BLACK VELVET – ARCHITECTURES AND ARCHETYPES

10th Anniversary Performances 

November 2026
The Flea Theater 
20 Thomas Street, New York City 
SAVE THE DATE

TRIBE presents the 10th-anniversary celebration of BLACK VELVET, the award-winning live performance created by Shamel Pitts in collaboration with Mirelle Martins and Lucca Del Carlo.

BLACK VELVET is a celebration of the textures, beauty, delicacy, and power within us. A deeply reflective performance, it explores the colorfulness of Blackness—especially in relation to Black women—through a relationship of love, camaraderie, and compassion.

Originally premiered on November 11, 2016, in São Paulo, Brazil, BLACK VELVET toured internationally across 9 countries from 2017 to 2020. This transformative tour served as the foundational blueprint for TRIBE, the multidisciplinary performing arts collective founded by Pitts in 2019.

“BLACK VELVET is a texture of material. The title has to do with a nuanced research and sharing of the qualities between Mirelle and I as well as the relationship to the viewer. BLACK VELVET can be a very soft and delicate material but also extremely powerful due to its ability to absorb light and how it reflects light … We created a world in BLACK VELVET where we can both exist and thrive as we take care of each other. The lines between masculinity, femininity, love, color, all seem to blur. We take care of each other and there becomes enough room for both of us to be … and this creates the oneness of our existence”.

— Shamel Pitts

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Photo Credits – Alex Apt, Itai Zwecker

PRESS & MEDIA

“A haunting duet.”
Siobhan Burke
Siobhan BurkeThe New York Times
“A rich and complex work. ★★★★★”
Carrie O’Dell
Carrie O’DellReviews Hub
"A beautiful work of art as it is a dance performance … both lush and sparse at the same time — visually, sonically and emotionally.
Quinn Batson
Quinn BatsonOFFOFFOFF
“Superb in so many ways … Mr. Pitts and Ms. Martins captivated the audience with all that they gave through their bodies from their souls.”
Isa Freeling
Isa FreelingMedium
"In 'Black Velvet,' the second part of a trilogy, Mr. Pitts explores a partnership with Ms. Martins, whom he met while teaching Gaga in 2013. She had left a marketing job to study dance, a novice at 28; her work with Mr. Pitts introduced her to the stage."
Siobhan Burke
Siobhan BurkeThe New York Times

AWARDS

Best Out of Town Production by ArtsATL, 2018

Audience Choice Award at the Stockholm Fringe Festival, 2017

Double-Prize at Machol Shalem Dance Festival, 2017

ARTISTIC TEAM

Creation and Performance: Shamel Pitts and Mirelle Martins

Choreography: Shamel Pitts

Artistic Production Manager: Sarai Frazier

Video Light & Mapping Designer: Lucca Del Carlo

Costume Designer: David Gap

Audio: Tentáculo Áudio (Ed Côrtes)

Graphic Design: Idan Epshtein

Photographers & Videographers: Mauricio Pisani, Alex Apt, Wilian Aguiar, Rebecca Stella, Itai Zwecker

Creative Director: Mirelle Martins

Artistic Administrator: E Katrina Lewis

Managing Director: Brittany Wilson

Development Director: Eric Umble

Digital Creative & Development Associate: Pam Panozzo

Press Agent: Kamila Slawinski

Worldwide Bookings: Lotus Arts Management, Sophie Myrtil-McCourty, sophie@lotusartsmgmt.com

FUNDING CREDITS

BLACK VELVET 10th Anniversary Performances are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. This project has been supported by a developmental residency from PS21: Center for Contemporary Performance and Performance Space New York.