#recurring dream theory pt 9

[shadowfax044]

Thoughts on the Recurring Dream Theory, Pt. 9

Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six Part Seven Part Eight

And now we get to the climax of the episode, which is just brimming with things for us to pick apart! XD

"I’ve always been looking over my shoulder, always expecting to see the grim figure of—”/“Death.” The second line is, of course, Mary’s first as she comes into the room. How could she complete the line, though? We’ve already mentioned that it’s strange that Vivian knows/is bringing up the Appointment in Samarra story when we’ve had Sherlock and Mycroft talking about it at various points in the episode, and now Mary is doing the same? If they are working together, this would make more sense, but there’s still the sticking point of Vivian happening to mention the story at all. And if Mary isn’t working with Vivian, then how did she know what word was supposed to come next? Was she waiting in the hallway for a cue? Except that doesn’t make sense, either, because the only time that Vivian seems surprised during this whole meeting is when Mary interrupts her. Again with the dramatics, Sherlock?

“Why does anyone do anything?” We’ve heard this line before, when a hostage was forced to be the voice of Moriarty. This could have different interpretations depending on the theory that you subscribe to: A) it’s really happening, and Vivian was threatened or bribed into murdering/“murdering” Mary, B) this is John’s alibi for killing/“killing” Mary, and Vivian is a patsy, or C) this is happening in Sherlock’s head, and Vivian is a mirror for John here, so Sherlock is working out that John is, once again, in danger from Moriarty/Mary/The Big Bad.

“Selling secrets?” We’ve had this theme before quite often, too: Andrew West’s prospective brother-in-law Joe Harrison (based on the relationship, Joe would be a mirror for Harry), Irene Adler (“Who says I’m selling?”/“Well, why would [the CIA] be interested?”), and Sherlock (taking Mycroft’s computer to Magnussen, although it was meant to be a ruse in his case). I’m... not quite sure about this one. I’ll come back to it.

“The Ambassador in Tbilisi found out. I thought I’d had it! Then she was taken hostage in that coup. I couldn’t believe my luck!” Yeah, I don’t believe your luck, either. What do we say about coincidences? But I’m not sure about where we’re supposed to take this, either. Anyone have a thought?

“What you didn’t know, Mary, was that this one also tipped off the hostage-takers.” I’m so confused here. I’m confused about a lot in this episode, but the main storyline surrounding that extraction is the worst. Why were they holding those hostages? Well, usually terrorists do that to gain some kind of leverage. But the way the extraction seems to have ended, those hostages would have died, too. There leverage was gone. Why would they talk approvingly about Vivian while torturing Ajay? Now, there isn’t much Vivian could have done to stop AGRA going in or to change their orders without outing herself, but would terrorists really care about the logic of her situation? No. They would pass the blame; Vivian would have become a target of the terrorist group if she was responsible. And Sherlock heard from Magnussen’s own mouth, “I know who Mary hurt and killed. I know how to find people who hate her.” It’s Mary, not Vivian, who has a target on her back. (Here is a really good meta by @wssh-watson in support of the John’s Alibi theory that expands on this idea of Vivian actually being Mary.) Note that Mary being the one who should be standing in Vivian’s place works for both the John’s Alibi theory and the Recurring Dream theory; it’s an intentional lie to obscure the truth, or it’s a metaphorical statement of Sherlock’s subconscious.

Continuing with that same line: “this one” is the phrase Sherlock uses to refer to Vivian. I’ve tried to find a parallel moment with a similar phrase, but all I can come up with is, “I should get myself a live-in one,” which Moriarty says in TRF while at Baker Street, and “the other one,” which Mycroft says in HLV in reference to, presumably, Sherrinford. Not sure what this could mean just yet.

“The hostages were killed, AGRA too, or so I thought. My secret was safe. But, apparently not.” Again, this feels more like Mary instead of Vivian. AGRA was killed—the others (supposedly) literally and R figuratively. It wouldn’t come back to haunt her; she was the only one remaining who knew about it. Except then the secret came to light. (I don’t understand this part, though; it makes me consider more closely the idea that everything since Sherlock came back to life on the operating table has been EMP. Why, after going to all that trouble to hide her past, would Mary hang onto the AGRA memory stick? And if she did keep it, why would she just hand it over to John and Sherlock at the first opportunity? Something else is fishy here.)

