The Daddy Daughter Dance

My daughter Madeline loves to dance. She has been enrolled at Tiffany's Dance Academy since she was three years old. She started off back then in the 'Twinkle Stars' class, learning the basics of tap dance and ballet. As she has grown and progressed, she has taken classes in jazz dance as well. Each year, TDA puts on a performance in June called 'The Big Show'. This performance showcases all the TDA classes, from the kindergarten kids all the way up to the high school girls. Each year has a different theme to the show, and this year's Big Show was "The Silver Screen". All the TDA classes had dances tied to some piece of music that was key to a movie, such as Snow White, or Top Gun. Madeline was enrolled in 6 different classes and performing casts, which meant she had 6 different dances to learn, and we had 6 different costumes to purchase. But this year was to be the most special so far. This year we were doing the Daddy/Daughter dance together.

The Daddy/Daughter is the last performance of the Big Show, except for the cast and staff finales. The DDD is a chance for fathers to participate in something meaningful in their daughter's life, since Mom is usually the person who is the primary force in the dancing career of the daughter. And, to quote the words of Tiffany herself, "It's a way for us to see how many people in the audience we can make cry because the dance is so emotional". The whole process for this particular dance was pretty secret. Each of the monthly rehearsals were closed to outsiders; no Moms or other family allowed. The academy even went so far as to cover the windows of the practice studio so people could not watch from outside. The DVDs we were given to watch so we could learn the dances came with explicit instructions: No one else was allowed to see them! So we practiced over the course of the spring, learning our particular parts down to the beat. There were so many couples participating in the dance, that all the performers had to be divided into three groups. It was extremely gratifying to see so many Dads willing to do this for their little girls.

The big secret was revealed on the day of the dress rehearsal. The costume that was worn by the girls was a blue Cinderella dress, since we were using Steven Curtis Chapman's song 'Cinderella' for the performance. Our outfit was a simple black suit, and black tie. Madeline was all dolled up in her dress and makeup; she looked adorable. As soon as she saw me walk backstage, she ran toward me, her long blue dress flowing behind her as she ran. I got the biggest hug, and she thanked me for doing this for her. That right there made all the rest of the world insignificant.

We ran through our performance a couple of times, noting where our marks were on stage for positioning, and practiced the end of the dance, the bow and the stage exit. Now all we had to do was wait a few days for the actual performance. While talking with a few other Dads after the rehearsal, it was clear they were doing the dance for the same reason I was...because we would do anything to make our daughters happy. Plus, I admit, I wanted to see if we could make people in the audience cry.

The day of the performance absolutely flew by. All the Dads gathered backstage a few performances before we were to go on. We all lined up in a large room, daughters at our sides. All, except for me. Madeline was in the second to the last dance group, and after she finished, she was rushed backstage to change into her Cinderella dress, and was brought to me just before we walked to the wings to wait to go out to perform. When she saw me, she rushed to me again, and held my hand so tightly as we walked toward the stage.

The performance started in a dark theater. We walked onstage in the dark, guided by a glow-in-the-dark line on the floor to help position us. As we emerged from the wings, a clip of the animated movie Cinderella played on a screen above us. We started out sitting cross-legged on the floor, with our daughters standing behind us. As the clip ended, the stage lights came up, and we could hear an audible gasp and 'awwws' from the audience. As I sat there, looking out into the darkness, I knew this was going to be a great time. The music started, and we did what we were supposed to do. Lifted and spun when choreographed, twirled and held in my arms. The end of our part had the girls running off stage as we watched, then we follow them offstage. We got a loud round of applause as the next groups did their parts, and Madeline again grabbed my hand tightly as we waited backstage for our last part at the end of the dance.

Our last part of the dance included everyone else too. We all came out on stage, and the lyrics of the song go "And she'll.....be......gone"... On the word 'she'll', we turn and step to face our daughter, kiss her hand gently, and finish the dance.

More gasps and 'awwwws...'

We received a very loud standing ovation, and after the lights came up for our bows, I was able to look out into the audience.....

Yep. We made 'em cry. Most of them, anyway...

Yes, I'm doing it again next year.