Young ladies too tired to stand at a Black debutante ball: Miranda Barnes’s best photograph

4 hours ago 8

My new book Social Season opens with a poem set in the mid-1800s, a time that marked the beginning of a period of increased financial prosperity for some African Americans. Cotillion dances have European origins, but in the poem, Black New Yorkers perform classic dances such as waltzes and quadrilles and are dressed in fine outfits. These Black debutante balls go back a long way, and are one example of African Americans trying to create a better life. Today, they continue to introduce young women into society and retain a strong emphasis on the participants’ education.

Initially, I had been working towards creating a book with a larger overview of Black subcultures in general. I’d photographed cheerleaders, churches, traditional rodeos and other intergenerational community gatherings. I wanted to include a debutante ball in a post-industrial city, and Detroit has a very rich Black history. When I first reached out to the city’s Cotillion Society, I only planned to attend one year’s event. But after that evening in 2022, I realised this was a project in itself and that I was really going to have to work for the images I wanted.

The Detroit Masonic Temple, where the cotillions take place, is an incredible venue, but it doesn’t provide any natural light, something I’ve relied on for most of my career. I would get six to eight hours to work, arriving while the kids were getting dressed and preparing for the evening’s events. The girls take etiquette lessons for months leading up to the ball as part of the programme, as do their male escorts, and all the kids have to learn the formal choreography for the group dances. There’s a live orchestra playing classical and jazz music – they’ll do variations of songs such as Sammy Davis Jr’s Hello Detroit and Bridgerton-themed songs, too.

The photographs in the book were taken during four balls held in consecutive years. Every event brings something new and I have to be aware of my goal. One year, I might have got enough images of girls looking directly into the camera, so next time I’d aim for more candid photos. There was a sense of collaboration – I would say: “Listen, if you see the camera, try to ignore me – the flash will be going off, but I’ll stay out of the way.” Being able to connect with them on that is 100% why the photos work, plus I did earn my place in the community by doing a lot of prep to make people aware of what I was doing, and using Zoom calls to introduce myself to the families and so on.

Every debutante is accompanied to the stage by a father figure – their dad, uncle or another older man who is important to them. Before the dances start, they each get an introduction listing their accomplishments and where they are going to college next year. There’s a lot of waiting. The reason the girls in this picture are sitting on the ground is because for the first couple of years I went, there weren’t any chairs in the waiting room. After two or three hours, it gets pretty tiring standing up in one of those dresses. I love how relaxed this moment was and that while the girls were happy to sit, the dads were, like: “No, we will be standing.”

Another photograph shows a boy I spotted towards the end of one night, standing next to the old shoeshine area by one of the bathrooms – I don’t remember having seen him until that point. Despite being dressed in formal wear, he was on crutches. I didn’t find out why, but I really like those pictures that add a bit of unexpected variety. At the same time, I was glad that if someone left the dancefloor, they were not allowed back on without the proper attire. If any of the kids had been in normal clothing, some magic would be lost. But after the cotillion dances are over and everybody has had their sit-down meal, the string instruments give way to contemporary party music and you get to see that these future community leaders are still gen Z kids just finishing high school.