Between Reels and Reality: Content Creators Reshma and Mihir on Dance, Travel and Creative Burnout
- Henna Shah
- 2 days ago
- 9 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
In the middle of a freezing Finnish winter, somewhere outside an igloo stay in Lapland, content creators Reshma and Mihir were trying to finish filming a dance reel before the weather turned again. Snow had started falling midway through the shoot. The audio had to be checked repeatedly because of the wind. The camera lens kept fogging up every few minutes. Around them, tourists were retreating indoors while the two of them continued rehearsing their choreography on Aye Udi Udi Udi in sub-zero temperatures. It sounds cinematic now, the kind of moment perfectly suited to travel influencers and beautiful, gram-worthy shots. But when they talk about it today, neither of them describes it as fun.
“People think travel reels are glamorous,” Mihir says, laughing. “But most of it is dealing with wind, rain, endless retakes, and trying not to lose your mind.” That honesty sits at the heart of their story.
While the internet may know Reshma and Mihir as Instagram’s dance duo, content creators and travel influencers creating cinematic dance reels across Europe, their story is as much about perfecting their craft, companionship, travel videography and creative evolution as it is about social media. Long before the viral reels, Europe trips and workshops, they were simply two Indian students who met at a Diwali dance audition. And somehow, dance kept bringing them back to each other and eventually led to the inception of World of RMoves, a 97K+ strong Instagram community.
Jab We Met: Delft Edition
Back in 2017, both Reshma and Mihir had moved to the Netherlands for their Master’s degrees at TU Delft. Reshma was studying chemical engineering while Mihir was pursuing sustainability studies. Like many Indian students abroad, they found themselves gravitating towards the Indian student community and cultural festivals that made life away from home feel a little more familiar. That year, the Indian Student Association was organising its annual Diwali celebration and looking for performers.
“A few of us from my class decided to form a dance crew,” Reshma recalls. “Initially, it was supposed to be just for that one Diwali performance.” The group later put out auditions looking for more dancers and that is where Mihir showed up. “I saw her for the first time at her place during the auditions,” Mihir says. “But we didn’t even really speak that day. And although Reshma thinks she didn’t even notice me, I can tell you that’s a lie!”
Then came a long stretch, from Diwali to Chinese New Year, when Reshma stepped away from dancing to focus entirely on her academics at Delft. When she eventually returned, the two were paired together for a performance. Yet, despite the hours spent rehearsing side by side, they didn’t quite move beyond exchanging coy glances.
“Then one day, he finally sent me a random dance video to break the ice,” Reshma says, blushing. “That was basically how we started talking.” They started dating later that year. “And after that,” Mihir adds, “everything was dance. We had very different personalities but dance became our common language.”
Over the next few years, along with friends, they formed DDC (Delftse Dance Crew), performing across festivals, student events and fundraisers around the Netherlands.
The Viral Reel That Changed Everything
Like many creators, Reshma and Mihir found themselves experimenting more seriously with dance video content during COVID. Before temporarily moving to Abu Dhabi for work, Reshma, a trained Bharatanatyam dancer, had choreographed a piece blending classical influences with hip-hop and sent it to Mihir for feedback.
Instead, he suggested they turn it into a duet. That video, Liggi, became their first upload on YouTube after spending a month choreographing their moves and it crossed 2 million views. “That was our turning point,” Mihir says. “At the time, we were heavily focused on blending house and hip-hop styles with Indian regional and Bollywood music in our choreography.”
Soon, the reels started travelling far beyond their immediate circle in Delft. Followers grew rapidly and their dance videos began reaching Indian audiences across Europe and beyond. And for the first time, they realised people were genuinely invested in what they were creating. “There was definitely validation, after all; who is a performer without an audience?” Reshma says. “People started recognising us.”
