Daniel Blais’ movement is his message

The sweat is dripping off his face as he slides across the dance floor. His body is filled with energy as he flips into the air and lands perfectly on his feet.

He rocks back and forth to the rhythm as if there are no bones in his body. He is doing all of this dancing with his eyes closed, focused on every beat. When he is finished his routine he looks up and realizes that everyone in the audience is on their feet applauding.

This is a typical response to a performance done by break dancer and St. Thomas student, Daniel Blais. He was born in Edmonton, Alberta, where he grew up with four siblings in a very family oriented environment. He was brought up with an avid interest in sounds of all sort.

“My dad used to whistle a lot when I was a kid and I used to copy him. That influenced my beat boxing a bit” says Blais.

In grade five, Blais became interested in beat-boxing–a form of vocal percussion which primarily involves reproducing drum beats, rhythm and musical sounds using one’s mouth, lips, tongue and voice.

“There was a guy on the school bus who started beat boxing one morning and I didn’t understand it, but I thought it was cool. I started mimicking and experimenting with it. It became a habit, more like an addiction,” Blais says.

Once introduced to beat boxing his interest in hip hop increased. Over the years he has found himself break-dancing and moving to every genre of music.

“If I could pick my favorite genre of music it would be a mix of everything,” Blais says. “There is nothing you can’t move to. I enjoy funk, soul, hip hop, James Brown, Miles Davis, rock, and I can even rock out to some Beethoven and Mozart.”

In order to get more people interested in b-boying and break dancing, Blais teaches classes at the local University gym.

“Students in my classes remind me of myself, they are interested in break dancing but had little opportunity to learn more about it,” says Blais. Students that take part in the dance class vary in age from teenagers to adults.

Emily Green started break-dancing with lessons from Blais.

“The best thing about Daniel is that he is always willing to share knowledge,” she says. “Not only to make himself better but to share and make everyone else better as well. He loves dancing and putting himself out there despite being the busiest man alive he also finds time to dedicate to becoming a better dancer, a better student a better person in general.”

Recently Blais joined the UNB Dance team. This was a change for him because he had never studied professional dance before. Allison Toogood, a member of the UNB dance, was awed by his progression as a dancer.

“In class he is one of the hardest workers I have ever seen,” says Toogood. “He hasn’t taken much dance technique classes but that didn’t stop him. He takes dance very seriously as well as beat-boxing. It’s a huge passion of his and you can see it n the way he dances.”

But while Blais may be one of the busiest students on campus, he still finds time to hone his skills.

“I want to be 45 and still rocking out,” Blais says. “If I ever injure myself I will still support events and people who break dance or beat box because it is in my soul. I’ve just got to be around it.”