Daniel "Cloud" Campos (born May 6, 1983) is an American dancer, director, and choreographer raised in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, and

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

Early life

Cloud started dancing as a

b-boy Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in t ...

when he was 11. He learned breaking from his oldest brother Kevin "Deft-1" Campos who is also a b-boy. He spent his early life in San Diego then moved to Florida when he was 12. During his time in Florida he toured with High Voltage extreme acrobatics dance team and became a member of Skill Methodz b-boy crew, which was founded in 1995 in Tampa under the name B-Boy Connection. He described what his b-boy name means in a 2011 interview with KoreanRoc.com:

Dance career

After moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the dance industry, he booked two tours with

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

; first in 2004 on her Re-Invention World Tour and again in 2006 on her

Confessions Tour The Confessions Tour was the seventh concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna, launched in support of her tenth studio album, ''Confessions on a Dance Floor'' (2005). The tour began in Inglewood on May 21, 2006, and ended in Tokyo on ...

. He also starred in Madonna's videos "

Hung Up "Hung Up" is a song by American singer Madonna from her tenth studio album ''Confessions on a Dance Floor'' (2005). Initially used in a number of television advertisements and serials, the song was released as the album's lead single on October ...

" in 2005 and " Sorry" in 2006. He also performed in the stage show ''Groovaloos''. In 2009, he won first place with his crew Skill Methodz at the

UK B-Boy Championships The UK B-Boy Championships is a hip-hop dance competition held annually in the United Kingdom. UK B-Boy Championships, alongside Battle of the Year and R-16 Korea, is regarded to be one of the main International B-Boy Championships held every ye ...

. Later the same year, he competed at

Red Bull BC One Red Bull BC One is an annual international B-Boy competition organized by the beverage company Red Bull. It is an individual B-Boy competition, notable for being the only one of the major international breaking championships to not include a crew ...

and appeared in

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular ...

's music video " Did It Again" as the principal male dancer. In 2010, he appeared in the online series ''

The LXD ''The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers'', commonly called ''The LXD'', is a 2010–2011 American web series that premiered on Hulu. The series follows two groups of rival dancers: The Alliance of the Dark, who are the villains, and The Legion of E ...

'' as The Illister and played the antagonist, Kid Darkness, in the film ''

Step Up 3D ''Step Up 3D'' (also known as ''Step Up 3'') is a 2010 American 3D dance film directed by Jon M. Chu and written by Amy Andelson and Emily Meyer. It serves as a sequel to 2008's '' Step Up 2: The Streets'' and the third installment in the ''St ...

''. In 2011, he served as one of ten choreographers for Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour. In October 2012, British blog ''The Next Hype'' ran an article about Cloud's appearances in two commercials by rivals Apple and Microsoft. In 2012, Cloud appeared as the lead dancer in a Microsoft Surface commercial directed by

Jon M. Chu Jonathan Murray Chu (born November 2, 1979) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known as the director of 2018's ''Crazy Rich Asians'', the first film by a major Hollywood studio to feature a majority cast of Asi ...

that went viral on YouTube. Three years earlier, he appeared in an iPod Nano commercial that advertised the release of the model's fifth generation, noted for the addition of a video camera. Although ''The Next Hype'' felt that Microsoft "...using loudas a figurehead for your new product after Apple used him 3 years ago is just sloppy", these instances were not the only times Cloud worked with either company. He has appeared in several iPod commercials and print ads dating back to 2004, and in 2013 he appeared as the lead dancer in another Jon Chu-directed Microsoft commercial that promoted the Surface Pro model.

Film career

Cloud first developed an interest in film-making when he was 17. He made his first short film (called ''The Paperboy'') in an alleyway at

Universal Studios Florida Universal Studios Florida (also known as Universal Studios or USF) is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Primarily themed to movies, television and other aspects of the entertainment industry, the park opened to the public on June 7, 1990 ...

. He uploaded the film on YouTube and after generating positive responses he decided to continue film-making. His short film ''Heaven Awaits'' won the Grand Prize at the 2005 Filmerica Challenge. In 2011, he successfully raised over $50,000 in individual donations through

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

to fund a musical called ''Today's the Day''. In 2013, Cloud directed the music videos "Stay the Night" by

Zedd Anton Zaslavski (russian: Антон Заславский; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a Russian-born German DJ, record producer, and songwriter. Zedd grew up and began his musical journey in Kaiserslautern, G ...

and " Now" by

Paramore Paramore is an American Rock music, rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. The band currently consists of lead vocalist Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro. Williams and Farro are founding members of the ...

. He co-directed and co-choreographed the music video for "Cold Front", by singer Laura Welsh, with his then wife Tamara Levinson-Campos (with the two having since then divorced). Levinson-Campos is also the principal female dancer in the video. After being uploaded to Cloud's

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

channel, the website chose "Cold Front" as a ''Staff Pick''. In November 2014, Cloud directed the video for "Salt" by

Bad Suns Bad Suns is an American rock band from Woodland Hills, California, formed in 2012. The band currently consists of Christo Bowman, Gavin Bennett, and Miles Morris. All of the band members are from Los Angeles, California. The group has been signed ...

. Cloud has directed three music videos for

Panic! at the Disco Panic! at the Disco is the solo project of American musician Brendon Urie. It was originally a pop rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2004 by childhood friends Urie, Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith, and Brent Wilson. They recorded their fi ...

: "

Emperor's New Clothes "The Emperor's New Clothes" ( da, Kejserens nye klæder ) is a literary folktale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, about a vain emperor who gets exposed before his subjects. The tale has been translated into over 100 languages. ...

", "

This Is Gospel "This Is Gospel" is a song by American rock band Panic! at the Disco. It was released as the second single from their fourth studio album, '' Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!'', on August 12, 2013. A music video for the song, directed by Dani ...

", and "

Say Amen (Saturday Night) "Say Amen (Saturday Night)" is a song by American pop rock band Panic! at the Disco from their sixth studio album, '' Pray for the Wicked'' (2018). It was released as the lead single for the album on March 21, 2018. The song became Panic! at the D ...

". "This is Gospel" was also choreographed by Levinson-Campos. In 2017, Campos was the assistant choreographer for ''

The Greatest Showman ''The Greatest Showman'' is a 2017 American biographical musical drama film directed by Michael Gracey in his directorial debut, written by Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon and starring Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, ...

'', and earned some notice as the silent bartender who rhythmically serves drinks to Philip Carlyle (

Zac Efron Zachary David Alexander Efron (; born October 18, 1987) is an American actor. He began acting professionally in the early 2000s and rose to prominence in the late 2000s for his leading role as Troy Bolton in the ''High School Musical'' trilo ...

) and P.T. Barnum (

Hugh Jackman Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor. Beginning in theatre and television, he landed his breakthrough role as James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine in the 20th Century Fox ''X-Men'' film series (2000–2017), a role ...

) during the song "The Other Side". In 2019, 2020 and 2022 respectively, Campos directed the video for "BULLET TO THE HEART", "100 Ways" and "Blow" by Jackson Wang.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cloud 1983 births American breakdancers Living people People from Orlando, Florida American male dancers American hip hop dancers American music video directors People from Cook County, Georgia