A row of dads help a row of daughters to their feet, moments after the girls had sat down to watch their fathers execute a few kicks.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Show will be part of Cherry Blossom Festival
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Most of the dads who are rehearsing with the Dance Theatre of Wilkes-Barre group are dancing with one daughter; Mike Gross of Shavertown, at right, has 7-year-old Maya and 4-year-old Ava.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Daughters and dads strike a pose during a recent Saturday afternoon rehearsal.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Dads and daughters dance around in a circle, performing a tap step known as ‘sugar.’
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
If you listened closely to a medley playing at the Dance Theatre of Wilkes-Barre last Saturday afternoon, you might have realized the first tune was an instrumental version of “Someday My Prince Will Come” from Disney’s “Snow White.”
That seemed appropriate, as about 16 dads promenaded around the studio with their daughters, who ranged from little girls to teens — because isn’t a dad a daughter’s first prince?
“At first I was just going to have my (high school) senior girls dance with their fathers,” artistic director Gina Malsky said. “But there are only four of them this year.”
Realizing it would be more fun for more dancers to participate, Malsky gave younger girls the chance to dance with their fathers, too, in a show that will be part of the Pirouettes in the Park portion of the Wilkes-Barre Cherry Blossom Festival, to be held outdoors on the last weekend of April at Kirby Park.
Malsky has choreographed most of the routine — from daughters twirling to fathers dropping to one knee; from girls pointing to their hearts to fathers helping a row of seated daughters rise to their feet. At one point during rehearsal some dads even traveled across the studio by doing a ballet step called a chassé.
There were other parts were Malsky encouraged the dads and daughters to interact any way they wanted — perhaps to acknowlege each other with a hug or a kiss or a fist bump or a fancy pose they had made up.
“He’s doing really good,” 12-year-old Kinley Park said of her dad, Jason Park of Exeter.
“I’m here for her,” Ken Boyle of Hanover Township said with a smile for his 11-year-old daughter, Grace.
Some dads, like Mike Gross of Shavertown, were doing double duty; when it came time to lift the daughters, he had 7-year-old Maya in one arm and 4-year-old Ava in the other.
And for some dads, the rehearsals involve more of a time commitment than you might expect.
Zaher Hilal, for one, drove seven hours from North Carolina to rehearse with 14-year-old Lilah.