Alice Barker, who is 102-years-young, was a chorus line dancer in the 30s and 40s, through the years of the Harlem Renaissance.
She danced in many movies, commercials, and TV shows. She even danced at famous clubs, for shows starring legends like Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson.
Researchers were able to dig up old footage from “soundies,” the music videos of those days, which featured her dancing. They found her at her nursing home and showed her the footage that she had never seen. She had never seen herself dancing before.
She watches excitedly as the compilation plays across an iPad, and when it ends she says:
“I used to often say to myself, I am being paid to do something that I enjoy doing and I would do it for free.”
“It makes me wish I could get out of this bed and do it all over again.”