“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”- Charles Darwin.
In an age where mankind has never been more divided, Shamel Pitts’ company work BLACK HOLE: Trilogy and Triathlon is just what Pittsburgh needed this weekend as the audience embarked on a cosmic evolution of mankind.
In this work, Shamel Pitts, his trio of Black polymorphic performers (all of African heritage), and the evocative soundscape haunted the audience with the eerie truth of humankind. As an observer, I felt completely dissected as a human entity all the way down to a cellular level. The energy in the room between us (the audience) and them (the artists) was so tender and tangible it was as if you could connect with the energy of every living being in the theater and unite in compassion for the multifaceted complexities of our species. In one short hour, Pitts was able to take the audience on an evolutionary journey through many epochs in history; from when man first emerged from the bioluminescent sea, to when we took our first steps, to when we first danced, to when man first met majesty and truly knew power. I’m not an avid believer in time travel but this work truly took me back many lives and left me feeling completely raw and questioning my humanity.
I know I’ve just witnessed a beautiful work when I leave the theater full of questions; but more so when I leave the theater with answers and clarity. At the root of this work, the paramount point was that human beings were formed as communal creatures and we evolved as such. Yet at some point in time we began only worrying about our own lives and not the betterment of our neighbors. There is a potent power in unity and this work is a revolutionary example of such an idea.
Thank you to the Kelly Strayhorn Theater for bringing Shamel Pitts, TRIBE, and this breathtaking work to Pittsburgh at a time when we most needed to see it.
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