Dancing through challenges while lifting people up—That’s Shirladelphia

With all the craziness happening in the world, it sure is nice to hear about someone who does nice things for others. That’s Shirla Smith.

- Thera Martin

Now, having learned some of the Shirla Smith story, I connect her with the name “Miracle Worker” in my mind, because one of the amazing things she does is teach vision-impaired and blind people the art of dancing. Shirla does this without the support of a big-name organization. Currently, she teaches dance classes to people with visual impairments, day by day, week by week.

Until recently, Shirla Smith was moving her makeshift dance studio from one location to another, wherever anyone would welcome her free of charge, or for very little money, so that she could carry on her dance classes. Thank goodness for the Saint Paul Community Center at 1013 Wallace Street; Shirla and her dancers now have a place they can depend on, at least for a while, to gather, laugh, talk, and dance.

Her story is so special that she was recently featured in a short documentary about her work, titled “Sound of Dance.” Adam Reim did the documentary.