THE PROJECT
Direct from the Original Muscle Beach in Santa Monica California, Swing City is our home away from home. Complete with a full traveling ring set and rigging for aerial silks, chinese pole, slacklines, hooping, poi, acro, roue cyr, zigroller, and other gymnastic beach fun.
Muscle Beach Swing City is a 150'x100' theme camp being constructed at Burning Man 2011
Swing City will feature a traveling rings structure as its centerpiece (resembling the set located at Santa Monica's Muscle Beach). The rig is eighty feet long by forty feet wide with a set of eight gymnastic rings across the span. The overall height rig is twenty feet high and will be constructed from scaffolding and speedrail secured with guy ropes for stability against the wind. Six twenty foot scaffold towers will not only support the ringset, but will serve as a rig for aerial acrobatics, a chinese pole, and slacklines as well as sun shelters. In addition to this we will be bringing a 15' x 15' dance floor and cyr wheels, as well as a Zig, as well as a whacky wheel.
The remaining space behind the rig will serve as our village - accommodating up to 12-14 tents, a shower, 7 cars, a pickup truck, and a cargo van which will help to shelter the camp from prevailing winds.
Our requested placement within Black Rock City is located at the large village and theme camp at 8:30 or either the 9:00 or 7:30 avenue. We would greatly prefer to be placed where our camp was placed last year: 9 & Castro. It was ideal being across the street from the medical camp and near the ranger station considering the nature of our camp and the type of equipment we are bringing.
BRC MAP
What should a city provide for its citizens?
Background: Widely regarded as the birthplace of the fitness movement, our "other home", the original Muscle Beach in Santa Monica California, has for 75 years contributed the idea that free access to fitness should be an integral part of every civic environment. The area known as Muscle Beach includes gymnastic rings, bars, foam tumbling strips, and an acrobatic green for juggling and hooping, all set up on a beautiful sandy beach and absolutely free for public use. Every weekend, our extensive beach community or "family" encourages, coaches, and involves thousands of people passing along Ocean Front Walk to become a part of our circus activities.
Goal: Our goal for Swing City is to provide this service for the inhabitants of Black Rock City. As we also believe that public health can be creative, collaborative and fun, we have created a structure designed to encourage interesting fusions between the circus arts of traveling rings, chinese pole, aerial silks, slackline, partner acrobatics and hooping. Currently we have 12 members of our community who have tickets, have agreed to live in Swing City and serve as its civil servants. As our group has done for 75 years, we will perform, offer instruction, and generally encourage people to "join the circus".
Fitness may be a necessity for the body, but play is essential for the mind.
Swing City will be the place to fuse them both.
Leave No Trace Plan, Burning Man
About Our Camp
Camp Name: SWING CITY
History, background: This will be the second year for Swing City at Burning Man and we will be bringing new equipment and a larger contingent of experienced hands to help implement and maintain both the rig as well as our various wheels and zig. The camp is our home away from home in Santa Monica California where we meet on a regular basis at the original Muscle Beach where gymnasts and acrobats have been training for over 75 years.
Estimated Population: 20
Nature and scale of our activities: We are planning on constructing a traveling rings set along with rigging for aerial equipment. In the spirit of Muscle Beach, we plan to offer free instruction in everything from the traveling rings to acro, rue cry, zig, silks, chinese pole, hooping, poi, etc
As a camp we will:
Plan Ahead
Practice the 5 R's: Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Restore, and Respect
Keep our camp clean before, during and after the event
Adopt the seven principles and practices of Leave No Trace at Burning Man
Do what is necessary to protect and restore the Black Rock Desert
Identify potential problems and issues that may arise
Create a strategy or plan for Leaving No Trace
We will educate all camp members about minimizing our impact on the playa
How we will organize for Leave No Trace
Our LNT leadership and structure:
We hereby designate Mandi Trimas and Chris Filkins as our Ambassadors to the Black Rock Desert and leaders of our Leave No Trace Team: Mandi Trimas, Chris Filkins, Jason Wong, Ross Alexander Wilson, Lisa Crow, Rob Dehart, Hunter Ackerman,
The team will help plan our purchases, what we bring to the playa, and encourage us to reuse, recycle, reduce and restore our materials. They will think about how we and all of our stuff will get there and make it home again. The team will keep our camp clean and fun before, during and after the event and delegate and enlist help when it is needed.
They will be responsible for cleanup and trash management in our camp, including activities and parties we host. They will make sure that our gray water does not impact the playa. They will see that all camp members understand and agree with the policies and practices of Leave No Trace at Burning Man.
They will oversee daily tasks and will have a plan in place when we get ready to leave.
When it's time to break down and sweep our camp for every last trace. The Ambassador will make sure EVERYTHING left goes with us.
The Ambassador will encourage our participation in community line sweeps and restoration with our neighbors and DPW.
Our Commitment to Leave No Trace
To minimize our impact on the Playa, we will follow these rules:
Before the event
We pledge to Leave No Trace in and around our campsite, including our own and others' waste.
We will read the survival guide and LNT tips.
We will complete this camp's Leave No Trace Plan and share it with the entire camp.
