Barr MS Fathers, Daughters Unite for Annual Dance

On Saturday night, 7th and 8th graders from Barr Middle School got some early preparation for their weddings.

These girls got to share in the wedding tradition of dancing with their fathers at the annual Father-Daughter Dance, held for the last several years at the Colonial Inn in Norwood, New Jersey.

“This was a way to get the fathers and the daughters together and have a nice time, because they don’t usually go out with their daughters,” said Barr MS Assistant Principal Ruben Addarich.

The dance has been held since before current Principal Roger Guccione—who brought his daughter with him to the dance—and Addarich arrived at the school. But originally the dance was held in the middle school cafeteria, so Addarich decided to move it to a restaurant to make it a more formal event.

When the dance was first run, it was held at the Nyack Grande restaurant on Main Street in Nyack, but when Tommy Spinelli, the manager who Addarich and Guccione knew at the Grande, moved to the Colonial Inn, Addarich and Guccione moved their dance there as well.

The event included traditional “party” songs like “YMCA” and “Cotton-Eyed Joe”, and sometimes even the fathers joined their daughters on the dance floor for these songs. But the DJ, Barr Teacher Michael Henderson, did play “My Girl” at the end of the night so that the fathers and daughters could share one slow dance together.

Henderson acts as DJ for the event every year. The other chaperones for the night, Sean Cotter, Kimberly Fay and Lily Tawil, are also teachers at Barr, and they all come to the event as volunteers to help the students have a good time. And according to Patrick Judge—who attended with his daughter Kelly—the chaperones succeeded

“It was a great, great dance,” Judge said. “I think all the kids had a great time, and I think the fathers had a good time also.”

Part of the chaperones’ job was to serve as judges for the various dance contests held throughout the evening. The contests were in various styles such as swing dancing, the “Twist” and line dancing. The winners got certificates or glowsticks to carry with them the rest of the night.

But for many of the young girls in attendance, like Gabriella Santiago, the real fun was getting to spend time with their fathers.

“My daughter Gabriella wanted to spend some time with her father, in a very sentimental moment,” said Kevin Santiago, Gabriella’s father.