Tatyana Ali and Alfonso Ribeiro reunite on the ballroom floor to honor their TV dad James Avery

For one night the Banks kids were back together in the same room. This time they were dancing for their dad.

A song she recorded herself

Tatyana Ali, who played Ashley Banks on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," picked James Avery as her honoree for Dedication Night on "Dancing with the Stars" Tuesday. Avery played Philip Banks, the Uncle Phil that millions of viewers grew up with in the 1990s.

Ali and her pro partner Jan Ravnik performed a Viennese waltz to Nancy Wilson's "(You Don't Know) How Glad I Am." She did more than dance to it. She recorded her own version of the song for the tribute.

Carlton steps in

Then came the moment fans were waiting for. Alfonso Ribeiro, who played her TV brother Carlton and now co-hosts the show, walked onto the floor and joined the routine. He had been quietly rehearsing with her ahead of time.

Ali said the tribute simply would not have felt complete unless he was out there too. Ribeiro said he was grateful for the chance to say thank you in his own way.

Looking up at Uncle Phil

The dance ended with a photo of Avery filling the screen. The two former castmates stood side by side and looked up at it together. Plenty of viewers at home admitted they lost it right there.

Avery died in December 2013 at 68 after complications from open-heart surgery. To the young cast he was much more than a co-star. Ali has called him a mentor and a father figure who loved the arts and made a point of introducing her to the artists he thought she needed to know.

Hoping he was proud

After the dance Ali sent her love to Avery's wife, Barbara, along with the rest of his family and friends. She said she hoped they had made him proud.

More than 30 years after the show first aired the Banks family still knows how to make a living room full of people smile and cry at the same time.