We will plan the assembly and takedown of our structures and decorations and tape the edges of our carpets
We will inventory vehicle space so we can pack out everything
We will take the packaging off of just about everything and stock up on reusable products and containers
We will shop for simple finger foods and prepare meals in advance to reduce waste
We will bring no glass, cheap trinkets, small feathers, and anything that might get left on the playa
During the event
We will check our camp daily
We will clean as we go, realizing that any trash or MOOP (matter out of place) can blow away or be buried at any moment.
We will keep our recyclables, burnables, and non-burnables clearly separated for easy disposal,
We will recycle our aluminum, either on-site or back home
We will have special cleanup crews for any high traffic activities we host and take care of any trash left by guests, invited or otherwise.
We won't leave trash in or around the port-o-potties
We won't light fires on bare ground or dig pits, leaving scars. If we must burn, we'll use a public burn barrel or burn platform
We will burn only clean untreated wood or paper (nothing synthetic) and follow the safety guidelines for fires and burn scar prevention.
We won't dig large holes or trenches
We will keep all items tied or weighted down, and leave papers at home.
We will not dump any grey or black water on the playa
We will encourage members of our camp to carry a personal trash (MOOP) container and a cigarette butt container when they are outside camp.
After the event
We will put aside time and have designated volunteers for the final cleanup
We will take all trash in sealed containers to a landfill and recyclables to a recycle center on the way home.
After cleaning our camp, everyone in our camp will devote at least two hours to the general city cleanup (e.g. trash fence, local port-o-potties, café, etc).
We will leave extra space in every vehicle on the way to the desert, knowing that repacking will inevitably take up more space and ensure that no items can detach during the ride home.
We will pack out everything, including any un-evaporated gray water and scum
We won't put trash in or around the port-o-potties
We will help out our neighbors and fellow citizens
We will be Good Neighbors
We will encourage our guests to bring their own beverage containers.
We will help out our neighbors
We will adopt the space around our camp, making sure that it stays traceless
We will help careless or forgetful campers
Here's how we'll do it
Design our camp in a way that is easy to keep clean:
We are a pretty small camp (population-wise) and will minimize the need for cleanup by having everyone take personal responsibility for their own food preparation, proper storage, and waste management.
Select materials and decorations for our camp that lessen waste and are recyclable or reusable:
Our camp centerpiece (the rings) is made of scaffolding - not constructed out of wood which would require nails or other building materials, and would not require burning and cleanup. Decorations will be minimal and reusable.
Create a detailed plan for the breakdown/cleanup of our camp, accounting for every board, stake, and scrap, and pack necessary tools and supplies:
With the exception of the main rig, we are fairly portable with a few tents which everyone will take down on their own. Individuals will police their own area for trash and other belongings while the entire camp will conduct a sweep of the area.
A designated team member will assist with pulling tent spikes and rebar.
The main rig is a scaffold structure which will require a team of 6 to disassemble and load into the cargo van. There are no excess boards or scrap decoration associated with the rig.
A final sweep of the area will clean any remaining debris.
Plan for extra cleanup and trash generated by activities and parties at our camp:
We are not planning to host any large-scale parties, but the plan is to maintain a clean camp throughout the burn, minimizing the need for extensive cleanup.
Have a plan for proper evaporation or disposal of our grey water, including containers to haul out what's left:
We will have a small communal grey water evaporation pool and black water tank storage on the RV.
Plan enough space and storage in our vehicles for trash hauling:
Each vehicle will be notified to allow for extra storage - not just for our own trash, but for any additional trash that we find.
Explain the ground rules to all camp members and post our LNT plan on our website.
Our LNT plan will be posted on our project website at www.robertchapin.com/swingcity.html
Plan a secured trash separation station with signage and tags and plenty of heavy duty garbage bags:
We will have a communal trash disposal area secured from the wind with seperate bags/containers for recyclables.
We will bring the following items for camp operations
Separate, sealed containers for recyclables, burnables, and non-burnables, a found bin and signage and tags.
Reusable dinnerware and utensils, including a portable beverage container and coffee cup for the Café
A large water container for camp water supplies (no small containers)
5-gallon bucket and painter's mesh for wet kitchen scraps.
Containers for grey water disposal
Containers for smokers' butts
Tarps or other floor covering to ‘catch' any items that drop
We will bring the following items for our camp's breakdown, clean-up and restoration
Big whiskbroom and push brooms
Flat blade shovel for burn scars or dune MOOP
Large landscape rake and smaller rakes for sweeping through dust piles
Stiff long handled broom for breaking up dunes
Rope and string for tying loose stuff down.
Small spare bags for collecting trash as we wander.
Lots on industrial strength trash bags: more than we think we'll need.
Cheap work gloves for everybody.
Long-handled sledgehammer for compacting 5-gallon buckets and driving stakes.
Vise grips for removing stakes and rebar.
Directions and hours of landfills and RV water dump stations
Magnets or magnet sweepers to remove every last nails, staples, scrap of metal.
Vehicles and/or trailers to haul everything out
Packing Out and Restoration of Our Site
Black Rock Desert Restoration
