Sunday, October 4, 2026 2:00 PM
Power Center
Marks of RED
Shamel Pitts | TRIBE
Early access for renewing subscribers
starts Tue Apr 28
After the jaw-dropping 2025 presentation of BLACK HOLE, Shamel Pitts | TRIBE returns with its newest multidisciplinary dance work, Marks of RED.
A work of magical realism narrated by and featuring the viewpoints of six women, Marks of RED is an Afrofuturistic meditation that explores the effect that memory has on our experiences, senses, bodies, reality, and imaginative possibilities.
Anchored in the distinctive Gaga movement style in which Pitts was trained (he danced with Batsheva Dance Company for seven years), the work draws inspiration from sumo wrestling, butoh dance, and techno music, molding ritual, movement, and sound into a rumination on Black embodiment. The multidisciplinary piece explores the deep complexity of self-expression and is the fourth installment of Shamel Pitts’ RED Series.
“I know I’ve just witnessed a beautiful work when I leave the theater full of questions; but more so when I leave the theater with answers and clarity.” (Dance Currents)
Note: This performance uses strobe lighting.
Buy Tickets
Marks of RED
Shamel Pitts | TRIBE
Power Center
Season tickets on sale Tue May 5
Early access for renewing subscribers
starts Tue Apr 28
CHOOSE A PERFORMANCE:
Or call the ticket office at 734-764-2538
* Student, Senior and Group Discounts may be available
2020 Guggenheim Fellow Shamel Pitts is a performance artist, choreographer, conceptual artist, dancer, spoken word artist, and teacher. Born in Brooklyn New York, Shamel began his dance training at LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and the Performing Arts and, simultaneously, at The Ailey School. He is 2003 YoungArts Finalist and a first prize (level 1) winner of the YoungArts competition. Shamel then went on to receive his BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School and was awarded the Martha Hill Award for excellence in dance. He began his dance career in Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Hell’s Kitchen Dance and BJM_Danse Montreal. Shamel danced with Batsheva Dance Company for 7 years, under the artistic direction of Ohad Naharin and is a certified teacher of Gaga movement language. Shamel has created a triptych of award winning multidisciplinary performance art works known as his “BLACK series” which has been performed and toured extensively to many festivals around the world since 2016. He is an adjunct at The Juilliard School and has been an artist in residence at Harvard University. Shamel is the choreographer of the play “Help” by acclaimed poet and playwright Claudia Rankine, directed by Taibi Magar, and commissioned at The Shed in New York. He is the recipient of a 2018 Princess Grace Award in Choreography, a 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Award winner in Choreography, and a 2020 Jacob’s Pillow artist in residence. Shamel is the artistic director/founder of TRIBE, a New York based multidisciplinary arts collective. TRIBE is a 92Y Harkness Dance Center’s Artist In Residence for the 2020-2021 season.
Love great music, theater, and dance?
Surely your inbox has room for one more email... Sign up for notifications on upcoming events and season updates.