BRISTOL, Va. – Dancing with his 11-year-old daughter at Sunday’s father-daughter dance, Dennis Gibson lamented the likely reality that it was the last time he’d be her date.
“This is probably her last year,” he said of the annual Valentine’s Day event at The Bristol Ballet, which he said the pair has attended for four years. “She’ll be dancing with actual boys next year.”
Next year, he said, 11-year-old Faith will be in middle school – where after-school dances are held for the students.
Dancing beside her in a tie that matched her dress, he said the dance has been a special event for him and his daughter in a schedule that’s otherwise packed with his sons’ football, basketball and baseball games.
“That’s our day,” said Gibson, who grew up with three brothers and is also the father of three boys – and says he waited many years for someone who he could call Daddy’s Little Girl.
Gayle Stevens, a board member and volunteer who took tickets at the door, said when she was a child dress-up events like this were held all the time. But over the years, they seem to have faded away.
“Look at these children, all dolled up, flowers, corsages,” she said. “There’s not much left of this anymore.”
Back then, she said, etiquette was often formally taught and girls were given plenty of opportunities to practice their confidence and good manners. To her, dances like this are both helpful and important.
“Did you see the faces on the little girls?” she said. “They were beaming.”
The annual dance is both a social event for dads and their daughters and a fundraiser for The Bristol Ballet, said artistic director Michelle Plescia.
“We’ve had granddads come, uncles, neighbors,” Plescia said. “We sell out every year.”
For Michael Hunt, a Valentine’s Day date with 6-year-old daughter Emily is a bit of a tradition.
“She likes to dress up,” he said. “This is our date…and then her mother takes our son out on a date also.”
Jan Huffman, a volunteer at the dance, said it’s a special day for the little girls – some of whom are not so little anymore but attend anyway.
“They’re getting to spend time with their dads, and that’s not always something that they get to do,” she said. “It’s very needed for little girls to know how special they are to their dads.”
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