The Music Box – Daniel “Cloud” Campos

Daniel “Cloud” Campos is a young dancer from Los Angeles, he wrote, directed, edited, and stared in this amazingly fun short film. “This is a story of a kid, in search for a new apartment rental, who comes across a place that has actually chosen him. When a place speaks to you, you have no other choice but to play along with the tune,” explained Campos about his film in which spark a very close resemblance to another famous clip of a dancer using his surroundings to make music and dance come together.

I have been watching this extraordinary dancer now ever since I saw him on the dance group Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. He started out as a b-boy and hip-hop dancer but as I continued watching many of his YouTube videos and other video project, I quickly noticed that his abilities and training was far beyond just the regular b-boy. His musicality, technique, and creativity was well beyond many other video I have seen. Now granted I have not seen nearly enough b-boy/breaking/hip hop video to consider myself and expert. But out of what I have seen of these genera’s he is my absolute my favorite! Here is a link to a playlist of videos featuring Cloud. Enjoy!

Now as I mentions above, Cloud’s video reminds me of another dancer that once used his surroundings to create a memorable moment on film. Gene Kelly used the stage and props in this famous clip from the movie Summer Stock. Notice how it all begins with a creaky board much like Clouds’ drum slapping support beam. Even notice that they are dressed similarly with the yellow polo and the light blue pants. I don’t know for sure if this Kelly clip was an influence in Clouds film but if he did then he has great taste in dancing inspiration!