One moment in particular stayed with them. They were visiting Giethoorn, the postcard-perfect Dutch village often called the “Venice of the Netherlands,” when strangers approached them, saying they had seen their dance videos online. That visibility slowly gave them the confidence to become more active on social media and fortify their online presence.
Building a Dance Community Through Bollywood in The Netherlands
What began as dance content online slowly transformed into a real-world community. As their videos gained traction, Reshma and Mihir, now known as World of RMoves, started hosting Bollywood dance workshops across the Netherlands. At the time, there were very few Indian dance workshops happening regularly in Dutch cities.
“We were probably among the first people doing these kinds of workshops in the Netherlands around 2021-2022,” Mihir says. The response completely blew them away. Most attendees were Indians trying to reconnect with a part of home they rarely experienced in Europe. Some came because they genuinely wanted to improve as dancers. Others came for the sense of belonging that naturally formed around the workshops. “For many people, it’s nostalgia,” Reshma says. “People miss Bollywood music, regional songs, all of that.”
Even today, despite their online popularity, they still see themselves more as students of dance than instructors. “We still attend workshops ourselves all the time,” he says. “We enjoy dancing and learning far more than teaching.” And perhaps that mindset has helped them stay connected with their craft beyond just social media performance metrics.
Zara sa Jhoom Loon Main: When Dance Met Travel
Alongside offline workshops, the world of RMoves slowly began expanding beyond their home, dance studios and the streets of Delft. Then came one of their first travel reels, filmed almost casually during a trip to Belgium, which unexpectedly exploded on Instagram and crossed nearly 23 million views. “It was just a trend video, and it did really well,” Mihir says.
As travel became a bigger part of their lives in Europe, it slowly started giving their followers full DDLJ vibes, with the next-gen Raj and Simran dancing their hearts out against European panoramas. Their dance reels now move through Icelandic waterfalls, Austrian lakesides, Bavarian villages and leisurely corners of Cinque Terre in Italy.
“Usually, the whole process of creating a picturesque dance reel begins a day or two before the trip,” reflects Reshma. “We pick a song, loosely choreograph sections of it, practice a little, and then respond to the location almost instinctively once we are there.”
What It Really Takes to Film the “Perfect” Travel Reel
“Our trips usually start with natural landscapes and end with cities,” Mihir explains. “That balance just works for us. In places like Cinque Terre, we woke up before sunrise to shoot before crowds arrived. Even in a big city like Paris, we found an isolated spot where we could capture the Eiffel Tower in our frame.” However, they let their instincts lead the way, as not much is in your control while on the road. “We just ensure to carry our camera and tripod on the day we feel like shooting. We have hardly shot any of our reels with our phone. If Reshma is doing a solo, I have also invested in a Gimbal and use it when I am shooting and not dancing,” says Mihir.
“We also edit our own reels using InShot or CapCut. These are basic tools, but it's more to do with knowing how to use them,” says Mihir. “Agreed, some people add effects like zooming in and zooming out on dance videos, which makes it look quite dodgy. The cuts still have to feel natural with the music and applied to the right beats,” adds Reshma. The key is to follow a bunch of professional dance video creators and draw inspiration from their editing styles.
“We try to dance but still want to be undercover dancers while travelling,” laughs Mihir. “I am quite shy to perform in public places with all eyes on me. Also, we do not want to kill the vibe of a place by suddenly breaking into a dance while all other tourists are soaking in a place.”
“Shooting videos is honestly stressful,” Reshma says. “While practicing in a studio is fun, filming is pretty exhausting.” Outdoor shoots especially come with endless variables. Strong winds in the Netherlands make it hard to catch the audio, remembering the choreography is another memory drill, and one has to be mindful not to dance out of the frame; everything needs to be taken care of.
“Back in the day, we would buy the same shirt and twin. However, we no longer coordinate our clothes; it's mostly spontaneous. We just try to wear baggy clothes if it's a hip-hop-oriented choreography,” says Mihir.
