These fantastic and energetic moves are from an 88-year-old grandmother who can’t help but dance to Motown tunes. Her name is Nana Ester Feole and her viral video career started when she was meeting her granddaughter (Chelsea) for lunch and couldn’t resist getting down to some of her old-time favourites. Her granddaughter uploaded the video below to YouTube and it reached over 1.4 million views.
This is one of those videos that makes you smile and want to dance around too. However, this wasn’t the end of Nana Feole’s online viral video career. Chelsea made parts 2, 3, and 4 to the “Dancing Nana” series. With only 5 videos on her YouTube channel, Nana Feole hit a whopping 8.7+ million views.
Once a week Chelsea picked her grandma up to take her out for lunch. As she arrived at her Nana’s house she would roll down the windows and blast out her grandma’s favourite tunes and video her brilliant dancing antics as she walked down the stairs to the car. In the video below you can watch the second part of this fantastic YouTube viral series from this very special dancing lady.
The Dancing Nana has grown a following of over 17k on YouTube and 16K on Facebook. Due to her overwhelming success online, The Ellen DeGeneres show got in touch with the Dancing Nana to offer her and her granddaughter tickets to the show.
In the video below you can see the fantastic interview with Nana Feole and Ellen DeGeneres, a day that her granddaughter Chelsea will remember forever.
Unfortunately, it is with great sadness we have to report that the Dancing Nana has since passed away in August 2016. Chelsey wrote on her Facebook page the following heartfelt message:
“Fans of “Dancing Nana”…. I am so sorry it’s been so long since my last post. My heart is broken this morning as I let you all know that Nana passed away last night. She went peacefully in her sleep, as we all prayed she would. As some here know, in her final years, Nana suffered severe dementia and was living in a nursing home where she could receive extensive care and the attention that she needed. Nana was moved into her nursing home just 3 days before her YouTube video went viral. As much as I wanted to keep you all in the loop about Nana’s endeavors and adventures after “Dancing Nana” went viral, I also wanted to secure her privacy and avoid exploiting her to the public given her illness. Even if Nana didn’t fully understand what was happening to her body, I want you all to know, her viral video brought more joy to our family’s lives than you’ll even know. More importantly, her video brought laugher and hope to millions around the world- and that is something Nana would have been most proud of. The memories I have from the day we went to Ellen DeGeneres will be treasured every day, for the rest of my life. Dementia or Alzheimer’s often rips the souls out our loved ones, but I can assure you first hand, Nana was full of life, ecstasy, and bliss while were at Ellen on that day. Thank you to you all for your love and support over the last few years. Nana was the most special person in my life, and I am honored that you all got to share a little piece of her with me. Remember, if life’s journey seems like an upward battle, Nana taught us all to dance through the pain and laugh through our fears. “
If you want to see more from the legendary Dancing Nana Feole, go to her YouTube channel have a watch of all the video uploads.