“A divorcee’s more likely to look for a new partner, a widow to fill the void left by her dead husband. Pets do that, or so I’m told.” This line bothers me because it’s specifically flipped around in the case of John and Sherlock: Sherlock died, or so John thought, and he went out and found a new partner, and John married someone else, and now we get all kinds of background on Sherlock and dogs. Is it flipped simply because this is mirror!verse? This needs more thought, too. (This whole fucking scene does, jesus christ....)

While Sherlock finishes up his deductions of Vivian, Mycroft, Lestrade, and the policemen come in. But regardless of the fact that they come in to see Vivian with a gun drawn and raised, none of the police draw their weapons, and no one demands that Vivian lower hers. Standard procedure in that kind of situation is for a police officer to raise their own weapon, demand the suspect drop their weapon, and to fire before the suspect can if they refuse to follow instructions. Yet no one in that room follows standard police procedure.

There’s time missing. Vivian says, “Maybe I can still surprise you,” and aims the gun. Lestrade says, “Come on, now, be sensible,” which, wtf, is not how a detective would handle that situation, and Vivian responds with a calm, “No, I don’t think so.” Then the frame changes immediately—no transition between them at all, but we’re still looking at Vivian. I tried to get screenshots right before and after. It goes really fast, though, so you might want to watch that part for clarity, if you can. (The transition is at 1:17:11.)

I find it interesting that there’s an abrupt transition here to move Sherlock’s silhouette out of the frame, rather than panning over. And from one instant to the next, Vivian’s mouth, still open from talking, is suddenly closed with a weird smile on her lips. To me, considering all the playing with time in this episode, this indicates a time skip. But that doesn’t make sense as far as the events of the confrontation; Vivian is planning to shoot right then. But the dream/EMP theory would make a realism flaw like this make sense.

Obviously, Mary sacrificing herself for Sherlock makes no sense at all, considering her personality, characterization, and history. There are only two ways that this makes sense: A) it was a ruse, to make them think she’s dead, or B) this act is a symbolic representation/ridiculous prediction inside Sherlock’s mind.

Mycroft’s face isn’t nearly panicky enough when Vivian points her gun at Sherlock. As we know, “I worry about him. Constantly,” and, “Your loss would break my heart.”

That doesn’t look like a broken heart; at best, that’s mildly bothered. But Sherlock still has trouble believing that Mycroft actually cares about him; this is exactly how Mycroft would look in Sherlock’s imagination during a scenario like this.

Mycroft, Lestrade, and the police officers randomly disappear from behind Sherlock and Mary in the middle of the scene. Obviously there’s an element of a dream world/poor memory/lie-told-in-a-hurry in this sequence.

Vivian is vicious when she says “surprise” after Mary is shot, but if Mary wasn’t the one she was aiming for, why would she be happy with this result? Did she really only want to cause one more death before going to prison? And again, why didn’t the officers follow protocol? They’re about to just walk up to an armed woman and restrain her with their hands. This is so messed up, I can’t even....

For full details on why Mary’s shooting and death scene make no sense for a realistic interpretation of the scene, see this amazing meta by @riteofashkente.

Why does Sherlock have to tell Mycroft (and why Mycroft?) to get an ambulance? Wouldn’t one of the officers be doing that already? And why does Mycroft look more worried for Mary than he did for Sherlock? The only explanation I can see is that Sherlock’s poor self-esteem and his desire to keep Mary safe in order to keep John happy make him project these reactions onto Mycroft even though it wouldn’t be how he would behave in this situation at all.

This really good (and short, haha) post by @sherlcckholmes does a good job of pointing out what’s wrong with John’s reactions to Mary’s gunshot wound.

And of course John’s angry smile while Mary is dying, nicely compared to the angry smile in 221B in HLV in this post of @shinka‘s.

