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"Contributing to their upbringing has impacted me massively. I was looking after kids before but taking them from being babies has made me grow up even more and my heart has become bigger. They bring me a lot of joy."
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Sherrie SilverI think whether you’re a dance choreographer, a writer, a singer, or a — Sherrie Silver
"I think whether you’re a dance choreographer, a writer, a singer, or anyone who has that stage, it’s definitely good to engage things in a political way, but also in a creative way. For me, I was just trying to show that the kids are the light in all the darkness around them. So that was done in a very subtle way of having these happy, amazing children dancing and enjoying their lives and not paying attention to everything going on around them. I think subtlety is always the best way, instead of us standing there with a big sign in the background that says, "Hey, don’t worry!" You know what I mean? Sometimes you can just dance and smile and still relay the message without having to do it in an obvious way."
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Sherrie Silver
Sherrie Silver
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Sherrie Silver is a Rwandan-born British choreographer who choreographed the music video for Childish Gambino's 2018 song This Is America. Her choreography won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography the same year.
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"When I met the twins, I fell in love straight away. Their mother hadn’t had an opportunity to name them and when their father asked me to name them I called them Precious and Sapphire Gihozo. I promised to look after them until they were 18 at least and they’ve actually started calling me mommy."
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Sherrie SilverQuote
"Childish Gambino’s team reached out to me after seeing some of my dance videos online. They saw one particular move that they liked, Gwara Gwara from South Africa, which we did in the video and also on SNL. I came up with different steps, taught the school kids and the choir, and helped Donald [Glover, a.k.a. Childish Gambino] with his solos."
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Sherrie SilverQuote
"We did a lot of rehearsals to pull off the hologram, and we made sure to carry it out in the safest way possible. That was the climax of the performance, a joyful moment, before we calmed it down with the little princess at the end."
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Sherrie SilverQuote
"Being a part of the number one trending video means a lot. I don’t just do this for fun. I really do it because I want to give back. I travel and teach African dance from all over the continent. I take the money I generate from teaching back to Rwanda, Uganda, and Nigeria to redevelop schools and help get homeless kids off the street. For me, it’s not just about dancing. It’s the actual outcome that matters most."
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Sherrie SilverQuote
"One thing I can say is that the most important thing was safety first and making sure the interest of the children and their parents were met. We had several safety briefs, and I made sure I rebriefed them to understand everything that’s going on. That was a very important aspect—them understanding what’s going on. Everyone watches TV, so I’m sure this is not the first time these kids had seen anything violent. Violence is happening in their reality every day. At least they know, with this video, nobody died."
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Sherrie Silver