Photo: Tiffany Bessire

The dance made me hearken back to the 90s, and I started to associate a lot of childhood memories during the performance. Every aspect: the sound, the movement, the wardrobe, the color, the music-- all of it kept me thinking about that weird time elder millenials remember without the internet and other technologies we assume as given today.

Lucide

In response to Rave Lucid

by JR Robles 

In response to Rave Lucid


1. Present

The Future is Temporary

The future is

bodies of real humans

Their weight impressing on the floors impressing on the dirt

Their sweat and oil shooting through the fog machine smoke

Here in person 

breathing the same air,

what machines

what code

could replicate this? 

2. Past

I’m in 1990

the beginning of my waking life

When they dance, I’m reminded 

of Momma’s FM car radio pugilizing

Right Said Fred I’m Too Sexy, I’m Too Sexy, I’m Too Sexy

And me at seven 

only kind of knowing 

what sexy meant.

 moved to Paris, Tennessee

 lived with my parents, aunt, 

uncle, cousins, and sister 

in one small house 

while a double wide trailer 

was prepared for us

 to live in, a remote hill

 land my father could 

never own

Isolated, I trained 

my algorithms

annotated my data 

in that trailer

White Men Can’t Jump 

Colnago hats,

 crossovers, MTV, 

MJ and Scottie, break dance offs, T

he Real World: New York 

Just before Grunge and OJ and Dial-up

3. Present Future

My, how bodies move

Through blades of light 

through air and space

The future is temporary

Anyone can do permanent

We will haunt 

the temporary spaces

The impermanent 

That which is here 

and then immediately gone

This dance will birth, live, and die

In this moment

This dance  

the true future of art

the rawest there is

The future is temporary

The future is temporary

The future is temporary

Future Present

Put your phone down

It’s not helping 

Sorry, your shitty cellphone video 

isn’t helping anyone 

sorryyourshittycellphonevideoisn’thelpinganyone 

Theater comedy music dance ballet sports movement gatherings liveness touch hugs smoke air spotlights the small of their back the nape of their neck even a strand of hair either grows or breaks stasis is clutter all the things that have all been made have been made

This dance

 will never again happen 

when will I see these souls again 

no idea 

but I WILL NEVER SEE THIS AGAIN 

I did not record this

In a moment, I see them dance. 

I watch them dance. 

I move. 

I find myself moving. 

I find myself moving. 

I am moving. 


About 
JR Robles
JR Robles is thrilled to be part of this year’s cohort of Art Wire writers. An actor, writer, and filmmaker, JR is always seeking inspiring art that sparks more art. His poems and essays have been published in a number of places, and he is co-producer of the Dare to Fail! Film showcase. JR lives in Nashville with his family.
OZ Arts Nashville presents Art Wire: an ongoing collaboration between OZ Arts and The Porch in which 10 writers attend the OZ Arts performance season and respond to the presentations through original writing that is personal, playful, and deeply engaged. The OZ Arts 2019-2020 season offers each Art Wire Fellow a diverse array of inspiration, including innovative Japanese dance artist Hiroaki Umeda; a genre-bending presentation of Frankenstein by Chicago-based company Manual Cinema; and two emotionally raw works with Nashville's own professional dance company, New Dialect, just to name a few.

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