Sonic

Name: Daniel Rojas
Nationality: Danish
Crew: Natural Effects
Born in: Bogotá, Colombia
Age: 30
Residence: Copenhagen
Website: www.myspace.com/dahumanoid
Other Interests: Acting, sports, chilling
Profession: Professional dancer, choreographer, and actor

Motto
"Dance is a way of self expression and communication so be open-minded and respect any kind of style!"

TITLES
SOLO CONTEST
- Winner of European 1vs1 Ultimate B-Boy session 2 - Germany 1998
- Winner of the best B-Boy at BOTY Scandinavia Sweden 2001
- Winner of the 1vs1 UK-CHAMPIONSHIP - London 2001
- Winner of the TV -show STAR SEARCH - Denmark 2004
- 4th place - REDBULL BC-ONE - Switzerland 2004

CREW CONTEST
- Winner of the Scandinavian BOTY 2001.2004.2005
- Winner of the Scandinavian CIRCLE REVOLVING 2004
- Winner of the URBAN GAMES London 2006
- Winner of the HIPHOP CONECTION Italy 2006
- Winner of the BLOCK PARTY Monpellier France 2006
- Winner of the BREAKDANCE SESSION Poland 2004
- Winner of the FLOOR WARS Copenhagen Denmark 2006
- Winner of BOTY Scandinavia 2005

JUDGE
- BATTLE MASTER Korea 2004
- B-BOY HODOWN Texas 2005
- THE MOST WANTED Catania Italy 2005
- CARA A CARA Valencia Spain 2005
- BOTY Poland 2005
- BOTY East Germany 2006
- BOTY France 2006
- BOTY Korea 2006
- GAMES ON DA FLOOR Igualada Spain 2006
- REDBULL BEAT BATTLE London 2006
- UK B-BOY CHAMPIONSHIPS 2006
- RED BULL BC ONE, Brazil, 2006

Profile
Daniel Rojas aka SONIC is an exceptionally talented B-Boy. He competed in the RED BULL BC ONE in 2004 and 2005. He works as dancer, actor, choreographer, and judge, and is one of the characters in the new Playstation B-Boy game. He made his way from breaking for money in the streets to being a world-renowned dancer and choreographer.

SONIC saw breaking for the first time when he was a young boy, living in Bogotá, Colombia. When he saw kids spinning on their heads, he wondered if he could do the same. He liked the idea of doing something so difficult and making it look so easy. In Colombia he grew up with music and dance. His parents are artists; they paint, they play the guitar and sing. SONIC used to play football and dance Meringue and Salsa because in Colombia dance is an integral part of the culture.

His family moved to Denmark when he was nearly 17. There he got in touch with Hip Hop culture. The minute, SONIC saw a Danish crew on TV called “Out of Control,” he knew he had to become a B-Boy. He was 18 years old and he started with various forms of Hip Hop dance such as hype dance, popping and locking before he finally started breaking when he was 19. Breaking came naturally to him. The powermoves took energy to learn, but the toprocks and footwork were easy since he was a natural born dancer. SONIC loves to dance and plans to continue doing it ‘til his body gives up. That’s why he’s always smiling when he dances.

The first movie SONIC ever owned was Beat Street. SONIC would practice with his brother and his sister trying to imitate the moves. Even now, when SONIC sees his siblings, they practice together and he shows them new moves. The second tape SONIC laid hands on was a tape of the B-Boys from Copenhagen whom he had seen on TV. One day, SONIC and his siblings went to a little Hip Hop jam in his town, Århus, and met lots of B-Boys from Copenhagen and from that point on he knew that if he wanted to get anywhere with breaking, he had to move to the capital.

SONIC’s siblings and his mother were always very supportive, but his father at the beginning was not happy with SONIC’s vocation. He wanted him to focus on his education instead of dancing, but SONIC always felt that he could go far with breaking and refused to give up on his vision. He knew something great could happen and he worked hard to follow his dream.

In 1997, SONIC went to the Battle of the Year in Germany to compete with his crew Natural Effects. There he saw the Style Elements Crew. They had a different style from anybody else and SONIC was impressed. Before, he had concentrated on power moves, but now he started adding different elements and tried to find his own unique way to express himself. He always liked martial arts and., in fact, owns more Kung Fu than B-Boy videos. So he started mixing capoeira and Kung Fu moves into the dance.

In the summer of 1998, Sonic moved to Copenhagen, without a single cent in his pocket. To make money, he danced in the street with other breakers. They attracted interest and people started hiring them to perform in clubs and fashion and theatre shows.

SONIC made up his name because he wanted something easy to remember that suited the way he danced—fast and on point. His namesake is a little blue hedgehog-like video game character whose ability to run faster than the speed of sound is a major part of the series released by Sega.

SONIC is still dancing and competing with Natural Effects as the only original member of the crew. He choreographs all their performances and they won the Battle of the Year Scandinavia in 2001, 2004, and 2005 with their great shows.

SONIC is very successful and well known in Denmark and his family is very proud of him. He often appears on TV and dances in theatre and charity shows, where he regularly meets the Royal family. He performed for the Queen on her 60th birthday. In 2004, he won the Danish Star Search series and this year will be one of the judges and choreographers for the Danish equivalent of the TV show “So You Think You Can Dance.”

He is playing the Nutcracker in the street version of the play at Anveny T Theater for the fourth time this year. The Hip Hop interpretation of this classic ballet combines breaking, capoeira, and skating and has won several prizes, including the prestigious Reumert award.

SONIC enjoys giving workshops, but hardly has time at the moment as he is travelling a lot to judge competitions. He is also busy doing promotion for a DVD he recently released with David from Natural Effects on how to break and dance electric boogie

He thinks that breaking is a very positive dance. Going to events where he meets people from all over the world always makes him extremely happy. He says, “We don’t speak the same language, but we communicate through our dance, we express ourselves and have fun together. We belong to the same culture!”

When SONIC dances, he takes inspiration from many sources: the music, martial arts, different dances, animals, trees…. Breaking is free and SONIC appreciates all the different styles. He dislikes it when people try to apply too many rules to the dance. He feels that, of course, you need your foundation and your vocabulary, but you should be free to express yourself in any way and not be limited by people telling you: That’s not B-Boying!

“Try to be unique! Everything changes and evolves. Breaking started in the streets and B-Boys should enjoy the freedom of expression.”