Biography
T]he couple has had an amazing ability to tap into the commonalities we share as human beings––the structure of family, our relationships, our struggles––and bring them to the stage in ways that are intense, humorous, provocative and accessible.
John Tomlinson, General Manager, Paul Taylor Dance Company
Born : Shapiro: Syracuse NY.; Smith: 1951, Washington, DC. Died :Shapiro: Atlantic City, NJ, October 3, 2006.
Danial Shapiro and Joanie Smith founded Shapiro & Smith Dance in 1985 after meeting in the companies of Murray Louis and Alwin Nikolais. Shapiro & Smith Dance has performed across the U.S., Europe, Asia and Canada, presented by major festivals and venues including the Joyce Theater, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Dance Theater Workshop, St. Mark’s Danspace Project, PS 122, Festival di Milano, Teatro de Danza in Mexico City, Recklinghausen RuhrFestSpiele, and the Korean International Festival. Danial Shapiro died of complications from prostate cancer in 2006 and now Joanie Smith continues as sole artistic director of Shapiro & Smith Dance, which has received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the McKnight Foundation, the Target Foundation, New York State Council for the Arts, and the Jerome, Harkness, Greenwall, Dance Magazine, and Joyce Mertz-Gilmore foundations. Danial Shapiro was born in New York City on January 5th, 1958. He died in Atlantic City on October 3rd, 2006. Joanie Smith continues to teach at the University of Minnesota as a faculty member of the Department of Theater Arts and Dance.
Shapiro and Smith Dance Works
To Have and To Hold
Premiere Date: 1989
Notes from a Séance (Moonlight).
Premiere Date: 1999