
Walker Art Center and Northrop Present
Shamel Pitts | TRIBE
BLACK HOLE – Trilogy And Triathlon
Thu, Mar 21-Sat, Mar 23 8:00 pm
McGuire Theater, Walker Art Center
BLACK HOLE researches and shares an odyssey where three Black performers create a trinity of vigor, Afrofuturism, and embrace. Engulfed in an evocative soundscape of original music, sound samples, and spoken word, the dancers embark on a demanding hour-long journey in which their tenacity and grace are emphasized by cinematic video projections and stark, monochromatic lights. Mesmerizing and hauntingly magical, BLACK HOLE constitutes the final installment of Shamel Pitt’s Black Trilogy—marking the initial meeting between this choreographer and the artists of TRIBE.
If you need assistance with your tickets, please call 612-624-2345, email umntix@umn.edu.
The content below derives from the Northrop Across Campus Program that supports Northrop's mission towards intersections between performing arts and education for the benefit of all participants now and for generations to come.
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Take a deeper dive with these resources that provide additional information about the performers, the history of the artform, and the artistic process.
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Northrop and Walker Art Center will co-present BLACK HOLE – Trilogy and Triathlon, a creation by Shamel Pitts, artistic director/founder of the Brooklyn-based, Afrofuturistic arts collective, TRIBE. TRIBE’s mission is to cultivate space to create a platform for artists—most specifically artists of color—to "tell new stories and create a brighter future that is different, and shines more luminously, from its past."
The third installment of TRIBE’S "BLACK series," BLACK HOLE follows BLACK BOX and BLACK VELVET, and is described as “a kaleidoscopic performance art experience using movement, original sound, light projection, and visual art.” In a short interview with Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage, Shamel Pitts states, “The title is derived from the cosmic phenomenon of a black hole… this dimension of time and space that has the strongest gravitational pull, meaning everything in a black hole's axis gets condensed and swallowed into its core.”
BLACK HOLE is inspired by Afrofuturism, a genre that centers Black history and culture and incorporates science-fiction, technology, and futuristic elements into literature, music, and the visual arts. According to Angela Washington, Assistant Museum Librarian at The Met, Afrofuturism “focuses on works that examine the past, question the present, or imagine an optimistic future, and are meant to inspire a sense of pride in their audience.”
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.