Mycroft appears to be eating while Mary is dying. He’s not holding anything in his hands, but he is chewing. And despite Sherlock’s constant teasing about Mycroft’s weight, the only other time we’ve seen him eating is during the Victorian scenes of TAB, which are all in Sherlock’s head. (I can’t do a screenshot, because it’s the chewing motion that gives it away. If you’d like to look, it’s around 1:18:10.) [Important note: watching that a second time just now makes me think that he might be swallowing uncomfortably, but I’m going to keep this in here in case anyone agrees with my initial assessment.]

John bringing up the vow that Sherlock made is interesting, because technically Sherlock didn’t break it; he vowed to always be there, and he was. (Some thoughts on why this could be important: this post by @tjlcisthenewsexy and @going-to-my-mind--palace​.) Now, John could be angry because he interpreted the vow to mean that Sherlock would protect them all, but considering the VAST array of other problems with this scene, I think the specific wording of the vow is significant.

More on the ambulance:  If John alerted Mycroft and Lestrade of the showdown, isn’t it generally police procedure to bring paramedics along? As far as John knows, there’s another operative/assassin waiting at the aquarium, which would mean guns. Either Sherlock/John/Mary, the suspect, or the police officers on the scene could have been hurt. Again, why aren’t there paramedics available more quickly?

And even more on the ambulance:  Sherlock had only 3 seconds of consciousness, but he had enough time to wait 8 minutes after the shot for the paramedics to arrive on scene. Why does Mary, who is bleeding more seriously, have a minute or more to give dramatic goodbyes but dies before the paramedics can arrive? It makes no sense!

Then we get our second fire transition of the episode, which I talked about in part four of this meta series (link at the top).

Next, we get a shot of John walking through a graveyard, but we don’t see him visiting a grave. What is the point of this moment, since it’s obviously not about grieving Mary. For one thing, he doesn’t have an expression of sadness or grief on his face, and for another, she was cremated. Now, yes, sometimes people are cremated and then buried in a cemetery, but since we don’t see John actually visiting a monument to his late wife, we shouldn’t assume that that is his purpose in being there. Though, I have no idea why we get that scene at all; we might have to wait for more episodes before we can figure that out.

In Ella’s office, she says, “Your whole world’s come crashing down around you. Everything’s hopeless. Irretrievable. I know that’s what you must feel.” This, again, is a dramatized version of what reality would look like. A therapist wouldn’t put it that way. They’d ask you how you’re feeling, not describe it in gut-wrenching detail. They would encourage you to talk about how you’re feeling, because that’s the way to work through problems: address them. But they wouldn’t say, “But I can only help you if you completely open yourself up to me.” A therapist would say something more along the lines of, “I can only help you as much as you’ll let me.”

“It’s not really my style. I need to know what to do.... About John.” So basically, Sherlock went there to get Ella to tell him what to do to patch things up with John. But John is her patient; she’d lose her license if she talked about a patient without that patient’s permission. Sherlock would know that, so why would he even go to Ella’s office in the first place? If this scene is occurring in his head, however, and Ella is just his mental representation of someone who understands John’s thoughts and feelings, then it would make sense that he would want to consult that source of information.

The kitchen we see Mycroft enter is just... strange. I’ve seen an argument that it’s a workplace kitchen, but I don’t think, considering the opulence of Mycroft’s other work locations, that that could be accurate, nor do I think his home kitchen would be this bare and dingy. I think this is a case of Sherlock not knowing what a place looks like and filling it in with a best guess (or in this case, something appropriate for his mood and highly generic).

Why does Sherlock ask Mrs. Hudson to be the one to rein him in when he’s being cocky? She doesn’t go out on cases with him, where this is the biggest problem. I think Mrs. Hudson is representing John here. She has already been set up as a mirror for John before; Sherlock’s mind is continuing that association here. Whether this is now reality or still in Sherlock’s head, he is still asking her as a “substitute” for John (like the balloon).

