It's easy to forget that back in the day, not everyone had easy access to films and videos. Selfies were not a thing, home videos were not archived, and sometimes, people performed for the sheer joy of performing.
In this heartwarming video, jazz specialist Mark Cantor uncovered three videos of Alice Barker, a chorus line dancer during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930s and 1940s. She performed with Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, and more legends — and, she's still alive.
A volunteer at Barker's nursing home brought in these films, showing the 102-year-old the historic footage for the first time ever. That's right — she had never seen herself on film before. The resulting reactions are incredibly sweet, as Barker watchers her younger self do the shimmy on film. "It made me wish I could get out of this bed and do it all over again," she says. Watch below.
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