#MoreForAll

So excited and proud to announce that I am part of the Ford Canada #MoreForAll campaign with posters all over Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver! Ford used social influencers for this campaign (which is awesome in itself) - each representing a different value that Ford stands for. My value is discovery - discovery in my process, in learning to create and innovate, and in building relationships with all of you! This whole YouTube Bollywood dance thing has been a major discovery process for me. I've learned so much about myself in the last year, and have built the most amazing relationships with you guys! I'm so happy that you continue to be inspired and learn from my channel. 

The campaign message is something I truly believe in - the idea that we should all be more, do more, and expect more. When my parents first came to Canada, the South Asian community was small and massively underrepresented. I don't think my parents ever pictured the day that they would walk down the streets and see a South Asian person on billboards, let alone their own daughter. I myself never thought that Bollywood dance would take me to the places it did. It's a proud and special moment for my family, and hopefully the community (and Bollywood dancers everywhere) as well! Thank you Ford Canada for letting me be a part of this!

If you see these around your city, take a picture with it and tag me on Instagram/Twitter and use the hashtag #MoreForAll

MASTER CLASS LIVESTREAM!

With my master class coming up on July 9, here's a little video from my last one in Toronto!

Thank you to all my amazing dancers for your pure energy - I love working with so much talent! Sign up for my next master class in Toronto on July 9, and if you're not in Toronto, we'll be doing a LIVESTREAM! RSVP here so you don't miss it https://www.facebook.com/events/286737781665532/

Maafi: Behind the Scenes!

Presenting a little homemade documentary about the process, the rehearsals, the team, and going viral! Thanks for all the endless support you've give us - it means more to us than you'll ever know! A special thank you to my amazing team of dancers, to J Raj Music, and to Ken Fong my amazing photographer! Enjoy! :)

All Maafi footage: Safira Halani (@safirahalani)
Nach Nach Ke - 

More about the team here

Jabra Fan Choreo & CONTEST ALERT!

Since you were all requesting some beginner level choreo, I decided to do a little filmy piece to my favourite song at the moment - Jabra Fan! In creating this piece, I imagined that it was about being a fan of someone on a different level than what the movie intended, which was a fan relationship marked by an obsession with a celebrity. This piece was inspired by the King himself, Shahrukh Khan, and dedicated to my 'Jabra Fan' - my mommy :) 

Special thank yous: The Jabra Fans - Gowtham Ratnaraj (@gothamphotographyTO), Rahim Printer (@printerror1), and Arnold Wallang (@hey_arnold26). Also shoutouts to Thushanth (@thushanthmanohar) for the videography and Babbu the Painter (@babbuthepainter) for the dope tee I'm wearing!

CONTEST ALERT: Are you Dance With SL's biggest fan? Post a photo or video of you doing one of the moves from my Jabra Fan video on Twitter or Instagram and use the hashtag #dancewithSL/tag me @shereenladha and you'll be entered to win a Dance With SL gift set including brand new MERCH! Contest closes SATURDAY MAY 14, 2016!

Video & BTS pictures from Snapchat below :) Enjoy y'all! 

My Dope new DancewithSL jacket!

Bianca de Zilva of The Jacket Company made this amazing custom piece for me! The jacket is vintage and hand painted and I absolutely LOVE it!  Check them out on Instagram (@thejacketcompany_) and on their website. 

Bollywood America 2016

I am so honoured to have been one of the judges for the ULTIMATE Bollywood Competition - Bollywood America - in Cleveland this year! I was blown away by the level of talent on the stage and lucky to have witnessed some epic routines. The best part of the weekend was meeting and spending time with my fellow judges. Can't wait to work with you all soon! 

Congratulations to all the teams for putting on a dope show!

Maafi - The Official Bollywood Remix to Justin Bieber's 'Sorry'

A video project that has been in the works for MONTHS is finally out! The track is produced by the amazingly talented J Raj (@jraj_music on Instagram, and j-raj on Soundcloud), whom I've known and have had the privilege of working with for years. And what's a remixed track without a remixed video? The original video was so dope and inspiring, so I wanted to create what a Bollywood/Indian version of Bieber's would look like. Our outfits are inspired by South Asian street fashion and obviously Bollywood cinema, and I created the choreography to mimic more standard/typical Bollywood moves (you get a cookie if you can spot some signature steps!) 

Thank you to all my gorgeous and swaggy dancers, Safira Halani, Phantasia Studios, and of course the one and only J Raj for making this happen!

Enjoy :)

My latest video release - Kar Gayi Chull!

In my latest release, I'm back at it with my dance partner Arnold (@hey_arnold26)! Sometimes I create pieces with a larger vision in mind and sometimes I create thinking about a specific dancer. Arnold is one of those dancers that just completely understands my choreography and art, and executes exactly how I have it envisioned in my mind.

