{"id":650004,"date":"2013-04-01T15:46:14","date_gmt":"2013-04-01T19:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ted.com\/?p=74003"},"modified":"2013-04-01T15:58:30","modified_gmt":"2013-04-01T19:58:30","slug":"angela-patton-holds-second-father-daughter-dance-in-prison-sets-sights-on-a-documentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/650004","title":{"rendered":"Angela Patton holds second father-daughter dance in prison, sets sights on a documentary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Twelve<\/p>\n

Twelve girls enter the Richmond City Jail for a father-daughter dance, called “A Dance of Their Own.” Photo: Marvin Joseph\/The Washington Post<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It\u2019s not the norm to see pink balloons, brightly colored dresses and sequined shoes in the halls of the Richmond City Jail. But on March 16, a dozen girls ranging in age from 6 to 16 entered the facility to bring cheer to their incarcerated fathers. The occasion: the second father-daughter dance at the jail, thrown by Camp Diva<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"AngelaAngela Patton: A father-daughter dance … in prison<\/span><\/a>At TEDxWomen<\/a>, Camp Diva founder Angela Patton told the heart-warming story of how she came to throw a father-daughter dance in prison<\/a>. The idea began with a group of girls brainstorming ways to help their fathers better understand them. Solution: a father-daughter dance! After a few years of dances, a Camp Diva girl revealed a hesitation: Her father wouldn\u2019t be able to attend because he was in prison. So Patton asked Richmond City Sheriff C.T. Woody. He agreed to try holding the dance in his jail, because he felt, as Patton says, \u201cwhen fathers are connected to their children, it is less likely that they will return.\u201d In Patton’s talk, you can see images from the first father-daughter dance ever held at Richmond City Jail.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post<\/i> was on hand<\/a> for the second father-daughter dance, titled \u201cA Dance of Their Own,\u201d with photographer Marvin Joseph capturing a beautiful series of images<\/a> of the event. Sheriff Woody also shared with the paper his rationale for greenlighting the very unusual dance.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople may think it\u2019s crazy to have this in a jail,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it builds respect. You wouldn\u2019t believe what it does for these men\u2019s confidence to dress them up. This dance can have a ripple effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dance-of-Their-Own-2\"<\/p>\n

Pairing up for the dance. Photo: Marvin Joseph\/The Washington Post<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Now, Patton tells the TED Blog that she would like to continue the tradition — and to encourage it in jails around the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe questions I get asked most are, \u2018How did you do this?\u2019 \u2018Why did the sheriff say \u2018yes?\u2019 and \u2018How did you get inside the bars?\u2019\u201d says Patton, who didn’t have time to talk much about process given the time limit of her TEDx Talk. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t just the letter that made it possible, it was the relationship that we built. We put a curriculum in place \u2026\u00a0 These fathers have to participate [in a class] so that they will be prepared for this visit and this opportunity with their daughters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patton also hopes to share the stories of fathers and daughters who\u2019ve participated in the dances — both the two held in City Jail and the six held so far in communities around Richmond, Virginia. To that end, she has created a Kickstarter campaign to fund a documentary<\/a>, Locked In NOT Locked Out<\/i>. To be directed by Patrick Gregory<\/a>, Patton is crowdfunding an initial $10,000 to fund the film. So far, she\u2019s raised $5,000 with 25 days to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to follow four fathers, two inside the bars and two outside,\u201d Patton tells the TED Blog. \u201cWe\u2019re going to show the common thread between four different types of fathers that have the same need and desire to have good relationships with their daughters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dance-of-Their-Own-3\"<\/p>\n

The dance, in full swing. Photo: Marvin Joseph\/The Washington Post<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twelve girls enter the Richmond City Jail for a father-daughter dance, called “A Dance of Their Own.” Photo: Marvin Joseph\/The Washington Post It\u2019s not the norm to see pink balloons, brightly colored dresses and sequined shoes in the halls of the Richmond City Jail. But on March 16, a dozen girls ranging in age from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7344,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-650004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7344"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}