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Shamel Pitts | TRIBE: Touch of RED

MoCA World Premiere Co-presented with Jacob's Pillow

By: - Oct 04, 2022

Shamel Pitts | TRIBE: Touch of RED
World Premiere Co-presented with Jacob's Pillow

October 21 & 22, 8pm

 

Groundbreaking choreographer Shamel Pitts doesn’t dance around big issues—instead, he dances into them.

 

 

Pitts, a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow in dance, is the founder and director of TRIBE, a critically acclaimed Afrofuturist arts collective—their last New York premiere, Black Hole, making the coveted New York Times Critic's Pick list with its "stylish and sincere" lunarverse. On October 21 & 22 at 8pm, MASS MoCA hosts the world premiere of TRIBE’s latest piece, Touch of RED, a work of cutting-edge choreography set in a reimagined boxing ring.

 

Co-presented with Jacob’s Pillow, Touch of RED is a duet that challenges how we think about male vulnerability. Taking place within a futuristic gladiator entertainment site, with the audience on all four sides, the tension between the sparring dancers builds from electric interest rather than combat. Firey video projection by Lucca Del Carlo and a thumping sound score by Sivan Jacobovitz create an immersive world for the central duo and audience alike. As Pitts describes, the piece explores "an allowance of men, especially men of color, to soften, and to share the power within that softness."


Touch of RED is part of TRIBE’s "RED series," which includes Lake of RED, screened as part of the Cannes Short Film Festival in 2020. The upcoming performance marks the first time the completed piece will debut to the public. Be part of the audience on October 21 or 22—get your tickets today before this multimedia match sells out.