“One of the reels that we are really proud of was a collaboration with Saregama Music. It promoted their song Joota Hai Versace and incorporated some of its signature hook steps. It was deeply fulfilling to conceptualise the entire reel and collaborate with a brand like Saregama Music,” says Reshma, beaming with pride.
Through Mihir’s Lens: Travel Photography and Visual Storytelling
Beyond dance, photography has become an equally important creative outlet during their travels, especially for Mihir. “I like taking her portraits,” he says casually. In Austria, Mihir spent hours trying to perfect portrait shots against alpine backdrops while Reshma patiently waited through multiple experiments. “Sometimes I just want to relax and he’s experimenting with angles and framing,” laughs Reshma.
Mihir geeks out on aspects of photography like exposure: “If the sun hits your face hard, you are overexposed, and if the sun is right behind you in a frame, there is a glare, and you are underexposed. That is when you need a filter. However, you can’t control the lighting beyond a point while travelling. So you just have to pick the best frame.”
Over time, Mihir developed a strong interest in composition, framing and lighting, particularly while travelling through Europe’s dramatic natural landscapes. “Nothing fixes bad lighting,” he says with immense conviction. “For videos especially, lighting becomes critical. You can edit photos later. Especially if you use Lightroom filters,” he explains, “but videos are much harder to fix.”
Creative Burnout, Algorithms and Rediscovering the Joy of Dance
Along with opportunities, virality also built expectations. “There was a phase where we felt like we had to post two or three reels every week,” Reshma says. Followers who discovered them through couple travel reels expected more of the same content repeatedly. “Travel plus dance content performs best,” Mihir says. “Solo dance videos usually don’t. Although that is where we showcase some of our best choreographies.”
“However, constant posting definitely burnt us out and now we have reached a point wherein we post at our own pace. This also meant a drop in our social engagement metrics,” says Reshma.
“Another reason for our engagement drop is that not all our hardcore dance videos are highly shareable. I think shareability is the most important metric for growth on Instagram today. Also, constantly engaging with your followers through stories is important to ensure your engagement does not tank. However, we typically only post stories while travelling or if we have an upcoming workshop,” says Mihir.
“Especially because our account has grown on couple content, people also expect personal updates, which frankly we do not share. I think these days Instagram content that is doing well has now gone back to raw and real content as against this phase of heavily produced content,” adds Reshma.
Over time, they found themselves becoming increasingly detached from algorithm-driven creation. There is no strict strategy anymore. No fixed calendar. And strangely, both of them seem more creatively grounded because of it.
Some of their happiest moments now happen behind closed doors, just practicing choreography together in a room with mirrors and music. No camera. No audience. No pressure.
Learning to Put the Camera Away
Like many creators, there was a time when every mountain, every lake, every European street corner felt like a potential reel. But over time Mihir and Reshma realised how exhausting that mindset could become.
“Content creation, by definition, pulls you away from being in the moment,” Mihir says. So they consciously began to change their relationship with travel. “Now we take a few photos,” Reshma says, “and then we put the camera away. Sometimes we leave the camera behind entirely.”
They have become more intentional about simply sitting in a place rather than constantly trying to capture it. That shift feels especially meaningful in today’s creator economy, where every experience risks becoming something of an exhibit.
Last Word: Plans for the Future
“A dedicated dance space would be amazing, especially in India,” Mihir says. “I don’t think we would be able to meet new people and make some amazing friends if it were not for dancing,” concludes Reshma.
However, they are content simply staying connected to dance and the community they unintentionally built along the way. Behind the polished reels and cinematic backdrops are still two people who met at a dance audition and gradually learned that the best parts of dancing, even travelling, often happen when the camera is finally put away.
P.S. All pictures have been shared by World of RMoves (Mihir Mehta and Reshma Kalavade) with Travel and Wellbeing for this feature. You can follow their moves and adventures across Europe on Instagram at @worldofrmoves.
Comments