A 102-year-old woman was able to relive her heyday as a chorus-line dancer during the Harlem Renaissance when, with the help of Jazz on Film, she was able to see footage of herself dancing for the first time, BuzzFeed reports.
In the video posted on YouTube Monday, Mark Cantor of Jazz on Films collected “soundies” and realized that Alice Barker, who recently celebrated her 102nd birthday, was among those dancing. Her name had been misspelled as “Baker,” something she recalled had happened often.
Barker thought that all the video of her dancing days had been destroyed, but luckily it hadn’t been. Barker positively lit up when she finally got to see herself on camera, immediately picking herself out and recalling details.
“Sepia Steppers, 1943,” she said pointing as one of the videos began to play.
Barker recalled a story her mother told her from her youth. “My mother told me she was getting ready to bathe me and on the corner was a band playing. She had forgotten something and she went back … to get it, and when she came out, I was gone. And I was down there naked, just going, dancing,” she said, swaying her hands as if she recalled the very movement.
“That’s all I ever did. That was it,” Barker said of her dancing. “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 because it just felt so good doing it.’ Because that music, you know … I just get carried away.
“Making me wish that I could get out of this bed and do it all over again,” the centenarian added.
Watch the video below:
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