As young dancers in the mid-1980s, Danial Shapiro and Joanie Smith frequently spent their evenings with Smith’s sister, violinist Soozie Tyrell, and her best friend, a young singer-songwriter named Patti Scialfa.
In the years since, Shapiro and Smith emerged as internationally renowned choreographers praised by The New York Times for their “strong, sharp-edged dancing and daring theatricality.” Meanwhile, Tyrell and Scialfa went on to perform as members of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band.
Recently, the quartet reunited to create “Anytown: Stories of America,” a dance-theater piece based on Springsteen’s songs. On Nov. 17, the show will make its St. Louis premiere at Edison Theatre. It runs through Nov. 19.
A music-driven dance-theater piece, “Anytown” draws its inspiration directly from Springsteen’s songs, including “Human Touch,” “Youngstown,” “Countin’ On a Miracle” and an acoustic blues version of “Born in the USA.” In all, “Anytown” includes nine of Springsteen songs, the most he has ever allowed to be used in a performance piece. Scialfa and Tyrell provide additional music.
The story follows the intertwined lives of three middle-class families, evoking their daily struggles and life challenges through the skillful juxtaposition of movement, metaphor and lyrics.
The multi-generational cast of nine dancers is led by Germaul Barnes, a Bessie Award winner and former principal dancer with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company; Kelly Drummond Cawthon, a 13-year veteran of Shapiro & Smith Dance; and Carl Flink, a former Limón Dance Company soloist.
Other dancers are Maggie Bergeron, Bernard Brown, Kelly Gaunt, Kari Mosel, Eddie Oroyan and Laura Selle. The Edison Theatre engagement is part of a three-year, 60-city U.S. tour.
“‘Anytown’ marks the most exciting collaboration of our careers,” Shapiro said of the show’s premiere, which took place Oct. 5, 2005, at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia.
Sadly, it was to be one of Shapiro’s final projects. In 2002, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He died Oct. 3, 2006.
“My diagnosis forced Joanie and me to focus on the priorities of getting well, but also guided our hand to the work we felt compelled to do,” Shapiro said shortly before his death. “Since we had long dreamt of dancing with the music of Soozie, Patti and Bruce, our course was set.”
In conjunction with the U.S. tour of “Anytown,” Shapiro & Smith Dance launched “PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) in the USA,” a national awareness campaign to educate people about prostate cancer. The group hopes to provide free PSA testing for one million men.
“Whoever met Dan will remember him,” Tyrell recently wrote on her Web site. “Whoever saw Dan dance will remember him. … Danny threaded grace with strength. His vast eclectic knowledge was spiced with wickedly great humor. His curiosity never ended. He is forever embedded in our hearts.”
Shapiro and Smith first met while performing in the companies of Murray Louis and Alwin Nikolais. They founded Shapiro & Smith Dance in New York in 1987 and quickly earned a reputation for creating works of challenging physicality, biting wit and emotional depth.
Based in Minneapolis since 1995, the company has performed at major venues and festivals across the United States, Europe, Asia and Canada. Smith holds the Barbara Barker Endowed Chair in the Department of Theater Arts and Dance at the University of Minnesota.
Scialfa, now Springsteen’s wife, continues to tour with the E Street Band and is a featured performer on some of Springsteen’s most recent studio albums, “The Rising” (2002) and “Devils and Dust” (2005). She released two solo albums, “Rumbledoll” (1993) and “23rd Street Lullaby” (2004), which highlight her jazz-influenced style with tracks ranging from plaintive ballads to full-tilt rockers.
Tyrell can be heard on six of Springsteen’s albums as well as both of Scialfa’s. Other recordings include Shawn Colvin’s Grammy-winning “Steady On” (1989), John Hammond’s Grammy-nominated “Found True Love” (1996) and Sheryl Crow’s “C’mon, C’mon” (2002) and “Train’s My Private Nation” (2003). Her debut solo effort, “White Lines,” was released in 2003.
Performances are sponsored by the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series and Dance St. Louis.
The OVATIONS! Series serves both the University and the St. Louis community by providing the highest caliber national and international artists in music, dance and theater, performing new works as well as innovative interpretations of classical material not otherwise seen in St. Louis. Focusing on presentations that are interdisciplinary, multicultural and/or experimental, Edison Theatre presents work intended to challenge, educate and inspire.
Dance St. Louis was founded in 1966 by a small group of dance enthusiasts led by Annelise Mertz, professor emerita of dance. Dance St. Louis has become one of the area’s cultural treasures and a national dance landmark — one of only six organizations in the United States that presents a complete fall-to-spring season of dance every year.
Performances are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 17-18, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19. Tickets are $30; $25 for seniors, faculty and staff; and $18 for students and children.
For more information, call 935-6543 or visit edisontheatre.wustl.edu.