Karen Hairston-Franzel

Language: English

High-Flying circus performer ‘Danny the Acrobat’ demonstrates the value of disability inclusion in the performing arts. His aerial arts performances dazzle, amaze, inspire, and change perceptions!

Twenty-three-year-old Daniel Franzel is at the forefront of changing the way people with autism and other disabilities are seen. His act entitled ‘Yes, You Can’ is performed 25-feet in the air, replete with spins, drops, and turns leaving audiences stunned and completely engaged. The fact that Danny defies autism as well as gravity inspires, thrills, and educates. Show goers can’t get enough of seeing Danny perform. They also want his back story. How did a nonverbal child, with a disabling form of autism, become a highly sought after circus performer? 

Already established on the performance circuit, Danny is a member of Omnium Circus, the American Circus Alliance, New York Live Arts, and is a Silver Medalist in The Special Olympics Florida.  It was at the 2023 American Youth Circus Organization Festival that Danny first began performing in public. It was also where his family realized circus arts was a viable career choice. The following year in 2024, as an Artist-In-Residence at Seattle’s renowned School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts, Danny started performing for the school’s summer camps and circus community. At the start of 2025, he was a featured artist at Orlando’s Epic Immerse Fest where he gave 12 shows over two days. He’s the consummate showman with an enviable work ethic. Danny’s team observed that all people need is to see someone doing the implausible to be inspired. Countless people have said his shows gave them hope for a loved one, or even for themselves. One lady said after seeing Danny’s show, she had a change of heart and decided to allow her daughter to pursue dance despite having autism. There are so many testimonials of how Danny’s show changed their perception of a family member, or of their own potential.

This year’s tour will include performances in Philadelphia’s Cannonball and Contemporary Circus Festivals; Chicago’s Circus and Performing Arts Festival, The Autism Theater Project, and circus shows in New Orleans, New York, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, San Antonio, Memphis, W. Virginia, and Washington, DC. Now professionally known as ‘Danny the Acrobat,’ Danny has collaborated with neurotypical and neurodiverse performers to promote his artistic platform of awareness and inclusion in the arts and contemporary society.  He’s thrilled to be living proof that no matter your diagnosis, you can still be successful in circus and in life!