# Gaga Movement Session with Shamel Pitts ![Shamel Pitts facing away from the camera at a room of dancers](/sites/g/files/omnuum6821/files/styles/hwp_5_4__480x385/public/2026-08/Atanas%20Maev%20Photography%20%282%29.jpg?h=8436968e&itok=eyls9fvT) #### calendar\_today Date and Time **September 17, 2026** 06:00PM - 07:30PM EDT #### pin\_drop Location **Farkas Hall Stage, 12 Holyoke St** [ RSVP arrow\_circle\_right ](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeVi0XCyP295tec_8hz6pS2oYUisk7YCstwenOnDAmuwgQ4YQ/viewform) TDM and the OFA Dance Program welcome back [**Shamel Pitts**](http://www.shamelpitts.com/), New York-based choreographer and former member of Batsheva Dance Company, to lead a Gaga movement session—the movement language originated by Ohad Naharin. It will also include research he has been developing through his own works. The research explores an intimate physicality on groove and the subtlety of small gestures which lead to a bigger picture of the moment. ![Event poster for Gaga Movement Session with Shamel Pitts](/sites/g/files/omnuum6821/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/2026-08/2026-09-17%20Shamel%20Pitts%20visit%20flyer-8x10.png?itok=J2KjQnU_) **Participation is free and open to the Boston dance community, but due to limited class capacity, online registration is required.** Priority will be given to Harvard University undergraduate students. Please note that this session is closed to observers. Per Harvard minors' policy, all participants must be 18+ years of age. Presented by [Theater, Dance & Media](https://tdm.fas.harvard.edu/) in partnership with the [OFA Dance Program](https://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/dance), this event is generously funded by the Provostial Funds for the Arts and Humanities, and presented by Theater, Dance & Media in partnership with the OFA Dance Program. Please RSVP with your attendance. For any accessibility needs, please share with your RSVP or contact us at . **ABOUT SHAMELL PITTS** [Shamel Pitts](http://shamelpitts.com/) (Brooklyn, NY), a [2024 MacArthur Fellow](https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2024/shamel-pitts), is a performance artist, choreographer, conceptual artist, dancer, spoken word artist, director, and teacher. Born in Brooklyn, NY, Pitts began his dance training at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and, simultaneously, at The Ailey School. He is a first prize winner in The National Arts Competition from YoungArts. Pitts went on to receive his BFA in dance from The Juilliard School and was awarded the Martha Hill Award for excellence in dance. He began his dance career in Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Hell’s Kitchen Dance and BJM\_Danse Montreal. Pitts danced with Batsheva Dance Company for seven years under the artistic direction of Ohad Naharin and is a certified teacher of Gaga movement language. Pitts has created a triptych of award-winning performances, with his multidisciplinary arts collective [TRIBE](http://www.itsatribe.org/), known as his “BLACK series,” as well as their newly emerging “RED series”, which has toured extensively to many festivals & performance spaces around the world since 2016. He is an adjunct professor at The Juilliard School, a guest faculty member at Princeton University, New York University, Wesleyan University and has been an artist in residence at Harvard University. He is the recipient of a Princess Grace Award in Choreography, a NYSCA/NYFA Fellow in Choreography, Doris Duke Artist Award Recipient, Knight Choreography Prize Winner, a Jacob’s Pillow artist-in-residence, and a [2020 Guggenheim Fellow](https://www.gf.org/fellows/shamel-pitts/). Shamel Pitts | TRIBE has been artist in residence at 92Y Harkness Dance Center and at New York Live Arts’ Live Feed Creative Residency. Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#) Save: [ Add to calendar calendar\_today ](https://tdm.fas.harvard.edu/node/1617621/event-feed.ics) Copy link link