Alice Barker, a chorus line dancer in the 1930s is given a wonderful gift.

A 102-year-old former dancer has been given the gift of a lifetime. Alice Barker was a chorus line dancer in the 1930s and 40s, during the Harlem Renaissance. Although she danced in numerous movies, TV shows and commercials with some of the period’s major icons including Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Barker never had an opportunity to watch herself on screen. Now in a nursing home, the once prolific dancer had long since lost any photographs and other memorabilia from her time in the chorus line, and only her fond memories of her extraordinary career remained.

That is, until now…

Thanks to Mark Cantor of Jazz on Film, three so-called Soundies, in which Barker had performed, where able to be digitised for the YouTube channel Tenfresh. After hearing that one of the film’s performers was still alive, Cantor tracked Alice Barker down, and was able to film her reaction upon seeing herself perform on screen for the very first time.

This touching film also includes some beautiful anecdotes from Barker’s time in the chorus line, and one particularly sweet story about her very earliest experiences of dancing.