Thanks to the very excellent BrainPickings, I’ve just stumbled upon an awesome collection of documentary shorts detailing professions heading towards obsolescence. Sadly, tap dancing is counted among the ranks.  If the art form really is on its way out, the swan song below is at least a dignified, beautiful portrait of a man continuing on his path, much like his Motor City home itself. 

Will Gains was born in Detroit and spent half a century in England. In his eighties, he remains one of the best tap dancers in the world, having danced alongside some of history’s most iconic musicians — Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Thelonious Monk, Sarah Vaughan.

My home is my shoes, Will from Debbie Anzalone on Vimeo.