David Elsewhere

Serving it up
By PETER LARSEN
The Orange County Register.
The skinny dude in the orange sweatshirt and khakis starts to dance almost shyly.Shuffle to the left, shuffle to the right.Punch the air, bob the head.And then - whoa!Your jaw drops, your eyes go wide.Because the dancer - David Bernal of Santa Ana - is now moving like people really aren't supposed to move.He looks possessed by a herky-jerky robot. His legs turn to rubber, rippling in waves.His body seems to collapse like liquid, then springs back into shape like a balloon inflating.Now muscles and bones look like they're flowing independently of - yet in rhythm with - each other, all at the same time.In just under a minute, the routine is finished. The crowd goes berserk and Bernal smiles softly. The video fades to black.
Though Bernal had no inkling at the time, his performance at that 2001 talent show would change his life. For when the clip found its way to the Internet a year later, it was an instant sensation. Millions soon saw it, making Elsewhere - Bernal's dance name - an underground celebrity ."I started getting e-mails about it, more and more, until it started being almost overwhelming," said Bernal, now 25. "I'm still getting e-mails about it today. It's crazy."Some of those e-mails offered jobs, and Bernal decided to postpone plans for a career in graphic design to see where dancing might take him. Three years later, his work is being seen by more and more people.He has performed on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," "The Tonight Show" and "The Steve Harvey Show." He danced in the movie "You Got Served," and in TV commercials for 7-Eleven , Heineken , iPod , Pepsi , and Volkswagen , the last another Internet buzz clip for its hip-hop take on Gene Kelly's famed "Singing In The Rain" routine ."It's the kind of thing that people are left with their mouth hanging open," said Terry Lindholm, Bernal's agent."Everyone is looking for the wow factor - that's how I sell it. Everyone's looking for it."But he's really it."
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