SuperNOVA 'Personifies' What Rosslyn Has Become

This month, Rosslyn got a chance to show off its creative side with the three-day SuperNOVA Performance Arts Festival.

Billed as an "explosion of creativity," more than 80 performance artists from around the world descended on the Manhattan on the Potomac earlier this month.

Two years ago, the Rosslyn Business Improvement District, or BID, approached Philippa Hughes and asked if she had any ideas to liven up the sterile, concrete canyons. Hughes, who ultimately would produce SuperNOVA, pitched the idea.

"It's really cool that they went with it," Hughes said in a video released Thursday by Arlington County. "It's a little unusual. It's a real interesting thing to do in a place like this."

The arts generate an estimate $85 million in annual economic benefit to the county.

But beyond that, the BID wanted to "send a message to the broader community about how Rosslyn is changing, how we have a new image here and there are lots of exciting things going on," Executive Director Cecilia Cassidy says in the video.

"That's why we did it: It was unexpected for Rosslyn to put on a performance arts festival, and that kind of lends itself to the element of surprise — like, 'Wow, Rosslyn has really changed… if it's putting on something like this.' "

SuperNOVA and events like it "personify what Rosslyn is becoming," she said.

"It's very important to have a balanced life," Cassidy said. "We're all kind of worker bees here in Arlington; we're all very busy. And it's wonderful to take time out, and really center yourself."

See Arlington County's complete video above.