BLACK BOX Feature Screening
at In/Motion, Chicago’s International Dance Film Festival
Chicago – March 23, 24
An enigmatic performance featuring a solo by Shamel Pitts, a former company member of Israel’s iconic Batsheva Dance Company.
Buoyed by his trademark expressive movement, Pitts employs spoken word, evocative lighting, and video to construct a personal, poetic narrative about the search for identity and striving for survival amidst impermanence.
Performed in a confined space in nearly pitch-black darkness, the work features recordings of Pitts’ ruminations jotted down during his travels with Batsheva.
Obliquely referencing the flight data recorder, BLACK BOX transcends traditional travel journal format, becoming instead a record of a life as – in a nod to Nina Simone – a “young, gifted and Black” artist, thriving in constant motion.
Black Box was first performed at Shamel’s apartment in Tel Aviv, for an intimate audience of friends. It was first premiered for the general public at Suzanne Dellal Center for Dance and Theater in Tel Aviv.
Black Box’s first shows in New York City were held as part of the APAP Showcase in January 2017.
Read the article in The New York Times: “The Dancer Shamel Pitts on Coming Home”
“Shamel has a very strong presence. Here he exposes himself in two parallel channels which rub each other, the physical side, the outer layer with the tactical sensors, and the inner side, that verbalizes thoughts, ideas, feelings and precise them with words
It’s Shamel’s first full length (40 min) choreographic work and it’s very impressive, a portrait of a gifted dancer and a man of words ,emotions and versatile ways of expression, which without a doubt will lead this creator forward in the future“. Ora Brafman.
Conceived, written, and performed by Shamel Pitts
In collaboration with
Art Direction and Light Design: Tom Love
Music Arrangement: Stella Goldstein / Auerbach Records
Costume Design: Galit Reich
Original Logo Design: Zohar Shemesh
Graphic Design: Idan Epstein / Uber Designs
Photography: Alex Apt
Short movie: Aviv Maaravi
