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Touch of RED is a new evening-length multidisciplinary performance work presented by New York Live Arts. Consisting of a duet for two men inside a contemporary ring, the performance draws inspiration from two distinct arts requiring rapid-fire footwork – boxing and the African-American jazz dance style Lindy Hop.
This ten-round duet is performed by Shamel Pitts and Tushrik Fredericks who debuted with the Afrofuturistic collective in the critically-acclaimed 2022 show BLACK HOLE: Trilogy and Triathlon. Touch of RED will have its NYC premiere at the New York Live Arts Theater on Thursday, April 27th, Friday, April 28th, and Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at 7:30 pm.
Set in a stylized ring designed by the 2015 McArthur Fellow Mimi Lien and featuring cinematic video mapping by Lucca Del Carlo, lighting by the veteran Australian designer Rus Snelling, and costumes by the acclaimed experimental fashion star Dion Lee, Touch of RED examines the way Black men are perceived and perceive themselves in contemporary society, and how masculinity and vulnerability can be reconciled in a non-competitive, compassionate, and healing way.
The multidisciplinary piece was developed as part of Live Arts’ Live Feed creative residency and commissioning program, as well as in a series of art residencies, and first performed at MASSMoCA in 2022.
Shamel Pitts remembers the origins of the work:
“When I returned to the US, there was a lot of boxing on TV, and watching it, I never understood the appeal of two men beating the crap out of each other– especially two men of color; I found it revolting.
But in my mind, every time I feel repulsion, I am also curious to dig deeper. A closer look at great boxing matches of legendary athletes like Muhammad Ali revealed something unexpected – a layer of camaraderie, almost tenderness, a kind of touch that felt profound, vulnerable, and consoling.
At the same time, the form intrigued me: the footwork in boxing is often a reason why great fighters are described as “dancing in the ring”. In Touch of RED, it’s important that the audience sits around the “ring” when it happens – we want them to feel a level of participation, closeness and warmth that is not theatrical, but rather a primordial gathering.”
The production’s award-winning set designer Mimi Lien adds:
“I felt a real kinship with Shamel when we first started talking about the design for Touch of Red – I was excited to realize that we both think about the nature of an event in spatial terms… and for this particular event, asking what an expansive definition of ‘Arena’ could be.
We asked ourselves, what modes of viewing could be designed to allow for both the public spectacle of boxing, as well as the intimacy of a tender duet between these two men?”
Touch of RED is the third installment of the “RED Series”, comprising video art film, art residency, installation, and live performance projects. It has been conceived and executed entirely by TRIBE collective and choreographer Shamel Pitts, largely during the COVID pandemic which brought the need for community and togetherness front and centre. Named after Pitts’ childhood nickname and inspired by warmth and closeness, it continues the collective company’s research on the colourfulness within blackness.
Concept Direction & Choreography: Shamel Pitts
Performers: Tushrik Fredericks & Shamel Pitts
Artistic Production Manager & Lighting Designer: Rus Snelling
Video Light & Mapping Designer: Lucca Del Carlo
Set Designer: Mimi Lien
Costume Designer: Dion Lee
Costume Stylists: TT Britt & Tushrik Fredericks
Shoe Apparel – Fulton Cobbler (Brooklyn) – customized “gloves”
Original Musical Score: Sivan Jacobovitz
Dramaturge: Ashley Pierre-Louis
Lindy Hop Instructor: LaTasha Barnes
Cinematographer: Taylor Antisdel
Creative Director: Mirelle Martins
Shamel Pitts is the Concept Director, Choreographer, Performer, Founding Artistic Director, and a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow. He is a performance artist, choreographer, conceptual artist, dancer, spoken word artist, and teacher. Shamel is an adjunct professor at The Juilliard School and has been an artist in residence at Harvard University. He is the recipient of a 2018 Princess Grace Award in Choreography, a 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Award winner in Choreography, a 2020 Jacob’s Pillow artist in residence and a 2021 New York Dance Award winner (The Bessies). Shamel is the Founding Artistic Director of TRIBE, a Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary arts collective. TRIBE is a 92Y Harkness Dance Center’s Artist In Residence for the 2020-2021 season. Shamel Pitts | TRIBE is also a New York Live Arts Live Feed artist in residence.
Tushrik Fredricks is the Performer & Costume Stylist. He is a recipient of Princess Grace Award (Chris Helman dance honor), nominated by TRIBE in 2021 and is originally from Johannesburg, South Africa. In May 2021 Tushrik received 3rd prize for dance at the SoloTanz Festival in Stuttgart for his self-choreographed solo (territory) of the heart, and in November 2022 it will be presented at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts.
TRIBE (TRI314 Multidisciplinary Visual Performances, Inc., d/b/a TRIBE), is a Brooklyn, New York-based multidisciplinary arts collective founded by Shamel Pitts in December 2019. The arts collective, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is composed of international and local artists working across mediums such as movement, choreography, lighting design, video mapping projection, poetry, spoken word, painting, cinematography, scenography, dramaturgy, costume styling, and music composition.
Touch of RED is presented by New York Live Arts
Thursday, April 27th, Friday, April 28th, and Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at 7:30 pm.
219 West 19th Street, NYC (between Seventh and Eighth Avenue)
Tickets start at $25
Purchase tickets at 212-691-6500
or online at newyorklivearts.org
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