Bernard Gilbert has been dancing for 84 years and has no intention of stopping. The 100-year-old from Worcester recently went viral for the third or fourth time because the internet, for once, has decent taste.
His latest 21-second video racked up 1.5 million views, which is remarkable for anyone, let alone a centenarian foxtrotting his way through a care home common room. Bernard lives at Fernhill House Care Home in Worcester, where staff say putting on music transforms him entirely. “When he gets up, and we put that music on, that really changes him—he’s a completely different person,” said Tania Skerrit of Berkley Care Group. “You can see it relaxes him, and he has a big smile on his face.”
The origin story is sweet. Bernard didn’t choose dancing; dancing chose him, somewhat against his will. At 16, he broke his leg playing rugby and was told by doctors to hang up his boots for good. Their prescription was to go dancing. Bernard’s response was to laugh and say he’d never do it.
His friend had other ideas, dragging him to a lesson. Bernard stood in the doorway for half the class until the teacher, fed up, came and got him herself. “She said to me, ‘Clear off or come in,’” he recalled. “So I went in, and I loved it.”
A 100-Year-Old Man’s Dance Video Has Millions of Views, but His Origin Story Is Even Better
That was 1942. He’s been going ever since, foxtrotting and jiving his way through nine decades, a world war, and whatever the last few years have been. He became a dance teacher at 74, after his wife and longtime dance partner passed away 26 years ago. “She did ballroom dancing, and she used to hang onto me all the time,” he said.
Bernard is also making a reasonable case that dancing is basically a longevity hack. “Dancing is not only physically good for you, it’s also mentally good too,” he said. “You have to remember things, you can’t just pick it up because you have to concentrate on what you’re doing.”
At 100, with 1.5 million strangers watching him move, Bernard’s assessment of his own life is hard to argue with. “Once I get on the floor, I forget everything,” he said. “It brings me alive.”
Started at a doorway in 1942 and still going strong.
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