Danny Tidwell

Danny Tidwell was co-founder, with David Benaym, and Artistic Editor of movmnt magazine. An incredible dancer and a genius of movement, he never saw dance as something apart. "I've always had an interest in dance and music and fashion and society. You know, the whole lifestyle," he told movmnt, and he dreamed of bringing the performing arts back into people's living rooms.

His classical foundations were dazzling. Trained at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C., a silver medalist at the USA International Ballet Competition, he joined American Ballet Theatre in 2003 and danced leading roles there, including the spirit in Fokine's Le Spectre de la Rose. Then he chose freedom: Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and later a soloist position with the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo. Dance Magazine named him one of its "25 to Watch," and The New York Times saw in him "a prince among the rest," praising "his impeccable line and his ability to infuse slight choreography with authority."

In 2007, America discovered him on So You Think You Can Dance, where he finished runner-up of the third season. The Times concluded that if "Fame" was ever remade, he should play Leroy: "He's earned it." To the ballet purists who frowned, he answered: "I have a very deep respect for art, but I also think we have a lot to learn from pop culture. And that is the future." He went on to Memphis on Broadway in 2009 and danced with Tiler Peck on Dancing with the Stars in 2010. In movmnt he wrote, starred on the covers of issues 1 and 6, and led Keep It Real, which gave 100% of subscriptions to Dancers Responding to AIDS.

Daniel Arnold Tidwell was born on August 1, 1984, in Norfolk, Virginia, and grew up in Virginia Beach. "When I was younger, I got into a lot of trouble. Getting the opportunity to dance really got me out of that," he said. He started dancing at eight, first in jazz, at Denise Wall's studio, Dance Energy; she took him into her family, and the dancer and choreographer Travis Wall became his brother. In 2014, he married David Benaym.

Danny died on March 6, 2020, at the age of 35, from injuries sustained in a car accident in Georgia. His death shocked and moved the artistic and dance world, which mourned one of its most luminous talents. Yet his legacy is still alive: in the dancers he inspired, in a dance world that still speaks his name, and here, on movmnt.com, where his words, his images and the magazine he co-founded keep moving.

Sources: Wikipedia · The New York Times, July 11, 2007 · MOBBallet · Dance Informa · Variety