Giant Dancer
Ask pretty much any Burner and they will tell you that the festival and the Playa feel like a huge playground for grownups. You can get silly, dress silly, and act silly, and no one will bat an eye. This huge ballerina installation at Burning Man can be a nod to many people’s childhood as many little girls take a ballet class or two when they are little.
The thing with ballet, however, is that it has rigid technique and requires discipline and concentration, which aren’t really childlike. As human-sized people gaze up at this massive dancer, they can be reminded of their freedom to move, dance, and explore their bodies like children once again, without the limitations of posture and proper technique.
The Pyramid Jungle Gym
Another way to unleash the Burner’s inner child is to climb away on this gigantic structure. The 21-foot-tall sculpture is a work of art called Bat Country. It was chosen as one of the 2013 Burning Man Honorarium Art Projects. When you first look at it, the triangular, multi-leveled climbing cage looks like it is made out of the same metal rods that make the monkey bars at your interest playground.
However, the magnificent climbing structure is pieced together by 384 aluminum baseball bats and 130 individual softballs, used as joints. For the brainiacs out there, Bat Country is a mathematical presentation of a third-generation Sierpinski tetrahedron.
Stairway to Heaven
Given that all Burning Man goers do their best to live in for a few days of the fantasyland of their own doing, it is no surprise to find some fantastic beasts there. Like this giant unicorn that we see in this picture. In line with many of the sculptures and installations at the festival, this sculpture seems to have been specifically designed to bring out the Burner’s inner child.
It’s a giant unicorn rocking horse with a tail in the form of a rainbow staircase that leads the way to mount the sparkly animal. What better way to cleanse the Burner’s soul than to take a rocking ride on this plaything?
Artwork Set Against a Burning Sky
This fabulous and dynamic dancer sculpture was introduced to the festival by Marco Cochrane. Called “Bliss Dance,” the 40-foot tall, 7,000-pound artwork was featured at Burning Man in the year 2010. made of stainless steel mesh, the dancer glistens in the sun. However, with 1,000 LED lights, the figure is just as stunning when it lights up at night.
The inferno-like sunset in this image sets the dancer off with ethereal otherworldliness. Bliss Dance was a favorite of festival judges. The artist was born in Italy and raised in California during the Civil Rights Movement. Cochrane’s mission in art is to empower women.
Burners are Life-Long Friends
Burning Man started off as a casual get-together of a few dozen people. Today, it draws tens of thousands of people from all over the world to the Nevada desert. Although a ticket to Burning Man can be quite expensive these days, that doesn’t stop diehard Burners from attending every year. Regular Burners look forward to meeting up with their old crew and distant friends during Burn Week.
People who attend Burning Man come from as far away as Australia and the United Kingdom. Even though there are veteran Burners who attend every year and have hundreds of friends, newcomers need not be intimidated. The Burner community is always open to newbies who are willing to work hard, play hard, and embody the radical DIY principles of the event.