A Yukon man attempting to spread a message of unity through bhangra dance has reached his largest audience yet, even getting a shout-out from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Gurdeep Pandher moved to Canada in 2006 and has since spread the Punjabi dance form to every corner of the territory. He has created a number of viral videos along the way, including one in which he taught bhangra to the mayor of Whitehorse, his adopted hometown.
His latest video, though, has put him in a different stratosphere.
It all started when Pandher sent a letter to the Canadian Forces, asking if he could put together a video with Canadian troops.
“I wanted to create a video with the Canadian Armed Forces to celebrate diversity and inclusion,” he told CTV News Channel.
“I also wanted to give a great message that we are together, we have unity in diversity.”
After a year of back-and-forth correspondence, the project came together. Pandher had one day to teach bhangra to more than a dozen B.C.-based military members and produce the video.
The end result was a captivating and whimsical romp in which Pandher leads the troops as they dance and clap to his choreography.
The video was released last week and soon attracted attention across social media, including a retweet from Trudeau.
“That was a wonderful surprise, that our prime minister, Justin Trudeau, shared our video. It really made us so much happy,” Pandher said.