On Mary’s DVD: “My old life.... It was full of consequences.” Her word choice is interesting here, since she doesn’t think there should be any consequences for her past: “People like Magnussen should be killed; that’s why there are people like me.” Just another moment in which Mary is OOC; again, Sherlock could be projecting what he wished he would have been able to do during his own faked death, or he could be desperately hoping that Mary has some redeemable qualities, because he wants John to be happy.

She never says the words “died” or “dead.” With all the parallels with Sherlock’s faked suicide, this feels deliberate to me. The show tends more toward the realistic, though, when showing us actual events, so having another character fake their death would be stretching it. Unless, of course, this is all part of something Sherlock created in his head/dreams/drugged-up mind palace, and Mary hasn’t actually been killed/“killed.”

Why does John send Sherlock both a written message and a verbal one through Molly? If this part is happening outside of Sherlock’s head, if it’s real, then the two of them secretly working together without anyone else’s knowledge would make sense. I’m not sure whether I feel like this is part of The Fake Things in the episode or not. Need more data. :)

And of course: “Go to hell, Sherlock.” Lots of different theories out there about what this might mean, but whatever else it signifies, I think it’s significant that we don’t see Sherlock at or around the moment when this line gets spoken. Did he not hear/see this part? Is it symbolic of him still missing important details about Mary?

That’s everything from the various scenes in this episode, but I have a couple over-arching things that I want to add, so there will be one more part in this series. Almost done, woohoo!

Concluded in Part Ten

[healingtheblackbody]

Sign Up For Our Community Ritual! Links Below. All events are ASL Interpreted.

Moe, The H.o.e.listic Health Coach

Friday, January 29th - 3:00 - 5:00pm

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAscu-hpjwpG9C7KMNoqxQmHLPAx8ly9Oqi

Join Moe for a workshop on an exploration of magical medicine, self and community healing. A 3 part presentation including a Prayer Energy Medicine Guided Meditation, Ancestral Spiritual Nutrition 101 Intro, and Health & Wellness Q&A.

Moeniesha Richelle is the Hoelistic Health Coach! Serving the community through

Pleasure Based Wellness Coaching for QBIPOC+Allies by -Activating Ancestral Cellular DNA w/Mystical Nourishment, Sexological Shamanism, Creation&Play-

Taja Lindley

Friday, January 29th - 6:00-8:00pm

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpf-uorT0sGNJWYUTrs5S2-r8__o58bx87

Join Taja Lindley on an Artist Talk and Film Screening!

Can we grow gardens out of graves? How can we recycle the energy of protest, rage and grief into creating a world where indeed Black Lives Matter? What is the role of memory in our movement building work? And who will be responsible for this labor? These are the questions that haunt the work of visual and performance artist Taja Lindley.

As a memory worker, Lindley explores what has been abandoned, erased, silenced or distorted in our individual and collective consciousness. During her artist talk, she will screen her short film “This Ain’t A Eulogy: A Ritual for Re-Membering” and will discuss her most recent projects: “The Bag Lady Manifesta” and the "Birth Justice Podcast NYC." There will be time for community conversation and Q&A.

Through iterative and interdisciplinary practices, Taja Lindley creates socially engaged artwork that transforms audiences, shifts culture, and moves people to action. Since 2014 she has developed a body of work recycling and repurposing discarded materials. Her 2017 residency at Dixon Place Theater culminated in the world premiere of her one-woman show "The Bag Lady Manifesta" and it has been presented at museums, theaters, and universities nationwide. Her films and installations have been featured at Brooklyn Museum; the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma; the Carver Museum in Austin, Texas; the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, California; and more.

In addition to being an artist, Lindley is actively engaged in social movements as a writer, consultant, and facilitator. For over a decade she has worked with non-profits, research institutes and government on policies and programming that impact women and girls, communities of color, low/no/fixed-income families, queer people, youth, and immigrants. Most recently, she served as a Sexual and Reproductive Justice Consultant at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, co-facilitating a community driven process that created The New York City Standards for Respectful Care at Birth. She is a 2019 NYC Public Artist in Residence and a 2020 A Blade of Grass Fellow. TajaLindley.com

LINDA LA

Friday, January 29th - 8:30 - 9:30pm

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUuf-6vqjsuG9S7rz4bxjhaggDsCzphuHN3

Get this healing with LINDA LA’s Performance Ritual!

