Perhaps the latest Decompression event of the year, I have to say that attending London Decompression was quite a treat.
A long enough time has passed since we have all returned home from the playa that a good dose of Burning love was greatly appreciated. I don’t think I was alone, ask any one of the close to 600 participants what they thought and I bet you’ll hear similar words of appreciation.
I arrived in London a few days prior to Decom in order to catch up with some folks who are interested in becoming Regional Contacts for various locations in Europe and also to be able to throw down and help with the set up for the celebration. I must commend the crew who organized the event, over 130 volunteers came together in the days leading up to and after Decom to make it happen. Quite impressive if you look back at how many people attended Nowhere, the European Burn earlier this summer (191) – that’s more than half the population of the entire event!
Steve Double works on his light installation.
Erin and Claudi rocked set up and Danielle from Atlanta was our dome building 101 instructor.
The head of the Man is hung high!
Spread throughout the Synergy Center in London – crews worked to create several different environments for the evening. A Mexican Day of the Dead style bar was created downstairs, hundreds of paper mache skull masks adorned the walls and Margarittas were a special treat. A dance room, a stage for performances, domes with micro environments – including the Shameless Dome where you could choose one of three little nooks to either confess something of which you were feeling shamefull or hop onto the shameless stage to give a performance of.. uh… anything your little heart desired that you might not have had the guts to do anywhere else.
Live performances happened throughout the evening and everywhere you looked were burners or nooners (Nowhere participants) celebrating and reuniting.
Kathy and Stefano who dj’d the sweet, sweet gypsy music that was so adored at Nowhere in July.
The trek to Burning Man in the US is long and expensive from this part of the world, for many, this is one of the few opportunities to gather together in the burning spirit and to see friends.Participants traveled from as far as Slovenia, Italy, Germany, France and even the US to come together for a night of magic.
Russell, one of our UK Regional Contacts set up and manned a booth with Carmen from Burners without Borders to do a coat drive to collect coats for those in need this chilly winter. Sandwiched Royalty – they strut their stuff in the fashion show.
Miss Twinkleebee is quite distraught over the knapping of her puppet friend Albear. I had nothing to do with that… I swear!
All in all, London Decom was a fantastic evening of celebration in the true burner spirit. Many thanks to the incredibly hard working team of volunteers and individuals who came together to make it happen!
