At 88, this Eagles fan’s dance moves caught the attention of Janet Jackson and a million others
Responses to the video include: “This made my day,” “This will be me at 88,” and “Go Birds.”
Marybelle Alston may live in Florida now, but this former longtime resident of Wayne and her family have never stopped being proud citizens of Eagles Nation.
Last week, Alston, 88, officially became a citizen of the Rhythm Nation, too, after a video of her dancing to Janet Jackson’s “All For You” in a pair of Eagles sweatpants went viral, capturing the attention of Jackson and more than a million other people who’ve now seen Alston’s amazing moves.
Among the thousands of comments the video has received, there were dozens that read: “This made me smile,” “This made my day,” “This will be me at 88,” and “Go Birds.”
Danita Alston, 53, said she didn’t expect the response the video would receive when she posted it on Twitter two Saturdays ago, tagged Jackson in it, and wrote: “@JanetJackson in the effort to getting my 88 year old mom tired and ready for bed, she dances to your song. Good luck to me.”
“I just thought it would be fun to put it out there, I never imagined it would get to this extent,” Alston said. “And I never thought Janet Jackson would respond back.”
But respond Jackson did, when she retweeted the video of Marybelle Alston dancing and wrote: “I luv it.”
“I couldn’t believe it. I was jumping up and down,” Danita Alston said. “I showed my mom and she put her hands over her mouth and said ‘Oh my God, she actually responded!’”
A native of Henderson, N.C., Marybelle Alston and her husband, Virgil James, who died in 1996, moved to Wayne when they were in their 20s, raising their family of seven children there for nearly 50 years.
Danita Alston said her parents were always “the life of the party.”
“We’d all get together at different houses over the weekend and it would just be a dance party. So as far as I can remember back, she’s been dancing,” Alston said of her mom. “It’s been great. I’ve always videotaped her, I just never shared it as much as I’d like to, but I’m going to now.”
Marybelle and Danita Alston moved to Riverview, Fla., four years ago, so Marybelle could be close to her youngest son and youngest grandkids, who live in the area. But the two still rep their Philly-area roots hard, watching every Sixers, Eagles, and Phillies game in matching team gear with Danita’s dog, a shih tzu named Eagle.
Eagles fans who watched Alston’s viral video couldn’t help but notice the décor in the room where she filmed it, including two Eagles rugs, two Eagles footballs, a “Fly Eagles Fly” sign, an Eagles coaster, and a framed Eagles print. Out of camera in that same room, Alston said, there’s also an Eagles love seat and an Eagles sofa.
“So that is my woman cave, you could say,” Danita Alston said.
Danita Alston said after her mother was diagnosed recently with dementia, she began to notice how music affected her well-being.
“Whenever I put music on, especially upbeat music, her whole mood changes,” Alston said. “If there’s music going and it’s upbeat, she’s going to move in some type of way.”
So every night, before dinner and before bed, Danita Alston plays music and her mom dances. It could be James Brown or Janet Jackson, but in those few moments, even if the rest of the day was tough, they find joy in each other and joy in being alive.
And that’s what Danita Alston hopes others take from her video, too.
“The world is kind of crazy right now, so I just wanted to bring some joy into everyone’s homes,” she said. “The video is only a minute long, but that one minute, I’m sure, brought smiles to many people. And that was my goal.”