Adjusting My Crown is a meditative, ritual performance born out of recurring themes exploring self worth and self preservation in combat with societal norms. It is an intimate homage to life before the pandemic, set in quarantine, including original movement, music and poetry. This project is intended to re examine the ways we value stillness, solitude and technology. As well as commemorating queer and trans life in spite of the hardships in love and everyday societal rejection.

Linda La is a multidisciplinary artist, teacher, curator, host and organizer from the Boogie Down Bronx, New York. Born out of the Iconic House of LaBeija, her creative work has been articled in both AFROPUNK and The Fader. She has also been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Timeout New York and W Magazine. This past year, she graciously performed under the direction of Bill T. Jones and Lee Mingwei at the MET and performed in the Obie Award winning The Fire this Time Theater Festival. She is currently working on her first studio project set to include original music and poetry. Her work can be found on all music streaming platforms and archived at the Brooklyn Museum in the “Nobody Promised You Tomorrow: Art 50 Years After Stonewall” exhibit. Find out more at Lindala.world

Shanel Edwards

Saturday, January 30th - 12:00pm - 1:00pm

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcvduCrqTIiHtDeOtB01iKGqHQTiizP4vnV

Get this healing with Shanel’s Workshop, How to build a home!

'How to build a home pt. 2' a co-collaborative creative space that asks participants to remember permission, intimacy, safety, play, and connection in our bodies. We are rebuilding a home that remembers our traumas but does not require them, leaving oppressive systems "at the door". We are remembering interconnectedness, remembering care. All black queer and trans folks are welcome to attend, there movement will be involved. Come with a notebook, pen/pencil, any special items to build an altar, and water.

shanel edwards is a Philadelphia rooted, first-generation Jamaican, Black, Queer, Non- binary, artist, and world-builder. They utilize movement, filmmaking, hairstyling, poetry, and photography as channels. Their creations are birthed through their Black queer and trans existence, tenderness, water, intimacy, and collective dreaming. shanel is a 2020 Mural Arts fellow and was a 2019 Artist in Residence with Urban Movement Arts (Philadelphia). They have choreographed for productions at The University of the Arts (2019), and Princeton University (2020). shanel works closely with spirit and their ancestors through herbal knowledge, divination, and channeling through movement to envoke and envision a world where Black trans women are liberated.

Olaiya Olayemi

Saturday, January 30th - 2:00pm - 3:30pm

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUqfuGppjsoH9FWtBGZQTWe__e07N0k7s_v

throwing the bones and working the roots: a (writing for) performance workshop

this highly anti-disciplinary and experimental workshop/seminar uses writing, image-making, movement, and sound-based exercises to create a brave space where students can excavate and craft their own performative conjurations and divinations; this class explores artmaking as a catalyst for social justice and as a healing modality.

olaiya olayemi is a blk/trans/femme/womxn/anti-disciplinary artist/educator/and organizer who centers womxn of the african diaspora in her performative/literary/cinematic/and sonic works of art that explore love/sex/relationships/family/history/memory and radical joy/pleasure. her work is informed by blk/queer/feminist theories/aesthetics/and politics and african indigenous and diasporic spiritual traditions. she has performed at Brooklyn Arts Exchange, JACK, AAA3A, metaDEN, The Wild Project, The Langston Hughes House, Starr Bar, Mayday Space, and Dixon Place. she holds a bachelor of arts in english/creative writing (with a minor in african/black diaspora studies) from depaul university and a master of fine arts in creative writing from emerson college where she was a recipient of the Dean’s Fellowship. she is a 2019-2020 Performance Fellow in Queer Art’s mentorship program, a Fall 2020 Brooklyn Arts Exchange Space Grantee, a finalist in Fresh Fruit’s Film/Monologue Festival, a 2020-2021 American Woman Fellow in Dramatic Question Theatre’s American Woman Lab, and a participant in Gibney Dance’s Black Diaspora group. her experimental screenplay was recently advanced to second round consideration for the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab. she currently lives in philadelphia.

