BLACK VELVET
Brooklyn raised dancer prepares for
hometown debute of international act
TBy Colin Mixson alk about a homecoming
dance!
A Brooklyn-born jitterbug
is bringing his international
dance act to his home borough for
the first time on May 9, when his
show “Black Velvet” will make its
Kings County premier at Brooklyn
Academy of Music.
“For me to bring my work to
Brooklyn Academy of Music feels
monumental, and it feels like a
homecoming,” said Shamel Pitts.
The Bedford-Stuyvesant-raised
dancer and choreographer developed
his multidisciplinary dance
performance as a visual expression
of his partnership with fellow
dancer Mirelle Martins, who
attended a dance workshop Pitts
taught in 2013, leading to an
instant and profound connection
that could only be expressed one
way — through dance!
“Black Velvet is about the
efficiency of strangers to become
partners,” said Pitts.
Pitts, who utilizes an Israeli
style of dance that features subtle
movements with explosive gestures,
called Gaga, first premiered
in Brazil in 2016, before heading
out on an international tour that
netted the dance duo an Audience
Choice Award at the Stockholm
Fringe Festival in Sweden.
But the show also leans on the
talents of Brazil-based Graphic
Designer and Video Artist Lucca
Del Carol, who’s employed a
special, single-point projection
Dancers Shamel Pitts and Mirelle Martins in Black Velvet, coming to Brooklyn
Academy of Music on May 9. Photo by Rebecca Stella
technique that utilizes video mapping
to project three-dimensional
images around Pitts and Martins
movements.
“The work is very cinematic,”
said Pitts. “It’s contemporary art
more than dance.”
And Pitts developed a soundscape
for Black Velvet that borrows
from Brooklyn-born rapper
Jay Z, along with other African-
American poets and artists.
“Their music is part of the
COURIER L 42 IFE, APRIL 26-MAY 2, 2019 24-7
soundscape in very subtle ways,”
said Pitts. “That’s why, especially
in Brooklyn, people who know of
Jay Z’s work, Nina Simone, and
Frank Ocean, they’ll feel them.”
Experience Black Velvet at
Brooklyn Academy of Music 321
Ashland Pl. between Lafayette
Avenue and Hanson Place in Fort
Greene, (718) 636–4100, www.bam.
org/blackvelvet May 9–11, 7:30
p.m. May 12, 3 p.m. Tickets start
at $20.
HBy Maya Harrison e’s a Brooklyn boy with
big dreams!
Congratulations are
in order for Brooklyn kid actor
Jose Antonio Carrera after the rising
star was nominated for Best
Performance in a Short Film at this
year’s 40th Annual Young Artist
Awards, which is referred to as
the youth version of the Oscars,
according to the actor himself.
Carrera, 15, was nominated
for his debut in the short film
“Swinging Into Action.” The film
is based on a young boy’s toil with
handling bullies and his aggressive
stepfather.
“I am thankful for this nomination.
I am so thankful for the
opportunity to create this character
and take it this far. The most amazing
thing is that I am going with
my best friend, Joshua Packard,
to Los Angeles What better
way to share this nomination,”
Carrera said.
But this isn’t Carrera’s first time
in the limelight. Carrera also stars
in the web series “Facts of Life”
(2018) and he just recently finished
acting in his latest indie film —
directed by his mother — “Keep
on Believing” (2019).
He aspires to pursue acting full
time and believes this award nomination
is the best next step for his
performing arts career.
The awards show will take place
July 19, in Hollywood, Calif.
Rising star
Building a movement: Builder Levy documented this anti-Vietnam War protest
in New York City. Builder Levy
Street shooter
New photo exhibit explores
life in 1960s Brooklyn
HBy Aidan Graham is photos bring
Brooklyn into focus!
A new art exhibition
will showcase a famed
photographer’s gritty images of
Kings County during the Civil
Rights Era. “The Photographs
of Builder Levy: Humanity in
the Streets,” opening on April
26 at the Brooklyn Historical
Society, captures the city’s
physical and cultural transformation
through the lens of
a Brooklyn-bred shutterbug,
according to the president of
the Society.
“Builder’s photos are from
the ’60s and ’70s, but they
are certainly relevant today,
in a time that we are feeling
the push-and-pull of all
kinds of political forces around
us, and racial inequities that
have continued to plague
us,” said Deborah Schwartz.
“It is very exciting to have a
photographer that is focused on
these issues.”
Levy’s work is an essential
historical record of the turbulent
era, according to Shwartz.
“His photographs cover a
huge amount of territory, from
everyday life to the really politically
charged events of the
1960s,” she said. “He became
interested in the way photography
allowed him to focus attention
on the civil rights movement,
the Vietnam protests,
the March on Washington,
and street life in Brooklyn in
the 1960s.”
The photographer, who
now lives in Florida, will be
at the Historical Society on
May 2, along with fellow photojournalist
Brian Palmer, for a
conversation on documenting
politically charged movements
through the camera lens.
The exhibit was created in
collaboration with the Pratt
Institute, with students from a
museum curation class choosing
the images on display,
according to their professor.
“The subject was chosen by
the Historical Society, so it was
given to us, but it was a good
one,” said Karyn Zieve. “We
went and visited with him. We
looked through his work, and
read about him. We learned
about the history of photography
at the time, and really created
a narrative and sentence
about his work.”
The 12-student class
searched through hundreds
of Levy’s photos, choosing
30 images that would create
a visual narrative about his
life and his work. Zieve said
the group attempted to capture
both Levy’s artistic activism,
as well as his chronicle of the
changing New York landscape.
“He took photos of civil
rights, social activism, antiwar
political activism. But,
at the same time, he took a
lot of photos on the streets of
Brooklyn as it was changing,”
she said. “So, we really blurred
the lines between his activism
and his documenting of the
city.”
“The Photographs of Builder
Levy” at the Brooklyn Historical
Society 128 Pierrepont St.
at Clinton Street in Brooklyn
Heights, (718) 222–4111, www.
brooklynhistory.org. On display
April 26–Aug. 11; Wed–
Sun, noon–5 p.m. $10 suggested
donation.
A star is born: Actor Jose Antonio
Carrera looking sharp for his screening.
Evelyn Ferreira
/www.brooklynhistory.org
/www.brooklynhistory.org
/www.bam
/www.bam
/brooklynhistory.org