49th Annual Quadrille Ball

The debutantes of the 49th Annual Quadrille Ball were presented at the Pierre Hotel Grand Ballroom on January 24th, 2009 in New York City. The event was the culmination of 3 months of intense practices and enjoyable social outings for the 16 ladies and their escorts. All dancers are proposed by alumni of the ball and take part in one of the most rigorous debutante preparation processes. The debutantes and escorts mingled with guests during the cocktail reception in the Cotillion Room before the ball. The guests all walked through the receiving line of dancers, and the Quadrille was performed beautifully after a wonderful dinner and speeches. The performance of the Quadrille culminated the coming out process for these lovely ladies. The Quadrille, as a dance, dates back to the 17th Century and was a popular activity in the courts of Europe. All of the calls are spoken in French and the dancers perform in elegant unison. Notable guests to this year’s Quadrille ball included HRH Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, Alan Z Feuer, Heide Herz, Dr. Horst Freitag the Consul General of Germany, Katherine Pfeiffer, Caspar von Zitzewitz, Karl von Trott, Anne Moody, Beanna Sage, Jennifer Rolfe, Eamon Wood, and Asha Talwar. The Quadrille Ball raises money for the Germanistic Society of America, a non-profit organization which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2008. The organization distributes money for scholarships that enable qualified American undergraduate and graduate students to study in Germany.