Alice Barker is a veteran of Broadway theater. She shared the stage with Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and a host of other legends. But she’d never seen herself perform.
Nowadays, we take it for granted that we can record anything and watch anything whenever we want. Alice Barker, who was born over 100 years ago, never had that privilege.
Ever since she could stand, she loved to dance. And her family encouraged her to pursue her talent.
Alice became a pro and soon found work dancing in the Harlem Renaissance of the 30s.
She was dancing at venues such as The Apollo, The Cotton Club, The Zanzibar Club and others.
Then she wound her way into Broadway. She danced on stage with Frank Sinatra and all of the other greats of the era.
But because she had always appeared on stage and never film, Alice never got the opportunity to see herself dance
Decades later, two young filmmakers found some old video clips of Harlem dancers.
They looked at the names in the archive. At first, they thought that the dancers had long since died. But then they thought that the dancer recorded as”Alice Baker” may actually be Alice Barker, who was 102 but still alive.
So they contacted Alice, who confirmed that she had danced at the time of the videos.
The filmmakers went to Alice’s care home to show her the footage.
Before they played the video, Alice said that people always used to misspell her name. She was almost certain that she was on the videos.
So they set up an iPad and hit play on the first video. It dated to 1943 and was called Sepia Steppers.
The crinkly black and white footage began playing. Alice stared in disbelief. In an instant, she was transported back to the club.
She and two other dancers moved across the stage, showing off their moves.
One of the filmmakers asked if the video was shot in a real club or a set. Baker confirmed that it was a real club. Surely, she could remember the smell of cigarette smoke and pomade.
Then they played the second video. This was a play. Alice was center stage and danced up in a bikini that must have been pretty skimpy for the era!
Then they showed the third video, where Alice was in the front row of dancers in another club.
By the end of the footage, Alice had a wide smile on her face. She had never thought she would see herself doing the thing she loved most all those years ago.
The filmmakers then asked Alice how seeing her younger self felt. She said that it made her wish she could get off of her bed and do it once more.
Eventually, the filmmakers had to make their way home. But little did anyone know, they would be back soon.
Two weeks later, the filmmakers showed up again. They had discovered some more footage!
The films consisted of more recordings from clubs and plays. Once again, Alice was transported back 70 years.
Luckily, the filmmakers captured Alice’s reactions on video. The footage then appeared on YouTube, where it soon went viral. To date, it has gained over 30 million views. It also has more than 692,000 likes and 62,000 comments. People have been saying things like this:
Alice is so lucky to have finally seen that footage. Clearly, her life has been fulfilling as well as long. What an incredible person she is!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
