[URBAN NOTE] "Shovelling Montreal snowfall to an African beat"

[rfmcdonald]

Jillian Kestler-D’Amours's Toronto Star article about a viral video set in the snow of Montréal was fun.

This no tame two-step. Richard Laubonet, Kevin Noah, and Abdul Somade laugh and sing and use their shovels as props, moving in unison to move out the snow.

And that’s exactly what the African dance and fitness instructor did, when he and two friends picked up shovels to clear an area of a park in north-end Montreal.

In a video that has since garnered almost 380,000 views on Facebook, Laubonet and friends Kevin Noah (from Cameroon) and Abdul Somade (from Togo) fling heaps of snow over their shoulders in a choreographed dance set to African music.

They laugh and sing and use their shovels as props while moving in unison in the impromptu dance in the snow.

“I’m still blown away. I just can’t believe it,” Laubonet told the Star in a telephone interview on Wednesday about the response the video has received.

More, including the video, at the site.