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Love, joy, laughter and dancing filled a makeshift ballroom in Chicago on Oct. 11 for the second Classic Father Daughter Dance. Dads wore suits and even some black ties, while daughters — from tots to teens — wore their prettiest dresses as they danced together to music from a live string orchestra as the parish hall of St. John Cantius Church was transformed into an elegant ballroom. “I’m not really a dancer, but this is such a beautiful event; my daughters love it so much, and I started enjoying it,” said Claudio Pandolfi, who was there for the second year with his four daughters — Giulia, 6; Anna, 10; Sofia, 14; and Maya, 16. “They loved dressing in fancy dresses,” said their joyful father, who wore a fine formal suit. “It was just beautiful. It was just amazing.” Dads and daughters waltzed to music by the live string orchestra. For those who needed some practice, free dance lessons were offered in the weeks leading up to the event. “I found it to be spectacular,” Matt Paprocki said, recalling his experience last year when his daughter Fiona was 7 years old. “I thought it was one of the best events that I have gone to. It … offered something that’s largely missing from our culture.” The Paprockis were on a pilgrimage in France earlier this month, so they could not attend this year. Deacon Tomas Mackevicius, a permanent deacon at St. John Cantius, organized this dance after he attended a father-daughter dance sponsored by a Catholic home school with his two daughters, Skaiste (Skye), now 12, and Elija, now 10. That event featured a Virgin Mary statue, before which the fathers and daughters brought roses, and a formal dinner, he recalled, adding, “But the problem was the music — with the DJ playing inappropriate secular music.” And the fathers did not dance to it. That prompted him “to solve two issues — the music issue and dancing issue,” he explained. Thus originated St. John Cantius’ Father Daughter Dance. Deacon Mackevicius “decided to focus on classical music and classical dances to separate ourselves from the secular,” he said. He considers this event an apostolate of beauty. While the motto at St. John Cantius is “Instaurare Sacra — to Restore the Sacred,” for the Father Daughter Dance, he said, “Our motto is Instaurare Decorem — to Restore Beauty.” “As God is the Truth, Goodness and Beauty, bringing beauty back into people’s lives brings them closer to God,” he explained. The beauty of the music, the dances, and the manners on display work together to highlight a different perspective than what modern society and culture offers. Decorum, Plus Dancing The idea was also to restore traditional Christian decorum — a modest appearance for ladies and gentlemen. The dress code helps to restore that. Everyone is encouraged to “dress in honor of God.” That means suits for fathers, with a black-tie option, and young ladies adorned in their finest dresses and gowns and encouraged to wear gloves and tiaras or best headpiece. Chicagoland’s Catholic Dance Society organized the free lessons for dads and daughters to learn the waltz, the polonaise and the quadrille, like an English square dance (think of a Jane Austen novel or film). Waltzes predominated during the evening, as a Christian classical musical group provided the night’s string music. “We have to realize that we almost lost classical culture. It is just on the outskirts of society. In essence, we have to rebuild from ground up,” Deacon Mackevicius said. “My strategy is first to expose people to classical culture, to music, to dance. And then, hopefully, they will teach their children, and it will spread.” This year, even more people (around 90) attended from throughout the Chicago area, including Indiana. Prayer Before Dancing The event opened with prayer. Then the young ladies brought roses for the Blessed Mother, placing them before her statue in the ballroom — fitting for the feast of the Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Lady was also honored by everyone singing the Salve Regina. Then the dancing began. “It’s a beautiful event and so well organized,” Pandolfi recalled. “And I can feel it in my daughters. They love it. They want to dance with me, and I love it.” “If fathers are on the fence, because, like me, they are not into dancing,” he said, he recommended, “Absolutely go, because it’s an experience that will connect you so much to your daughters. It’s hard to explain in words. My daughters really wanted to dance with me. It was such a sweet and beautiful feeling, something special to see them wanting to dance with me.” Paprocki also found his time with his daughter at the dance priceless. He shared a particular lasting moment from last year. “You realize that your children are seeing something from a different perspective than what you’re seeing it from,” he said. “As we’re dancing together, she said, ‘Daddy, is this how you and mommy felt the day that you got married?’ And that was so special because you could tell that this deeply moved her at 7 years old, that she was getting to do something with her dad, and she felt an emotion that she thought was the emotion of our wedding day.” It indeed brought back welcome memories of his wedding dance with his wife. Like that one, this dance was another that he will “cherish forever.” Later, he recalled, as the orchestra played and “these beautiful sounds are emanating, my daughter looks up, and she says, ‘Dad, I want to keep dancing with you, but my legs are so tired.’ And I said, ‘Well, what if I just picked you up and I held you and we keep dancing together?’ And she said, ‘Yes, I would love that.’” And as they were dancing that way, “she turns her head and goes, ‘Dad, I don’t think I’ve ever loved you more than I do right now.’” Paprocki further reflected, “You’re with your daughter, and you want to build memories. You want them to know what’s beautiful. You want them to know what’s good. The fact that this dance exists is a great way to show our kids: This is what beautiful music sounds like. This is what beautiful dancing is. This is what loving another person is like. It’s being together and dancing.” Deacon Mackevicius plans to continue this Father Daughter Dance that builds these precious memories for fathers and daughters, at the same time restoring real Christian beauty in the world for the glory of God. And he has two more goals in mind. While presently this dance draws daughters who are preschoolers to older teens, he envisions making the event “a little bit more across the generations” to include all fathers’ daughters. Deacon Mackevicius also wants to spread this idea to other parishes. He has created a blueprint for organizing this dance and is ready to share it for those wanting to replicate it, noting how it’s a family-focused endeavor “to basically serve the community.” His family was involved in the planning, from his wife Asta to daughters Skye and Elija. “I hope this happens throughout the country,” Paprocki said. “I think this would be fantastic for spreading love and our faith in a beautiful way of showing God’s brilliance through something as beautiful as this Father Daughter Dance.” For information: ClassicalDance.us; and contact ClassicalDance.us/contact-us.
