Just before Christmas, the Maritime Bhangra group went viral, this time to capture another essential Maritime experience: snow shovelling. The group had their first viral video just a few months ago featuring bhangra dancers on the rocks at Peggy’s Cove.

The group posted the Snow Shovel Bhangra on December 15 and it was viewed more than 25 million times in only six days. Filmed using an iPhone, in minus 30-degree weather while gripping dollar store toy shovels (for their lightness and ease to dance with), the dancers wore matching Dalhousie T-shirts that were sourced from what troupe members already owned. “We wanted them to be in matching shirts and that was the only shirt we had three of,” says Hasmeet Singh Chandok, spokesperson for the group and navigator at the Dalhousie Libraries. “We like to keep our videos simple, using resources we already have or can easily get,” he says.

Three members of the troupe, Kunwardeep Singh (Dal alumnus), Bikramjit Singh (Mohawk College alumnus), and Davinder Singh (SMU alumnus) are in the video, which opens with them shoveling snow in an apartment building parking lot. They then toss the snow playfully into the air and turn around to face the camera, incorporating the shovels into their dance. Kunwardeep, the dancer in the middle, and fondly known online as #guywithlongbeard, does all of the group’s choreography.

“We did this video to raise awareness about ALS,” says Hasmeet. “The local ALS charity had been in touch with us about doing something with them and that is why we made this video. Within two days, it had raised more than $4,000 for ALS,” he says. At the end is a call to action, asking people to donate to the ALS Society of Canada if they liked the video. ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. It is terminal, with most people dying two to five years after being diagnosed.

As spokesperson for the group, Hasmeet can’t even keep track of which news outlets he’s spoken to in the days just after the video was posted, but he does know that NBC, BBC, CTV, SBS (Australia), the Globe and Mail, Global TV and the Huffington Post have all covered the story. It has also made big news in India, which is where Hasmeet and all the members of the Maritime Bhangra Group were born and raised.

“Some people are calling us ‘internet superstars’ but we are still just regular people with 9–5 jobs,” says Hasmeet. The success of their videos continues to surprise Hasmeet, and he is still making sense of why his dance troupe’s videos have touched such a chord with the world. “Perhaps people can relate to us because we try to keep the videos simple. We make videos with a message of embracing diversity and giving to others. Many people think that what they know is not big enough to contribute, but whatever you know just do it and put yourself out there, and you never know how big of a difference you can make,” he says.

The troupe also released a special video just in time for Christmas.