Introducing DANNY KOPEL, the hair-flipping, eyewear-collecting, puppet-wielding SoulCycle instructor. Shy? Not sure we believe you. 

5 things you may not know about me...

1)  I am a crazed perfectionist. It’s not always fun, but it keeps me pushing myself to the next level.

2)  I am shy but come alive with a good crowd and good music. When all the elements are in place, something comes over me. I’d say that I’m fairly laid back – bookish, even! -- but I have stores of animal energy that a sick beat can unleash.

3)  I have a different job and different life every day. Teaching, writing, performing, sculpting, and more recently -- styling. My senior thesis in college was a puppet show.

4)  I’m a bit of a misfit… which is why I know New York is my town. Here, nobody cares who you are. It’s so freeing.

5)  I collect eyewear.

My class is unique because...

It’s a raucous party and intimate one-on-one conversation, all at the same time. My main goal is to give people permission to be their true selves, if only for 45 minutes. We don’t realize how repressed we are... I try to lead by example, riding my bike as hard as I can and rocking out like there’s no tomorrow.

My favorite artists are... 

Merce Cunningham, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Yves Saint Laurent… I could go for days. I’m an art nerd.

If I have an hour to myself, I'm... 

Making the next playlist. I think of it as curating, really. I take it that seriously and devote that much time to each class. If I don’t wanna get off my bike, dance around and smash some guitars, then I have to start the playlist over again.

A sense of humor is very important to me.

Otherwise it gets dull and dreary pretty fast, right? I think this is key for living in New York. You need a good pair of legs for walking, a little bit of attitude, a smartphone, but more importantly, a sense of humor. This place will bring you down otherwise.

My friends know me as...

The creative one.