Alice Barker, now age 102, was a chorus-line dancer during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1930s and ’40s and danced with legends including Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson.
She danced in many movies, commercials and TV shows but had never seen herself on film.
With the help of Mark Cantor of Jazz Film and David Shuff, researchers managed to dig up three “soundies” — the music videos of the day — that Barker appeared in and were able to go to her nursing home and show her the incredible footage for the very first time.
“It makes me wish I could get out of this bed and do it all over again,” she says.
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