As a volunteer with the local historical society, artist Warner Blake sets out to document the preparation of the 25th Annual Variety Show of Snohomish (WA) and discovers the story of Eleanor Leight, an octogenarian, former Rockette and leader of a multigenerational troupe of citizen tap-dancers, the Leight Fantastics. Warner accepts an invitation to join them, and together they tell us what it’s like to Dance with Eleanor. She invites us to Sunday dinner with her family, where we learn of Eleanor’s early history in vaudeville; about dancing in France with the USO during World War II as a Radio City Rockette; her move to Snohomish in the Sixties; and the stories of performance mishaps involving her five sons in the early shows. These hilarious remembrances are added to those of over two-dozen dancers interviewed either in their home or workplace. Cut to backstage, and Eleanor, -- as she has done for the past 26 shows -- pulls the rope hand-over-hand to open the red velvet curtain (that her group donated to the high school). The dancers enter into the light – is Warner one of them?

Forms: Documentary
Genres: Family, Educational, Dance