OZ Arts presents internationally acclaimed choreographer Shamel Pitts and his company, TRIBE, in their award-winning production Black Hole: Trilogy and Triathlon. In a striking visual landscape created with innovative projection mapping, Pitts and two other virtuosic dancers perform his exquisitely choreographed movement with “ferocious abandon.” The Afrofuturist choreographic spectacle opens the contemporary arts center’s 11th spring season on February 2 & 3, 2024.
Black Hole: Trilogy and Triathlon mixes stunning movement and striking visuals to transport audiences into an imagined, Afrofuturist dimension. Black Hole is a kaleidoscopic performance art experience that submerses audiences in a soundscape of original music, sound samples and spoken word.
A trio of Black performers from TRIBE, a multidisciplinary arts collective created and led by Shamel Pitts, shares the stage in a narrative of unity, vigor and unrelenting advancement. Their journey originates in the darkness of the titular Black Hole, from which they embark on an hour-long, uninterrupted movement performance, in which their tenacity and grace are emphasized by cinematic video projections – the only source of light for the entire performance.
“We are thrilled to welcome Shamel Pitts and members of TRIBE to Nashville for the first time,” said Mark Murphy, OZ Arts Executive and Artistic Director. “Shamel has been best known as a lead dancer with the famed Batsheva Dance Company, but in recent years his own choreography has made him one of the most influential emerging artists in the global dance field. In his breakthrough work Black Hole: Trilogy and Triathlon his exquisite movement is framed by hypnotizing audiovisual elements to take us all on a memorable, Afrofuturistic journey.”
Described as a marathon in three parts, ‘Triathlon’ concludes the ‘trilogy’ of Pitts’s “BLACK series” consisting of previous works Black Velvet: Architectures And Archetypes and Black Box: Little Black Book of RED. Although the title alludes to the cosmic phenomenon of black holes, his interpretation seeks not to explain science, but instead to explore a metaphorical place of transformation and potential.
The performance features dance elements built from the Gaga movement language developed by the prolific Batsheva Dance Company in Israel, where Pitts danced for seven years under choreographer Ohad Naharin.
TRIBE, based in Brooklyn, specializes in Afrofuturistic arts and was created with the dream to soon become a synonym of artistic experience that connects gifted individuals in our present era to re-imagine and cultivate an alternative new future.
OZ Arts will present Black Hole: Trilogy and Triathlon on Friday and Saturday, February 2 and 3 at 8:00 p.m. nightly, in its expansive warehouse. Tickets are $30 and $35, on sale now at: ozartsnashville.org. Those interested in seeing a preview of the performance can view the trailer on the OZ Arts website.
And, coming soon, Conversations at OZ, an evening of dinner and dialogue benefitting OZ Arts Nashville
Wednesday, February 21, 2024, at 6:30 p.m., with more than 30 prominent community figures, benefitting OZ Arts’ artistic and educational programs.