Thank you to Gowtham Ratnaraj of GothamPhotographyTO for the dope videography and concept creation! He found the perfect location and got some amazing shots completely freehand. Check his work out on Instagram @GothamPhotographyTO

Also a special shout out to both of these guys for shooting in FREEZING weather with no rehearsal <3 

The Toronto Premiere of 'A Trip To Unicorn Island' #AT2UI

On Tuesday night I got to attend the Toronto premiere of AT2UI! You MUST see this documentary whether you follow Lilly Singh's (aka Superwoman) career or not - it was such an inspirational piece with some stunning visuals. Congrats to my girl Superwoman, and the entire team behind AT2UI! Watch it on YouTube Red now!


My Detroit Dhamaal 2016 Rundown!

Thank you SO much to the Detroit Dhamaal board for asking me to judge this year's Dhamaal competition! I had the most amazing time and saw some DOPE AF routines (I know I said that a lot Saturday night). Congratulations to ALL the teams for slaying just like I asked you to! Keep in touch, and I'm only an email away if y'all want that extra feedback like I promised :)

A Special Birthday Video!

I'm a year older today and a ton the wiser. In the last year I got an MBA, started my YouTube channel, performed at the Pan Am Games opening ceremonies, made my Netflix onscreen debut, appeared in the Real Sports ad campaign, and danced a WHOLE lot! Thank you to everyone who has been alongside me and supporting me on my journey - I can not thank you enough for making every year more exciting. 

Now on to the good stuff! You guys have been requesting this song FOREVER and the only reason I took my time with it is because I decided I wanted to do my first SOLO VIDEO with a birthday release! Here it is - enjoy! 

Q&A Video!

Thanks for sending in all your questions guys! Here's the video - get to know a little bit more about me! I'll be back with dance and tutorial videos next week :)


Bollyshake's 2015 Dancers To Watch

Thank you so much to the awesome people at Bollyshake for naming me one of 2015's 'Dancers to Watch.' I'm humbled to be on this list amongst some amazing online talents. Thank you to Bollyshake and Varun Jindal for your constant support and for creating such an incredible platform. Can't wait for all the amazing things we do together in 2016!

Check out the full list here


My choreography to Bang Bang!

So many of you have been requesting this song on YouTube and through my request form and y'all put me to WORK - I really had to think about what I wanted to create with this one. The original video/choreography is done so well (by one of my faves Hrithik) and it's a tribute to the greatest dancer in history, Michael Jackson. That's a lot to live up to! I of course changed it up with some signature #dancewithSL style Bolly-Hop, and created more laid back, urban choreography. The video also features one of my favourite dancers Arnold Wallang partnering with me (he's incredible, and forever one of my dance inspirations). Check it out and don't forget to subscribe to my channel! Enjoy :)

UPDATE: Watch the tutorial below as well!

My most fun Master Class ever!

I've been really excited to share this video with all of you! It's from my last master class in Toronto and I had the most amazing time teaching this! Everyone had such amazing energy and came so hungry to learn and just DANCE. Thank you to all these amazingly talented dancers for coming out and thank you to one of my subscribers for requesting this song - I had so much fun choreographing this. Enjoy and give it a share! UPDATE: the tutorial is now also up on YouTube (below)!

'That Brown Girl' in those Real Sports Raptors Ads

I’m so excited to share that I’m part of the 2015 Real Sports Holiday campaign! First off – I love the Toronto Raptors, and have actually had the opportunity to perform at FIVE Raptors half-time shows for their annual Diwali and Vaisakhi nights. Every time I go perform it’s such a rush – I even get nervous for tech rehearsal because it’s the most surreal feeling being on that court.

This year, Real Sports (authentic store of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment) wanted to use ‘social influencers’ for their holiday campaign and I’m so honoured that they approached me to be a part of it. I got to spend the day wearing some DOPE clothing from their new line, and hanging out with the awesome Real Sports team and my fellow ‘models’ – Kat Stefankiewicz (@MatterofKat) who is a Raptors host, Akil Augustine (@akilaugustine) who is the host, creator, and producer of NBATV, and Mark Vallena (@DarkVallena) of the Raptors Rundown.

If you’re in Toronto over the next four weeks, look out for these ads, and check out the Lookbook and Real Sports Apparel online shop (my personal favourite was the ugly Christmas sweater collection).

Thank you so much to the Real Sports team for having me in this, it's a huge privilege to be repping a team and city I love so much. I'll be rocking some of this gear in my upcoming videos so stay tuned!

My Prem Ratan Dhan Payo choreography!

I finally got around to doing this choreography video to Prem Ratan Dhan Payo! I absolutely LOVE this song - it's so beautiful and really inspired me to create some original choreography to it. Of course, we had to keep some signature steps from the video because Sonar Kapoor is just exquisite in this and executes all the choreography so effortlessly. I was in Istanbul when the song came out and listened to it non-stop just choreographing in my head and on the airplane - I really felt inspired after so long with the song's 90's Bollywood melodic feel. Thank you to my amazing team: my awesome videographer and editor Safira Halani and gorgeous dancers (Sam, Karina, Natasha, and Vanessa) for helping me create this. Make sure to head over to my channel and like, comment, subscribe, and enjoy! I post videos every Wednesday! *Update: the tutorial video is now posted as well in case you want to learn this dance!