During the Cotillon, the rigid norms of the patriarchal social structure were abolished. An example will illustrate this: The ladies stood or sat in the middle of a circle. The lead dancer - as the organiser of the cotillion - 'offered' the lady two dancers to choose from. She was now free to choose, one she chose as her dance partner, the other got a “basket”. Often literally really in the form of a little basket. The well-known German saying: "Jemanden einen Korb geben” (to give someone a basket = to turn someone away) comes from this. But not only the ladies were happy about the free choice. Many male dancers also got the chance to dance with partners whose permission-givers might have refused them before.

The Cotillon had another advantage. The dancing couples could chat undisturbed. This may seem strange to us today, but the old French dances usually celebrated at balls offered the dancing couples absolutely no opportunity for cheerful conversation. In addition, there was the prevailing etiquette, generally accepted at European courts and in good society, of performing a dance in silence. Anyone who dared to speak to their partner during a minuet or gavotte would have been punished with derogatory looks. The other fast dances common at balls, such as Gaillard, Sarabande or Ecossaise, were danced with physically strenuous jumping steps and gyrations, and undisturbed conversation would have been out of the question.

Only the cotillon offered real scope for conversation. So, it is not surprising that the dancers, bored by the stiffness and the strict rhythms, turned away from the court and social dances that had been common until then and turned to the cotillon. The 'upper' classes followed suit and eventually even the nobility and the court danced the cotillon. In the course of time, it became a social event in aristocratic circles that was reported in newspapers.[vi] The Cotillon found enthusiastic followers not only in Germany, but also abroad. In the USA, the Cotillon was called "The German"[vii] , which indicates that it was brought over by immigrants.

The special thing about this dance, which could sometimes be celebrated for over an hour, was that only the opening and closing moves were standardised, all the dance figures in between were chosen at will by the lead dancer. This is what made the Cotillon so entertaining for the dancing couples. The lead dancer, a term coined in the 19th century, was an experienced dancer (Arrangeur) at official balls, and usually the host's son or daughter at private balls. It was in their hands to indicate the dance figures to be performed at the Cotillon. These figures, chosen by the lead dancer and to be danced by the couples, were called the Cotillon-Tour. The lead dancer only had to make sure that the dance figures were generally known, because if the dancing couples still had to learn the figures, the Cotillon could quickly become tiring. The aim of the Cotillon was to bring about the most colourful dancing and socialising of the evening. In the course of time, the task of the lead dancer therefore became more and more that of an entertainer or animateur. He had to entertain the dancing couples and ensure that new cotillon tours were danced each new ball season.

In the last quarter of the 19th century, resourceful companies began to produce a wide variety of props for the tours organised at the Cotillon. This resulted in elaborately staged tours with costumes, small gifts and decorations intended to liven up the ball with humour. The dancers' costumes and the accessories they could use during the Cotillon tours literally turned the Cotillons into stage performances.

As little surprises for their guests, the organisers offered Attrappen, artificial bouquets, Cotillon medals, crackers, or similar things as gifts during the cotillon tours.[viii] Here we come full circle to the Dresden cardboard. Some of these gifts, which were distributed at the Cotillon, found their way onto the Christmas tree, either for reasons of memory or because they were cute due to their miniature shapes, and are now counted as part of the Dresden ornaments collecting area.