Always flying

This bird flies to places unknown
Every flight builds excitement
The return: a sense of dread.
She spreads her wings to faraway places
Its her meditation.
Her freedom from the monotony and greed of daily life.
New smells, food, friends, experiences.
This bird doesn't have a nest.
She finds comfort wherever she goes.
She feels incredible sense of calm wandering.
Not lost.
Her love is to share what she knows with others
This bird is different
She doesn't care what the flock tells her she should be
She longs for the simplicity of her life to just be herself
Complete and whole.
To live a life full of love, laughter, passion, adventure, comfort.

En route on the train to Edinburgh, July 2013

Planning for summer adventures in Milan, Spain, Lisbon, and Sweden! Travel is my inspiration to life and this trip will be filled with lots of love, laughter, passion, comfort, and wonderful memories. Memories create home for me and to create good memories is sacred ground. Hope all of you have a good summer!!! 

Free write & choreographed improv...

I was at a dance educators seminar held by the City Center here in NY a couple weekends ago and the theme was Nijinksky's Afternoon of a Faun since it is the centennial anniversary of the piece. We had workshops with Mark Dendy and another lady who teaches the repertory of the original Nijinsky ballet. In the afternoon, the City Center hosts came up with exercises to unleash our own personal adaptions and inspirations from the ballet. We had to listen to the music, read the poem, and free writes. I wanted to share my free writes because I ended up writing about birds in flight and travel.

"These flocking swans, these naiads, rather, fly or dive." - Mallarme (Read the whole poem here)

The vast lake of flocking birds fly high into the sky of the blue abyss. Like a giant white cloud they soar through the skies in search of a better place because the winds are changing and the weather is getting cooler. The colder months brings sorrow for those not travelling. Flying to a climate more favorable.

Free write about a time that was a moment of awareness or monumental for you:

Unsettled and constantly pining for memories, I lie awake at night longing for my memories of a home that no longer exists. Friendships I have gained and lost. Returning to an already familiar pattern of constant change. I gather. I seek. I travel. Meeting. Saying good-bye. The cycle of impermanence continues.

Alaine in the Studio from Alaine Handa on Vimeo.