News: MacArthur “Genius” Fellow Shamel Pitts’ TRIBE Presents the Remix of "Black Velvet" on Its 10th Anniversary

MacArthur Fellow and award-winning choreographer Shamel Pitts and TRIBE present a 10th-anniversary performance of Black Velvet at The Flea Theater (20 Thomas Street, New York, NY 10007), November 19–21, 2026, at 7:30 pm. Created by Pitts and performed by Channce Williams and Ke’ron J. Wilson, this anniversary production returns to a work whose original international journey helped lay the foundation for TRIBE. Tickets, priced $35-75, are available at https://givebutter.com/blackvelvet.

Black Velvet – Once called “a haunting duet” by The New York Times – premiered on November 11, 2016, in São Paulo, at dawn of the first Trump presidency. In 2026, this work retains its singular political artistic relevance as a work about Black empowerment,liberation, movement, and textural beauty. Originally titled Black Velvet: Architectures And Archetypes, the award-winning multidisciplinary work was created and performed by Pitts in collaboration with performer Mirelle Martins and Lighting and Video Mapping Artist Lucca Del Carlo. Black Velvet returns a decade later, as an iterative remix with a new cast of performers. TRIBE collective artists, Channce Williams and Ke’ron J. Wilson breathe new life into Pitt’s original choreography while broadening its queer investigations on Blackness and gender. The remix features new costumes and body paint, new music arrangement, and strives to add a new arc to the original award-winning production.

“A remix is not an exercise in nostalgia. It’s an invitation for the work to become something we couldn’t have imagined ten years ago,” writes Pitts. “Channce and Ke’ron bring their own histories, identities, extraordinary physicality, and emotional intelligence to Black Velvet, transforming not only the duet itself, but its meaning. A work that has always sought to blur boundaries of race, gender, and identity now reaches for something beyond transformation: transcendence.”

The remixed anniversary production was developed through a fall 2026 residency at PS21: Center for Contemporary Performance, with additional residency support from Performance Space New York. The artistic team includes Lucca Del Carlo as Lighting and Video Mapping Artist, Sarai Frazier as Artistic Production Manager, Errin Shin as Costume Designers, and Manny Catechis on audio mixing & mastering. The work will be available for touring in spring 2027.

Black Velvet received the Audience Choice Award at the Stockholm Fringe Festival and a Double-Prize at Machol Shalem Dance Festival in 2017, followed by ArtsATL’s Best Out of Town Production distinction in 2018.

BLACK VELVET: A 10th-Anniversary Remix

Concept Direction & Choreography: Shamel Pitts
Performers: Channce Williams and Ke’ron J. Wilson
Thursday, November 19, 2026, at 7:30 pm
Friday, November 20, 2026, at 7:30 pm
Saturday, November 21, 2026, at 7:30 pm

For more information, visit: https://itsatribe.org/black-velvet/