Brother(hood) Dance!

January 30th - 5:00pm-6:00pm

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUocOqvrTMuEtaEM6QX8kLd9ItaiUregeQP

Brother(hood) Dance! will offer a movement experience that engages your full sense of awareness and connectedness to past present and future. We will work through African Diasporic techniques to ground and be rooted.

Brother(hood) Dance! is an interdisciplinary duo that seeks to inform its audiences on the socio-political and environmental injustices from a global perspective, bringing clarity to the same-gender-loving African-American experience in the 21st century.  Brother(hood) Dance! was formed in April 2014 as a duo that research, create and perform dances of freedom by Orlando Zane Hunter, Jr. and Ricarrdo Valentine.  We have performed our works at FiveMyles, Center for Performance Research, B.A.A.D! (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance), VCU-The Grace Street Theater, DraftWork at St. Marks Church, JACK, Movement Research at Judson Church, Colby College, Denmark Arts Center and other venues.

As a collective, our work demonstrates how life extends beyond its own subjective limits and often tells a story about the effects of global cultural interaction over the latter half of the twentieth century. It challenges the binaries we continually reconstruct between Self and Other, between our own ‘cannibal’ and ‘civilized’ selves. By rejecting an objective truth and global cultural narratives, we find that movement reveals an inherent awkwardness, a humor that echoes our own vulnerabilities. Brother(hood) Dance! considers movement as a metaphor for the ever-seeking man who experiences a continuous loss. Brother(hood) Dance!'s work urge us to renegotiate performance as being part of a reactive or – at times – autistic medium, commenting on oppressing themes in our contemporary society.

Sasha Schaafe

January 30th - 7:00pm-8:30pm

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIvd-qsrDsqHtzkR93WGC3sl2wurizVcTsJ

Whip your herbs out of the kitchen for this magical herbalism workshop!

Spiritual Healing & Protection with Herbs : Thyme & Bay

With respect to necessary uprisings in honor of black lives, while in the space of a global pandemic, it’s absolutely vital to our whole wellness that we practice spiritual hygiene & empower our spiritual bodies with clarity & protection. In this workshop we will focus on two methods & one medicinal preparation, with the support of our plant allies/“plantcestors,” that powerfully heal, cleanse & protect us during these difficult times.

Spiritual baths & headwashes are healing & maintenance methods that have been employed in indigenous practices throughout Afro-diasporic traditions, with special attention to the “head.” We will bring focus to two easily accessible herbs that provide clearing & protective support in efforts of providing our aura & spirit with clarity, removing energy that isn’t our own. We ask that you enter this space as your full & authentic selves, so that we may co-create & infuse our healing experience with powerful, loving intention.

Workshop Materials:

FOR SPIRITUAL BATH/HEADWASH :

- Bay Leaf (Mediterranean- Laurus nobilis OR West Indian- Pimenta racemoca)

- Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)

- Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus)

- Tulsi/Holy Basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum)

- Freshly boiled water

- *OPTIONAL: Citrus peels (lemon & orange)

- *OPTIONAL: Florida Water or Kananga Water

FOR MEDICINAL PREPARATION:

- Bay Leaf

- Ginger

- White Rum (40% ABV / 80 proof or Wray & Nephew- 100 proof)

- *OPTIONAL: Allspice/Cinnamon/Nutmeg

- *OPTIONAL: Orange Peel

Sasha Schaafe is a spiritual herbalist apprenticing within the Sacred Vibes Apothecary community, under the tutelage of Karen Rose. Her background experience with “food as medicine” is informed by her family’s Jamaican/Chinese roots & upbringing. Her spirituality largely stands on the strength of ancestral connection & veneration. Operating through love & intuition, Sasha commits to being of service to community with a village-mind — honoring her purpose & the purpose of all those who are a part, as we all have a role to play. She concerns herself with being in right relationship with the land & energies within & around nature. She trusts that our planet heals itself & most effectively heals us when we nurture & nourish ourselves with respect to our relationships with nature & spirit.

