Created by the visionary arts collective TRIBE — led by artistic director and choreographer Shamel Pitts —Touch of RED had its world premiere at MASS MoCA in fall 2022. Reimaging the boxing ring from a space of duels to one of duets, Touch of RED challenges how we think about male vulnerability, utilizing projection, animation, and lighting to create an immersive world for its central duo as they turn a space of aggression into one of softness.

Touch of RED is part of Shamel Pitts’ “RED Series” which continues his research to propose and share the colorfulness within Blackness, creating a body of work that supports, shelters, and cultivates an Afro-futuristic performance art landscape in which the multitude of Black diversity and capacity is realized, allowed, nurtured, and shared.

Pitts and TRIBE subsequently performed Touch of RED at the Walker Art Center, UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance, and DanceMN, and other venues across the country.

In 2026, Pitts and TRIBE returned to MASS MoCA to workshop and present an open rehearsal experience of the next work in the “RED Series,” Marks of RED, co-presented by Jacob’s Pillow. Marks of RED subsequently premiered at the Walker Art Center.