Sherrie Silver, the choreographer behind the brilliant symbolism-filled visual for Childish Gambino's "This Is America," has made good on her promise of a how-to video. Monday, Silver shared the first of a planned two-part dance tutorial walking viewers through some of the moves featured in the Hiro Murai–directed hit.
The video, which Silver said she would share once "America" topped 100 million views on YouTube (it's pushing 120 mill now), sees the choreographer breaking down a selection of moves with the help of two assistants. Among the dances featured are South Africa's Guara Guara, the Neza, and some walking-into-a-party swagger steps that originated from the Ivory Coast.
Speaking with Pigeons & Planes earlier this month, the Rwanda-born dancer and actress said Glover and his team wanted her to bring "the light" to the "America" proceedings. "You know how kids are innocent and kind of unaware of what's going on? We were there to smile and bring joy to everyone watching it, because the background is bringing so much darkness and reality," she said, adding that she finds interpretations calling the video's dancing a "distraction" to be "quite interesting."
The video has given Gambino's entire studio discography quite the boost. As reported Tuesday, all three Gambino albums were launched back into the Billboard 200 thanks to an overall 419 percent increase in his album sales. Sadly, truly vintage Gambino entries like I Am Just a Rapper and I Am Just a Rapper 2 are not a part of this sales and streaming revival. They're still worth revisiting, though.