Kiyan Williams

Sunday, January 31st - 2:00pm-3:00pm

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpde-srT0qE9McUbutgFApjaqUmAWvHZ25

Tune into this Artist Talk by the phenomenal Kiyan Williams!

This Bridge Between Starshine and Clay: An Artist Talk With Kiyan Williams

Artist Kiyan Williams will share the development of their art practice, which draws on and is inspired by traditions of Black feminist, queer, and trans creative practice as rituals of self-determination.

Kiyan Williams is a visual artists from Newark, NJ who works fluidly across performance, sculpture, and video. They often work with soil and debris as material and metaphor to unearth Black queer subjectivity.

Ọmọlólù / Ma’at Works Dance Collective / Ricky

Sunday, January 31st, 5:00pm - 6:30pm

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqf--vrzwqEtxieIjv_kakBkwjK8c9YoYP

Join the finale of our opening weekend with these three powerhouse healing artists!

Ọmọlólù

Believing in the depth of healing that resounds in blx sonic force ọmọlólù will give a sonic offering. Using harmonized loops and mantras ọmọlólù hopes to welcome folx who bare witness into a state of ease, reflection and blx ecstatix bliss.

ọmọlólù refilwe bàbàtùndé is an educator, african surrealist documentarian, digital griot and blx ecstatix performance artist. A diasporic daughter of blx Southern migration she is in constant practice, reverence and searching for blx sounds in all it’s haptic, visual, sonic, strategic, mobile, logical mutations. Using image, video, prose and sound she attempts to stun whiteness and create a divine glimmer of blx relief, a brief moment of sanctuary for folx to come home into. She is co-founder of rogueTHEIF, an upcycle denim brand/performative gesture which strives to poke holes in capitalist modes of exchange while also being a platform to celebrate ancestors whose memory challenges us to fight for more liberating realities for ourselves and those coming after. She has performed at the New Museum, Northstar Durham,  and many intentional DIY spaces. She released her first EP “laiii 222 rest ooo : blx ancestral sonix salves” on Don Giovanni Records in October 2020.

Ma’at Works Dance Collective

This offering is a meditation in nature, a practice of process, tenderness and stillness. A conversation with the tree branches, the stream, the birds and the sky. I'm interested in what helps to heal black bodies and I think mending our relationship with the woods is a great place to begin.

Ama Ma'at Gora is a Philly based dance artist, educator and choreographer. She received her BA from Georgian Court University and her dance MFA from Temple University. She was given opportunities to work with choreographers such as, Kariamu Welsh, Lela Aisha Jones, Earl Moseley, Sidra Bell, Gregory King and more. She now serves as Community Based Learning Director at Drexel University; overseeing artistic civic engagement. She established Ma'at Works Dance Collective, as a way to hold space for controversial dialogue. Her work centers identity, historic trauma and restoration. Thus she intends on crafting spaces which reflect, healing. As co-founder of The Juba House, she’s been able to serve local artists.

ricky

for those in between: a meditation on black mania, magic, and multidimensional living

ricky is an artist, musician, performer, writer, and diviner. last year they released WAHALA, their second solo album as YATTA . the release was accompanied by a theatrical production called An Episode: Ricky’s Room, commissioned by The Shed. this year, they dropped ‘Dial Up’, a collaboratively dreamt up album with philly musician and poet, Moor Mother. ricky has shared a stage with musicians like The Sun Ra Arkestra and Cardi B, creating multimedia performances that tour astrally, nationally, and globally.  

[kathrynmjaneway]

spoilers spoilers spoilers!

About the end of AAU pt.2!

Now that we have the first bit of information about part three of Aliens Among Us, I am once again wondering how they are bringing Yvonne back to the living world.

Especially seeing that she was converted into a Cyberman and as such pulled into the void, with no chance of coming back and definitely not as a human – after all there was a whole episode right in the first season about the fact, that once converted, there was no going back. The human was gone, made into a machine.

