. Again, the attraction of acquiring pretty party dresses was a major one, although I have to admit I found many of her prettiest dresses at Liz Cantey's and Paula LaMotte's Children's Exchange.

I know that, thanks to Simpson and Mrs. Sloan, Helen learned some of the important "social graces" there. Even though our lives have become much more informal, it never hurts to know how to behave like a lady or a gentleman in all situations.

Mrs. Sloan, a genuine lady, is long deceased. I still have the great pleasure of seeing Simpson at church and elsewhere around Columbia. I've never told him this, but he is one of the heroes of my youth.

Editor's note: The other night I woke up humming the Mexican Hat Dance and dancing in my head. I remember when the music got fast, the boys were supposed to swing us around and around. They didn't swing; they slung, and Mrs. Sloan's whistle would blare. Thanks to the people writing in about Mrs. Sloan's Dancing School, great memories have been triggered. We welcome any other comments or pictures.