Britt Bendixen (14 January 1942 — 18 February 2023) was a Danish

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

and dance instructor who is remembered in Denmark for her many appearances as a judge in the television series '' Vild med dans''. As a choreographer, she contributed to many revues, including Copenhagen's popular Cirkusrevyen year after year. Bendixen taught until 2015 at the Pejsegaarden dance school in

Husum Husum (, frr, Hüsem) is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The town was the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Storm, who coined the epithet "the grey town by the sea". It is also the home of ...

which she inherited from her mother. In 2017, she published her autobiography ''Et lyst sind''.

Early life

Born on 14 January 1942 in Copenhagen, Britt Bendixen was the daughter of the dance instructor Frode Godtfred Hekkel Bendixen (1907–1996) and his wife Mitzi Naemi née Podsedek, a dance instructor and restaurateur. She was brought up by her mother and her Swedish grandmother Edla Ekstrand (1881–1965) in the Pejsegården dance school which was run by her mother, first in Brønshøj then in

. Her parents separated when she was six. When she was 12 she was sent to a boarding school as her mother needed time to run the school. Bendixen was particularly competent in foreign languages and thought for a time she might work as a translator. She then spent a year in Switzerland as an au pair. By the time she was 19, she had been trained as a dance instructor.

Career

From the age of 19, Bendixen worked as a dance instructor, training many famous and not so famous people. One of her most successful pupils was Mads Blangstrup of the Royal Danish Ballet. She increasingly devoted herself to choreography, contributing to many revues including Circusrevyen on numerous occasions. In 2015, she sold the Pejsegaarden dance school. She is remembered above all for the many years she served as a judge in the television series ''Vild med dans'', from its beginning in 2005 until she retired in 2021. In 2017, she published her biography ''Et lyst sind - er ofte en viljessag'' (A bright mind - is often a matter of will). From 1965, Bendixen lived with the American choreographer Gene Nettles (1928–1994). Together they had a son Niclas Bendixen (born 1972) who also became a dance instructor. The couple separated in 1981. From 1997, Bendixen's partner was the IT expert Marianne Nybo (born 1960). The two married shortly before Bendixen's death. Britt Bendixen died on 18 February 2023.

References

External links

Bendixen Dans website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bendixen, Britt 1942 births 2023 deaths Danish choreographers Danish women choreographers Danish dance instructors Danish television personalities Danish autobiographers