Little brown birds, crows, cormorants and seagulls... offering inspiration... Gratitude for the winged ones.
"There are things you can't reach. But you can reach out to them, and all day long. The wind, the bird flying away." Mary Oliver
After daily dance practicing for over a year I have come to discover places in the wild natural world that I like to return to. The beauty of dancing in these natural settings is that every-time I am there many things are different - whether it is subtle, like the time of day and the lighting, the weather, the high or low tides, the vegetation changing through the seasons, or the more dramatic change of the landscape itself - like today...
The beach-side trail was covered by giant driftwood that was thrown here by a stormy high tide. All variations in the environment are opportunities to respond spontaneously to that which is present, moment to moment.
On the path that led to the beach there was a raucous of small bird song from the surrounding brambles - a very early spring is in the air! Inspiration for todays practice came from spending time hanging upside down from one of the driftwood logs where I was able to gaze into the brambles at the movement of the little brown twittering birds. This new perspective and the bird song inspired movement in body.
The rest of the practice was in response to the other birds as they flew by - the cawing crows, the screeching seagulls... and the statuesque quality of the cormorants perched on the buoy. Love the challenge of dancing what seagulls, crows, and little brown birds sound like... dancing what I hear... and grateful for hearing aids that allow me to hear the high frequencies of the bird's songs...
Thank you for reading / viewing. I hope this may offer some inspiration for you in some way...
"Sometimes the great bones of my life feel so heavy,
and all the tricks my body knows...
don't seem enough to carry me through this world
and I think: how I would like
to have wings...
How I would like to open them..."
Mary Oliver
Music: Philip Glass
The music is so perfectly suited to this film/dance. I love that!
ReplyDeleteIn this, as so many of your daily dances, i feel like i am right there with you...immersed in the beauty that you see and hear and honor. thank you leela.