Rallye dansant

A rallye dansant, or rallye mondain, often abbreviated to "rallye", is a way of bringing young people together with the blessing of their parents and preparing them for "worldly life". The rallies usually occur over a period of several years, at activities organised for this purpose, in particular dance evenings, possibly accompanied by lessons in social dances (typically rock, waltz or other ballroom dances, depending on the period and social background).

It relies on a homogeneous selection of its members, because that is the very principle of its existence: to bring together young people from families that are similar, whether socially, culturally or religiously.

Rallies now exist in France in a number of major cities (Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Rennes, Strasbourg, Nantes, Orléans, Tours, etc.) and also in other European countries, in particular Belgium, where the practice closely copies the French model, Germany, the United Kingdom, etc. It concerns cultural, social or religious communities (mainly Catholic, but also Protestant and Jewish) that can identify themselves. The concept has also developed in towns and social groups that had not previously created one. So from one rally to another, the social and cultural environment of its members may be different.

History

Origin

In her memoir How I Saw 1900, the Countess de Pange, née Pauline de Broglie, says that before 1914, a few mothers from very good society who each had a daughter to marry off could get together to give a debutant ball. This custom may well be the origin of today's rallies. The use of the term "rally", proposed as a chic (and explicitly matrimonial) substitute for "soirée dansante" (dinner dance) or "surprise-partie" (surprise party), is attested to as early as the 1920s. The mass casualties of the First World War, which dramatically reduced the availability of potential fiancés, encouraged the phenomenon.

Rallies developed around 1950, as explicitly arranged marriages became increasingly difficult to enforce. The origin of the social rally dates back to rally racing (rallye automobile) organized by upper class families and which ended with an evening dance. The car rally has disappeared as a means of social meeting. Only the closing evening dances remained, which took the name of the social rally, rallye mondain. Imagined by French families from the nobility and the bourgeoisie, it is a systematization of the rallies, one-off evenings organized until then. The idea is indirectly inspired by that of Napoleon who, seeking to reconstitute the nobility, organized evenings between heirs of noble families of the old regime and bourgeois families; the latter thus sometimes found a way to access social legitimacy more quickly. In a pleasant way, the name rally evokes hunting with hounds for a husband.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, certain rallies were the place where the old nobility gathered, even going so far as to examine their quarters. In general, they included a mixture of members of families with an aristocratic background and members of wealthy bourgeois families with a more recent reputation. At the time, there was great vigilance regarding the authentication of family names, with the organizers preferring an authentic bourgeois origin to a false nobility that was too recent (two out of three titles and noble names in France were false). Throughout these years, Catholic culture was largely dominant within these coming-out parties. At least in Paris, dance lessons are given by some renowned institutions such as Baraduc, rue de Ponthieu.

Organization

Traditionally, a rally is organized by mothers of young girls. They invite their friends whose children are the same age (approximately); closest acquaintances are often invited through organized sponsorship. The traditional process of putting together a rally is very similar to that of a private invitation. Each parent of a young girl then proposes two slightly older boys who will also be filtered so as to achieve a balance of girls and boys. The parents of a young girl receive them during a dance evening. Mothers of young girls receive, most of the time in a private hotel lent for the occasion but sometimes in prestigious places, including an expensive budget. Homogeneity is the main criterion because the organizers and participants want to find peers belonging to the same environment. The Bottin mondain directory or the Polo de Paris — but also more unexpected publications such as the name service of board of directors — play a selective role.

Rallies can start around the age of 10–12 for girls and 12–14 for boys (traditional rallies respect a gap between the average age of girls and that of boys, who are older). The list of participants is stabilized after two years and is held by a volunteer president.

Initially the rallies started with a bridge rally or an afternoon of dancing, in fact a dance class with a professional where young people met and got to know each other. Today, the first years plan leisure activities in the afternoon. Activities can be oriented towards: culture (museum, show, etc.), sport, manual activities, or leisure (ice rink, bowling, etc.), scout group. They then turn into social dance classes and then into dance evenings. The rallies which start later (around 15 years old) most often directly offer these dance evenings with dance lessons, as the only activity.

The parents of the young girls undertake to receive the rally within a fixed deadline and the organizer establishes the schedule of receptions over two or three years: the rally begins with the dance class for 15–16 year olds, which has generally takes place on Saturday at the end of the day, from 5 to 8 p.m., then the following year comes the first more formal evenings, from 6 to 12 p.m. for 16–17 year olds; finally, the third and fourth years of rallying give rise to evenings which take place from 7 or 8 p.m. until late at night and are surrounded by more pageantry: evening dresses, printed cards... The parents add to the rally members their personal friends; they also welcome parents who wish to spend a few moments as spectators of the party. Some young people are registered for several rallies and go from one to the other on the same evening, because, at least in Paris, several receptions can take place on the same day.

After two or three years, the starting group expands to reach between 100 and 150 members depending on the rally. This number is linked to the wishes of the volunteer organizers and the size of the rooms in the different cities where the evenings take place. Thus Paris and Lyon bring together larger rallies.

During dance evenings, the dance performed most often is rock; we also find there, but more episodically, other ballroom dances such as the waltz, the salsa or the madison. Invitations, responses and thanks are made in writing. For a long time, the outfit remained very codified: long dress for girls, tuxedo for boys.

For sociologists Monique Pinçon-Charlot and Michel Pinçon, traditional rallies take place in a sociological system allowing the French upper bourgeoisie to find themselves and defend their interests. The goal of the rally is to complement school and family learning. "It has its specificity: learning collectively to recognize fellow human beings of the other sex and to identify possible partners for friendly or romantic relationships." It also allows you to value your environment and know its limits. It thus promotes mutuality and the spirit of a circle.

The typology of rallye dansant today

Since the beginning of the 2000s, the concept of rallies has developed and expanded with the creation of new forms of organization. Two types of organization coexist today:

• The rallies, organized or not in the form of a non-profit association and managed by volunteers, take place periodically in large cities, their organization being ensured by parents of families who recruit their peers from the upper middle class and the old aristocracy. They are still linked to a common religious affiliation (mainly Catholic or Jewish) even if this criterion is declining in importance. The friendly and family network of parents remains the specific place of recruitment and the organization takes place from one year to the next. These rallies follow one another roughly according to the years of birth of the young girls. According to tradition, a young girl is registered in a rally since she and her family will be entertaining at an evening, and boys are often registered in several rallies since they are invited. The trend would be to let young girls manage certain aspects of the evenings (music, card design, theme of the evening, etc.) These rallies exist (or have existed recently) in Paris or Versailles but also in Rennes, Nantes, Toulouse, Angers, etc. There are also some in Brussels.

• Rallies organized by a commercial and declared for-profit enterprise. These rallies are therefore organized by a brand or a commercial company. They recruit part of their members from the upper bourgeoisie and the old aristocracy but are open to more recently wealthy families. In Paris, the number of young people registered by their parents can reach 800 and the annual contribution is high. The name of these rallies recalls a prestigious place, a precious stone and is always intended to be rewarding.

See also

• Debutante
• Human mating strategies

Further reading

• Pinçon, Michel; Monique Pinçon-Charlot (1990). "Le nom de la lignée comme garantie de l'excellence sociale," Ethnologie française, NS, Vol. XX, No. 1, pp. 91–97.