Villalongo borrows the composition for Obertura de la Espora (Time Dancer) from a painting of Jean-Baptiste Belley, a former Haitian slave who became deputy to the French Convention responsible for abolishing slavery in the French colonies. In the 1797 painting, Belley leans against a bust of Raynal, an abolitionist French philosopher, and carries the feathered hat of the liberator of Haiti, General Toussaint L’Ouverture. It is a piece brimming with Black history and emblematic of Villalongo’s mission to reveal figures who have been erased or underserved by history. In conversation with Torkwase Dyson, Villalongo said of this piece, “I couldn’t talk about movement, blackness, and masculinity without recognizing exceptional figures that remind me of how powerful our movements have been in the face of adversity.” For Villalongo, the use of African masks in his work is a reference to deep time – time that expands deep into history. This is hinted at by the title, which loosely translated from Spanish means ‘overture of the spores.’ Spores are produced by plants and protozoa for survival or reproduction. Some bacterial spores can go into a vegetative state for centuries until conditions are right and can survive desiccation or chemical disinfectants. This is a piece about survival in impossible conditions and remembering important Black figures past, present, and future.