Danny Tidwell - Career

Career

Mistress of Ceremonies of the USA IBC, Anna-Marie Holmes, passed Tidwell's application videotape to Kevin McKenzie, artistic director of the elite American Ballet Theatre (ABT). Upon viewing it, McKenzie suggested to John Meehan (the ABT Education Director) that he offer Tidwell a place in the ABT Studio Company (its apprentice wing). Just two months later, Tidwell joined the Studio Company - without an audition - and soon after, in May 2003, he was promoted into their corps de ballet just before the ABT's 2003 season began at the Metropolitan Opera House. He performed many works in the classical ballet repertory, and although only a corps member, he was given soloists roles in Le Spectre de la Rose and the peasant pas de deux from Giselle. Tidwell was a company member of the ABT's 2003 production of the Swan Lake that was later broadcast on the program Great Performances: Dance in America and released on DVD. Despite his success, he was beginning to find the unremitting rigors of being in a company confining. Tidwell left the ABT in 2004, shocking the dance world and those who knew him.

Over the next two years, Tidwell dabbled in various pursuits. He performed contemporary works by choreographers Nacho Duato, Jiri Killian, William Forsythe, Kirk Peterson and Robert Hill. In 2005, Tidwell was featured as one of Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch (appearing on the cover) and Pointe Magazine's Top 10 VIP. He was a guest principal dancer in Ballet Lubbock's Nutcracker in December 2005. That August, Tidwell taught in the National Dance Foundation of Bermuda's International Summer Intensive program, run in partnership with American Ballet Theatre. Continuing to work in dance education, Tidwell is now on the faculty of JUMP and has been invited to guest teach at many schools and studios across the country.

Also in 2005, Tidwell, along with publisher David Benaym, photographer Roger Moenks, and choreographer Lauren Adams, co-created Moving Still, a "life performance" in the format of a combination of a live show and a photography art/fashion book. Moving Still lead to the creation of movmnt magazine in June 2006, a quarterly with a focus on fashion, dance, emerging music artists, and social issues that Tidwell co-founded with Benaym. Tidwell serves as the magazine's Artistic Advisor, and he eventually graced the cover in the Spring 2008 issue along with former SYTYCD contestant Sabra Johnson.

In 2006, Tidwell joined Complexions Contemporary Ballet for a season under the direction of company founders Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson. That summer he was invited back to the USA IBC to perform in the opening ceremonies. He left Complexions after a year.

During this period, Tidwell would often return home from New York to Virginia Beach, to be "rejuvenated" and teach at the studio with his mother. While still active in dance, Tidwell's career was losing focus, and his mother feared that he was losing his love for dance. That changed in late 2006 when the two went to see Tidwell's brother, Travis, perform in the So You Think You Can Dance tour in Madison Square Gardens. Travis had come in second place during the previous season, and was heavily featured in the touring show. His mother recalled, "At Madison Square Garden, Danny looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, 'I want to do that. My brother's up there on that stage, dancing and living, and I want to do that.'" The following season he attended the show's open auditions in New York City.