Stories in the Dust: A Storytelling Workshop at Burning Man

Burning Man is an experience, not an event.

In late August every year, over 70,000 people gravitate like moths to a flame, to the Black Rock City Desert (or “the playa”) in Nevada to be a part of this magical, eclectic, mind-blowing experience. Burning Man includes theme camps, art cars and mutant vehicles, electronic dance music, DJ’s, sculptures, interactive installations and people from different backgrounds, race, sexual identity, age, occupation, geography and more. Amidst all of this, we co-exist, build and create in some of the most oppressive conditions you can imagine: dust storms with up to 65mph winds, complete white-outs, over 100 degree temperatures during the day and as low as the 30’s at night. And sometimes even thunder, lightening, hail and snow. And most of us in tents of the non-fancy nature. Why on earth do we do this, one may ask? For me, it’s because Burning Man is a creative community of individuals who perpetually seek channels to express ourselves through, over and over again. And underlying this massive community and experience are the unifying 10 Principles of Burning Man, including one of my favorites Radical Self Expression: “Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.“

My belief is that any form of Radical Self Expression begins with a story. And the playa has a lot of stories. Perhaps as many stories as there are specks of dust. One might actually say that the playa is made up entirely of stories – channeled in the form of art cars, sculptures, installations and camps. Or told within campfires, cozy tents, in the middle of a dust storm, shouted loudly as EDM blasts from the closest art car, a random sofa in the middle of the desert, and some even right outside of a porta-potty. Some of these stories are shaped and formed while you are physically there because so much is happening to you that you have to share it with another person to make sense of it, and others are conjured up from your past as you find yourself talking to a stranger who offered you a cookie at Center Camp and reminds you of a moment you want to tell them about. So let me tell you my story.

I’ve just returned from my 5th time at Burning Man and twelve days of living in the desert in Black Rock City, Nevada. I just got back a few days ago and as with the other times I’ve gone – I’m dusty, exhausted and struggling to adjust back to the “default” world. A world where it’s odd to hug strangers on the street or flash a smile at the guy riding by on a bicycle. And one of the hardest things to return back from is a beautiful yet harsh realization I had on my first trip: the culture at Burning Man is simply a better way to exist. Period. It’s extremely hard to leave that wonderful place behind and adjust to regular life again. And for some reason, this year is especially hard on me.

But as with every year, one piece of the playa (among many) that I get to bring home with me is the stories I shared, created and heard while I was there. And also the workshop I held the day before burn night at my camp, 3SP (Third Space Place) called “Storytelling on the Playa”. If you are organized before the burn and spend the entire year planning for the next trip, like we do, you can submit events, workshops and activities to the “What, Where, When” guide. The Burning Man organization publishes thousands of pre-registered events so that participants have an activity guide immediately upon arrival. Everything from meditation, reiki, yoga, pickle eating contests. There are so many things competing for your attention including just hopping on your bike and seeing where the ride takes you. But since the economy is based on “gifting”, you take that leap, submit your event as a gift to participants, cross your fingers, and hope people will come. This was the second year our storytelling workshop made it into the guide.

And so on Friday, September 4th at noon in the middle of Black Rock City, about 60 new, dusty friends from all over the world gathered in the Camp 3SP living room to learn how to tell an 8-10 minute true-to-life story and then share it publicly with the group. First, we did some story exploration exercises to identify nuggets we could develop into a narrative. Next, we worked in groups to tell the story from start to finish and get feedback. And then we switched up the groups to share stories again and get feedback from people we hadn’t worked with before. In the end, we had about 5 brave souls willing to share their unfinished work with the group. A young woman told us about growing up under a very protective parental eye and how burning man had finally allowed her to shed that voice in her head and take risks. Another burner talked about sleepwalking and finding himself in bed with his teacher’s wife. Oops. A very seasoned burner talked about monogamy and whether that was a good fit for him. Because. Well. Burning Man. And the last teller shared a story of a first-time burner – an isolated campmate who struggled to connect with anyone in the camp and appeared to be awkwardly on the outskirts of every social situation. The twist? This individual was actually the teller, himself. At the end of the workshop this storyteller told us how helpful and cathartic the workshop had been to his entire burn.

While the magical atmosphere at Burning Man (cue: skydivers falling out of the sky and severe 40+mph dust storms blowing during the entire workshop), provided a beautiful backdrop to our session – it really was no different than at home. Sharing our stories is innate to our humanity. It connects us to each other and helps us form bonds and intimate relationships. It relieves our loneliness and reminds us there are others just like us. No matter what world they come from. And sometimes as this workshop proved, the mere act of developing a story can be enough, without ever having to get up on a real stage.

For me, the mere act of putting this workshop together was enough to underscore the power of story in my own existence and frankly how Radical Self Expression has saved my life and continues to. With that, I’m going to keep coming back. And I’m going to keep telling.

Kathy Baird is an experienced storyteller who has appeared on the Better Said Than Done stage multiple times. She will be hosting our November 28th show.

If you’d like to take a storytelling workshop, you don’t need to go all the way to Burning Man to do it. Check out our upcoming storytelling workshops here.