Legendary dancer and former Shalamar star Jeffrey Daniel has claimed he was the one who introduced Michael Jackson to the move that would later mesmerize the world the moonwalk.

Speaking in an interview on Channels TV on Thursday, Daniel explained that the dance, originally known as the “backslide,” was already his signature move before Jackson adopted it.

“Michael saw me doing the backslide in ’79 on Soul Train,” Daniel recalled. “The following year, he came to a Disneyland show where I was performing with my group Eclipse. He brought little Janet Jackson along, and they stood in the wings watching us. Afterwards, he asked me to teach him.”

That encounter sparked a two-decade-long collaboration. Daniel worked with Jackson on choreography for several classics, including Beat It, Smooth Criminal, They Don’t Really Care About Us, and Ghosts. He later served as A&R and creative consultant at MJJ Music, Jackson’s record company.

In a surprising twist, Daniel revealed that he and Jackson were actually cousins a fact he only discovered in 2008 when his father showed him their family tree. “All the years we worked together, I never knew we were related,” he said.

Today, Daniel and Jackson family members including Janet, Jermaine, Randy, and Rebbie affectionately call each other “cousin,” cementing both a creative and familial bond.

Michael Jackson, the undisputed King of Pop, went on to turn the moonwalk into one of the most iconic dance moves in music history but it was Jeffrey Daniel who first showed him the step that changed performance forever.