102-year-old dancer sees herself on film for first time

During the 1930s and 1940s, Alice Barker was a chorus line dancer at famous clubs like the Apollo and the Cotton Club. Back then, these performances were sometimes recorded and called “soundies.” The thing is, Alice, now 102 years old, had never actually seen herself dance.  

Researchers from Jazz on Film dug up the soundies and brought them to Alice, who now lives in a Brooklyn nursing home. Alice watched the clips on an iPad from her bed and recounted how her nickname during her dancing days was “Chicken Little.” After watching the footage, someone in the room asked Alice how it was to see herself, and she answered, “Making me wish that I could get out of this bed and do it all over again.”

And then the crew came back with more footage to show Alice, who had this to say about seeing herself after all these years: “Its just fabulous! Fabulous to see these.” She added, “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.”
 
If you like Alice’s work, you can send fan mail right to her nursing home:

Alice Barker
c/o Bishop Henry B. Hucles Episcopal Nursing Home
835 Herkimer Street
Brooklyn, NY 11233