(Additionally, it always said that they would bring someone back that had to be dead, so while I/we/most of us assumed it meant bringing someone who had died back to actual life, maybe instead it means that the person that seems to be back, is still very much dead and didn’t really come back in that sense of being alive again, if this makes sense.)

So the Yvonne here is not the same Yvonne that died in her last appearance on Doctor Who. So what or who is she then?

There has been the theory going around of her coming back as sort of a projection, like Norton Folgate uses, but since the synopsis for episode 9 says that there is a (dead) woman locked into a cell, we can most likely dismiss this theory as well, seeing as Yvonne seems to have an actual physical form. (locking a projection into a cell seems hardly efficient after all) (and there goes the ‘ghost theory’ as well :’D) (jk)

So naturally I have a few theories, some more likely than others [or just, crack :))) ]:

Yvonne from an alternate dimension. Maybe it’s the one from Pete’s world – they noticed in time what their Torchwood was up to, Yvonne could still be alive in that dimension and since Torchwood was shut down there, maybe she’s looking for a different Torchwood to lead now. Or, she’s from a completely different dimension. And the consequences of crossing between different dimensions could be devastating. (if Rose managed to cross dimensions even after the Doctor closed the last bridges, then Yvonne can find a way as well, if she wants to)

Yvonne from the past, pre Doomsday. She could have come through the rift, after all she worked right next to one, and we know that the rifts are unpredictable and go through time and space. (or she got herself a time machine/vortex manipulator)

These theories make me wonder how and if Bilis Manger is involved with bringing back Yvonne. After all he opened the rift (as briefly as it was, it did happen) and sent out a message. (I’ve got another theory about what that was all about that is probably more likely, but still.) Even if Bilis wasn’t directly involved in bringing Yvonne to this time and dimension, maybe she used the instability of the rift for her own purposes. The rift was unstable before already (mentioned before in ‘More Than This’ as well), it’s unpredictable, who knows what the rift is capable of? The rift being opened like that again by Bilis might have just be at the right time for Yvonne to use it. Anything is possible in the world of Doctor Who)

A clone. I don’t really think they’ll go for that, but clones are good old scifi, so I thought I’d mention it.

Evil twin. Also a classic. (or if the original Yvonne was the evil one, it’s the good one now? or equally morally grey twins?) (ok, now I’m just bullshitting)

Shapeshifting alien that changed into Yvonne.

Hand in hand with that theory – the god storyline will be picked up in part 3 of AAU. Now I’m not saying that Yvonne is necessarly a god, but the Sorvix are looking for one and maybe that god has shapeshifting abilities or just takes the form of someone convenient??? (this has to do with my theory about the Sorvix god-search and Bilis’ message through the rift, I’m still working on that post) (I’m back to bullshitting, but who knows. I don’t.)

Yvonne isn’t back after all! Someone (Jack most likely) is dreaming/hallucinating. Jack has been gone for the good part of the last few episodes and his behaviour has changed drastically. Something is definitely going on with Jack, so maybe he got into some trouble that got him knocked out, injected/infected with something, who knows. It’s a possibility and something that Torchwood hasn’t done yet (to my knowledge) (The concept of ‘dream worlds’ has been explored in DW, so while this theory is certainly out there and probably unlikely, I wouldn’t completely rule it out *shrugs*).

Of course the question is (also in terms of the dimension-hopping), how much Doctor Who they are bringing to the world of Torchwood, since while both shows obviously take place in the same universe, they are still different shows, with different recurring themes and plots. The lines are blurring here and there and Yvonne is definitely one of those bridges (especially seeing that in Torchwood One: Machines an old enemy of the Doctor seems to come back [idk, not familiar with Classic Who yet])

Well, to be honest, I have no idea how much sense these theories or I am really making here, but I’ve been thinking about this a lot, even went through all the Yvonne Hartman content we have as of now (I even rewatched Doomsday, not good), but I really have no idea how they are gonna do it. I’m really so excited to find out though in FEBRUARY (that long wait is just mean).

Anyway, any thoughts about this? Any other theories (that make more sense haha)?