He showed the video to Donald Glover
then Donald was like: "Yeah, let's get her."
So crazy, honestly.
I'm the dance choreographer
of This is America.
Woooo!
Wait, I look like a lunatic,
let me not say "Wooo" at the end.
Growing up in Africa, in church especially,
we're always dancing.
We don't just sit there like "Hallelujah"
We're like (sings)
So we literally have a party in there,
and then taking it from there
to performing for family members.
When I was young my mum wanted me to be
a doctor or a lawyer.
That's just African culture.
She said: "Sherrie, you're always arguing back...
so you'd be a great lawyer."
Dance was never really the option.
I've been able to show her and prove to her
that through dance, and acting,
you can actually make a future.
So she's very supportive of me.
I am 23-years-old,
I came to the UK when I was five.
My first memory of being in the UK
was being pushed down the airport on the little trolley,
for the suitcase.
I was like: "Wheeeee".
Also, just, the traffic lights.
When I was at school I was bullied,
because I was always the darkest in the class,
and, I dunno, I guess I used to be really skinny as well.
The word they used to use was "blick" actually,
that's like beyond the black.
When they turn off the light they can only see your eyes and your teeth.
Just basically telling me I need to lighten my skin.
So because of that I decided, you know what,
I'm never going to lighten my skin.
I'm going to use this to inspire people
to love themselves for who they are.
I am so in love with myself now.
But there was a time when honestly I really, really wasn't.
I remember running to the gate of my school one time,
and just crying:
"Why am I like this, why am I like this?"
But I've overcome that and I love who I am.
When I was first beginning dance I always knew that my dream was
to do "music", yeah, you know,
and acting.
So dance was always just a side thing,
you need to be able to dance while you're doing all these things.
But then, I kind of said, I enjoy this,
this is something that I'm picking a lot of interest in.
I haven't been able to stop since.
The way my dancing went from just being something for fun,
into an actual job,
is I'd put things on YouTube
and I'll try to market myself.
I like editing and I like doing videography,
buy a camera and try to make creative videos.
And through those videos people say "Hey...
there's something different about this girl."
And they'd call me up.
Call me up.
A lot of jobs, that is how I've honestly got them.
The way that This is America came about was,
Childish Gambino's manager Fam,
his niece had seen my videos on YouTube.
She was like: "Check this girl out!"
He checked me out
and then he showed the video to Donald Glover.
Donald was like: "Yeah, let's get her."
So crazy, honestly.
It was a heavy collaboration.
I was trying to bring a lot of happiness to the movie,
it's practically a movie.
I didn't want it to just be
robotic,
dancing.
I wanted it to be very...
That's how I can describe it.
I'm going to teach you the move called the Neza.
Are you ready?
I made it up myself by the way.
Put your hand on your waist,
and then you're going to go:
One,
two,
three,
four.
So you get your shoulders moving.
While you're doing that, you're going to step with your feet:
One,
two,
three,
four.
Touch and touch.
Everyone always asks me: "Was it stressful being on set?"
It was actually one of the most relaxing experiences
I have ever had,
despite all the running around.
The mood on set does not reflect the mood that you guys see in the video,
with all the killing and everything like that,
it was like a family.
Then on the first day it got, like, 20 million views.
I was like, "Woooah".
OK, this is serious.
Then in one week we hit 100 million.
I was like, "wow", this is really serious.
I was really grateful and really happy.
I stand for taking Africa to the world,
and taking the world to Africa, through dance.
This is important for me because I'm so proud to be African.
I'm so proud of my own country, Rwanda.
Also, all the other countries I have travelled to
like Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda.
I think the whole world needs to know what we're about,
that we're not just about poverty, disease, and sadness,
that you see in the media.
We're also about happiness, dance, fashion and passion,
and good food - lots of flavour actually.
still: @fireshone
I wanted to set up dance workshops across the world
so people can get to learn to dance like me.
I just enjoy seeing people not know how to do something and then learn how to do it,
and their reaction after that.
At first, when it came to teaching dance, I had no clue about:
One,
two,
three,
four,
five,
six,
seven,
eight.
I graduated with a business marketing degree.
I remember, even at the Uni, they were like, "why are you doing this?"
"Why are you not doing drama or something?"
I said, do you know what, that Is just my talent,
I can always do that outside Uni.
But, I want to be able to have that business brain.
I was determined to finish because I know that all these things that I'm learning,
how to connect with international markets,
how to build networks,
they will come in very handy.
I've been able to build a dance network across the world,
I know how to speak to people,
I know how to write professional letters.
Believe me it does help.
It's not just about having talent,
it's actually being able to make money from it,
otherwise there's no point.
I started distributing mosquito nets in different villages,
and then distributing blankets,
and then distributing food.
Before I knew it I was able to get homeless kids off the street.
But this is just the beginning,
there's so much more to do.
After God, my mother is the most important person in my life,
she is the key element.
Literally, everything I do, I do for her,
because she struggled so much with me.
I just feel like I have to pay her back for everything she's done,
which is impossible.
I want to buy her a house, I want to do all these things,
she deserves the best.
I have so many things lined up which I'm not allowed to speak about.
I would definitely say there is a dance class tour.
On top of that I've got some more things that I'm choreographing,
and hopefully going to get back into acting.