Social media dance sensation visits Manitoba
A Canadian social media sensation from the Yukon has reached Manitoba on his cross-country tour of positivity, dance, and education.
It all began during the pandemic, when Gurdeep Pandher started making social media videos from his Yukon cabin demonstrating the art of Bhangra dance. The videos went viral, and Pandher began receiving letters from people across Canada.
He said people were telling him how happy his dancing made them.
"It gave me an understanding that there's lots and lots of sadness in people's lives," said Pandher. "In communities, in the country and beyond. So, I thought I should do something."
Once public health restrictions began to ease last year, Pandher packed up his van and began driving across the country, starting on the east coast and making his way west. He tried to visit as many communities as he could to spread his message of joy, hope, and togetherness.
Pandher has been organizing meet-ups through social media, inviting people to join him in public spaces to dance Bhangra and express themselves.
"People are amazing, they are wonderful," he said. "Wherever I went they met me with happy hearts, they invited me to their places, they gave me food to eat."
He learned the traditional folk dance as a child growing up in Punjab, India. Pandher said dancing has always been a meaningful form of expression for him.
"Whenever I was down and faced challenges in my life, I danced Bhangra to press my reset button, to find my own joy," he said.
"It's a happy dance, it's a positive dance," added Pandher. "And dance and music are a universal language which we all can understand."
Pandher is beginning the Manitoba leg of his tour in Churchill where he'll be hosting a dance event before visiting several northern Manitoba communities.
Later in the week, he will tour several southern Manitoba towns and then return to Winnipeg for a Bhangra dance workshop.
Pandher will be posting updates of his travels online.
He said it's been an incredible journey that has allowed him to see 60 per cent of Canada so far.
"It just makes me happy that through my dance I was able to contribute a small amount of positivity in our country and beyond," he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.