Britain’s oldest dancer has vowed to “keep on grooving” at age 100 – after a video of him strutting his stuff went viral with 1.5 million views.
Bernard Gilbert started dancing in 1942 after breaking his leg playing rugby aged 16.
Despite his reluctance to swap rugby boots for dance shoes, Bernard was a natural.
He has now been foxtrotting and jiving for more than nine decades and posts videos of his dance moves online.
Bernard has now gone viral after his latest 21-second video attracted more than 1.5 million views.
He said: “My whole life is dancing, but it wasn’t always that way.”
“When I was a teenager, I was a decent rugby player, and that was my passion, but then I broke my leg during a game.”
“The bone healed up, but the muscles didn’t, sadly.”
“I went to the doctors, and they gave me all sorts of exercises, but it didn’t make any difference.”
“I asked them if I’d ever play rugby again, and they advised me to hang up my boots.”
“They told me ‘Go dancing,’ and I laughed and said I’d never take up dancing.”
“My friend then dragged me to a dance lesson.”
“At first I didn’t go in, I just stood at the doorway and halfway through the lesson the teacher got so fed up she came and dragged me in.”
“She said to me, ‘Clear off or come in’. So I went in, and I loved it.”
His passion for foxtrotting and jiving carried on through his life and he became a dance teacher at age 74.
Bernard, who lives at Fernhill House Care Home in Worcester, still impresses residents with his quick feet and has no plans to retire.
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He said: “I love the dancing, once I get on the floor I forget everything, I just concentrate on what I’m doing — it brings me alive.”
Bernard began teaching when his wife, and dance partner, passed away 26 years ago.
He said: “She did ballroom dancing and she used to hang onto me all the time.”
“Dancing is not only physically good for you, it’s also mentally good too.”
“You have to remember things, you can’t just pick it up because you have to concentrate on what you’re doing.”
Tania Skerrit, from Berkley Care Group, the home’s operator, said: “When he gets up, and we put that music on that really changes him, he’s a completely different person.”
“You can see it relaxes him, and he has a big smile on his face. That’s what we love.”
