10-year-old Maeve needed someone to do a tap dance duet with her for a summer recital. Luckily for her, Maeve’s 72-year-old grandpa Bill is remarkably light on his feet, and the duo hit her recital out of the park. The pair danced to Anna Kendrick’s “Cups” from the Pitch Perfect soundtrack and music fans online loved it, with the video collecting 7.7 million views so far.
The dance seems to prove that talent runs in the genes, because Bill’s father and grandfather were both stage performers as well, making the duet a celebration of five generations of performers in the family. Much like Anna Kendrick’s performance in the official video clip, the pair do a dance inspired by the cup game for children, but they also add a complex tap routine, which you can see below.
Maeve and Bill learned the dance in only six classes and did a remarkable job. Maeve is clearly more practiced with dance than her grandpa, but he still does a great job, not missing a single beat. The peak of the performance comes when Maeve does a graceful cartwheel, followed by Bill, somewhat less gracefully, although he still pulls it off, getting a healthy cheer from the audience.
Not content with wowing the audience at Maeve’s dance recital, the dynamic duo went back to the dance studio to practice some new numbers. Grandpa and Maeve later returned to the stage one year later to perform the fittingly chosen track “You Make Me Feel so Young” by Michael Bublé, and this time in formal ballroom wear. The pair again show off their cartwheel skills, and this time 73-year-old Bill nails it, as you can see below.
The pair’s performances were a huge hit online, with appreciative comments such as “She will have these memories forever. Grandpa doing a cartwheel is so brave.” and “I was very close to my grandpa. He’s been gone 21 years. This brought me to tears. This little girl will cherish this!”
Maeve’s mother Jaime, who is Bill’s daughter-in-law, explained the origin of the viral clip on her YouTube channel, saying “I posted a small clip of this yesterday on my Instagram and so many loved it so I decided to share the entire dance.” She also credited choreographer Elyse Williamson with adapting the “Cups” dance to the stage.
Maeve and Elyse clearly have a good ear for a song just ripe for a tap dance interpretation. Their selection “Cups” was Anna Kendrick’s only contribution to the Pitch Perfect soundtrack. Despite being the actress’s one and only single release, the song went x3 Platinum in the US as well as picking up Platinum and Gold certifications in Australia and Britain respectively.
The song was the biggest hit from the film’s soundtrack, which produced three charting singles and became the best-selling soundtrack of 2013 in the US. The soundtrack to the musical comedy, which itself was a big hit, went on to sell 1.2 million units in the US.