The First Annual Fractal Beach was nothing short of successful. Music lovers from all over the country flocked down to Virginia Key, a pristine island located only a few minutes from Downtown Miami, to enjoy the sun, beach, and a killer lineup. This year the event ran March 11-13 and boasted a plethora of music styles, art, workshops, and yoga. The combination of these elements created a diversity that can only parallel Miami’s cultural melting pot essence.
Fractal Beach had a lineup to boast about with both international and local artists alike and with both, electronic and instrumental jam music. The highly regarded artist Ott headlined the festival with other well regarded artists, such as Thriftworks, The Heavy Pets, Blockhead, and Govinda. One of my favorite parts of the weekend was that sunrise sets were organized to kick off the day.The music was spread out over 3 stages- the main stage was inland on grass, a beachfront stage was on sand only a couple feet from the ocean, and a third stage was decked out by Incendia. Incendia is a community of fire artists that created a geodesic structure that emits fire from its roof and rigged fire to be torched out of the top of the stage.
Admittedly, there was some difficulty convincing the fire marshals to allow music to play late into Saturday night but the sunrise set still launched. Outside of the music, there were several workshops including hula hooping lessons, yoga, fire spinning, meditation, and informational lectures. I even found myself enjoying early yoga morning sessions to relieve my aches from the long nights of dancing. The art was also incredible because it included local pieces from around Miami, like the (Wynnwood) bus, and live painting galore. Fractal beach also allowed some local artists to produce their own art within the festival including metallic structures, which created a very burner (burning man) feel to the festival.
In addition to the mind-melting downtempo, dub, and jam/jamtronica music, scenery, beautiful weather, and even more beautiful heady people, there was a Guinness World Record onsite– an intricate 40 foot sand castle! Overall, Fractal Beach exceeded my expectations and I hope to see you cats at next year’s Fractal Beach because it’s going to be an experience of epic proportions (again).
Scroll down to check out my photos from the weekend. Much love, Melissa.
