The debutantes arrived around 10 a.m.
They practiced their dances, did their hair and makeup, donned their voluminous dresses and posed for photos. At 3 p.m. they poured into a side room at Quaker Station for a short break. Sandra King pulled a hoodie over her white ball gown. Another deb sat on a chair and adjusted the strap on her white heel. Others used the time to grab food and water.
The 15 young women sprinkled throughout the room are the 40th class of Les Belles Perles Cotillion debutantes. The pearls, they’re called – a fitting name for an accomplished group of high school students who represent the best and brightest in their communities. Saturday, in front of 598 people, the pearls were presented to their families and friends.
Dating back to the 18th century, a cotillion is a young woman’s formal “coming out” to society, traditionally marking her transition from girlhood to womanhood. There’s a strong history of cotillions in the Black community as well, with a focus on community service and scholarship. At Saturday’s Les Belles Perles, more than $30,000 in scholarships were awarded to the 15 debutantes. (That also included $100 book scholarships awarded to each of their escorts.)
This was the first full Les Belles Perles Cotillion since 2019 (there was a small virtual ceremony in 2020), but its roots go back to 1982. The event is hosted by the Akron alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, a historically Black sorority that was founded in 1913 at Howard University.
“Delta Sigma Theta is founded on scholarship and service, and social action is what we do. Our organization is cemented in this community,” said Cotillion Chairperson Lori Al Amin, in an interview back in January. “Akron is a great city. We have great resources. We have great people. We have great children, and to be able to bring these girls forward and let the community know who they are is just a wonderful, wonderful thing.”
‘Girls who want to do more’
The pearls are all seniors, and they hail from six area high schools: Akron Early College Community Learning Center, Archbishop Hoban High School, Buchtel CLC, Firestone CLC, St. Vincent-St. Mary High School and Walsh Jesuit High School. They’re active in a staggering number of extracurricular activities from sports and dance to school leadership and scholarly organizations to church and community service.
Their schedules didn’t slow down when they were selected as debutantes. The process, which began last May, included interviews, orientation, community service, a mother-daughter retreat, leadership enrichment and eight waltz practices. (At the cotillion the debs perform a waltz with their escorts – 15 young men from area high schools – as well as a waltz with their presenters – usually their fathers, but also uncles and godfathers.)
Still, even with their packed schedules and the usual demands and stresses of being a teenager, participating in Les Belles Perles was important for them.
Photo gallery: 40th annual Les Belles Perles Cotillion
For King, 18, of Akron Early College CLC, participating in the cotillion was a chance to meet other young women with similar goals and interests.
“I think going through the process, you single out girls who want to do more,” said King, whose mom, Kishaun, is a Delta alum and a member of the Akron chapter. “It brings us together to make connections, to just thrive together, uplift each other. I know where [the cotillion] stems from, but it’s not the same now, because it’s more modernized. But I feel like what it’s now [come] to be, I feel like it’s important that you have a space for these kinds of girls to meet at some point.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Cienna Harvey. The 17-year-old Buchtel CLC student sat at a table with her escort and boyfriend, Demetrion Duvall, 18, and her mother, Celeste. She said she knew many of her fellow debs beforehand, so participating in Les Belles Perles with them was a nice experience. Her favorite part of the process was the mother-daughter retreat last August.
“We spent the whole day together and got to know each other, so that was really fun,” she said.
Her mother Celeste smiled across the table from her. “I’m just so proud of my daughter,” she said. “She’s accomplished so much. I just wanted to celebrate her.”
A ceremony of pomp and circumstance
Dressed all in red (Delta’s signature color) and wielding a cane post surgery, waltz instructor Francine Blake came in, signaling the end of the break.
“I need y’all to line up and get ready to go through it again,” she said.
When the teenagers groaned – the escorts loudest of all – she said, “Don’t look at me like that!”
With less than two hours until the event began, the debs and their escorts filled the entryway to run through the ceremony one last time. One deb lifted the hem of her dress just enough to reveal thick knee pads and glittery sneakers to her escort. (The debs have to curtsy several times during the ceremony, no small feat while wearing a ballgown, crinoline, gloves and a tiara.)
“My feet are getting sweaty!” one deb said.
“I need a fan,” said another.
When one girl complained of menstrual cramps, several quickly jumped into action and offered to get her medicine.
The program itself is full of pomp and circumstance, somewhere between a graduation and a wedding. Each deb walked to the stage, assisted by her escort. She curtsied as her name, school and parents were announced. Her escort then helped her from the stage, and his name, school and parents were announced.
She was then handed first to her mother, who placed a pearl necklace on her and kissed her cheek. The deb’s escort then led her to her presenter. The deb curtsied and was then given a bouquet of roses by her presenter. Her escort then led her from the floor.
The legacy of Les Belles Perles
As the pearls ran through the ceremony, Dana Rosser sat at a table near the stage, chatting with others. An Akron native, Rosser participated in the first Les Belles Perles Cotillion in 1982. At the time, she was a 17-year-old student at what was then Buchtel High School.
“At that time, they presented from the tallest to the shortest,” Rosser said. “So girl, I won that one. I’m 6’2”,” she said, laughing.
She now splits her time between Florida and New Mexico, but when she was asked to participate in the cotillion’s 40th anniversary, she didn’t hesitate to say yes. She smiled when reminiscing about her cotillion.
“It was a great experience,” she said. “My dad walked me down. My mom was there. I felt very proud. Our families didn’t really engage in activities like this at all.”
Her aunt was a Delta, so she was familiar with the sorority, but it was the first cotillion she had heard of. “I just applied. I was really outgoing too. I was a flag girl. I was class secretary. So I thought, ‘Why not?’” Rosser said.
She would go on to attend the University of Akron. While there, Rosser pledged Delta Sigma Theta, in large part due to her positive cotillion experience.
“The Deltas affected me so much with what they poured into me. I wanted to do that for someone else,” she said. “They saw that I was a beautiful pearl. And I didn’t see that in me.”
Carolyn Brown said she still lingers on her cotillion experience. She was a deb in 1966 in Dayton, and her daughter, Shayla Brown Dandridge, participated in the 1998 Les Belles Perles Cotillion. The mother and daughter were co-chairs of this year’s cotillion.
“For some of our debs, this is a rare occurrence,” Brown said of the formal event. “So we like to think that we are growing our young ladies to be better people, as far as their social life, their academic achievements.”
For Dandridge, the history and the legacy of Les Belles Perles Cotillion is important. She still remembers attending the cotillion as a kid. If she wasn’t able to go, her mom would bring her home a program from the event.
“I remember going through that book, and I would color — because it was black and white back then — and I actually colored like it was a coloring book,” she recalled. “It’s just the legacy of it, the pomp and circumstance, just the over the topness. It’s just so classy and the grace that everyone exudes, and not even just the debutantes but the guests. Everyone in the ballroom [is] in formal tuxedos, gowns to the floor.”
She added, “You don’t really get to see a lot of those moments in Akron, Ohio. So to be a part of that, it just really means a lot.”
