Mass Ave dancing lady comes to life through creative Halloween costume

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Every year there seems to be a Halloween costume that take the internet by storm.

This year is no different, and there’s even one right here in central Indiana that’s caught the attention of many people.

A local woman went dressed as Ann Dancing, an LED sculpture on display on Mass Ave.

“It was a great piece of art and I always thought it would make a great costume,” said Halley O’Malley who made and wore her costume on Mass Ave Saturday night.

When not making costumes, O’Malley is the general manager of Sultana on College Avenue.

“There were 51 batteries, 17 strings of battery operated lights, there was two garments from a thrift store, a plastic mask and a lot of thread, Velcro and tape,” she said.

O’Malley says she and friends put 20 hours of work into it.

When asked about her inspiration, she had a simple response

“Julian Opie. It was his artwork and it’s been one of my favorite pieces in Indy for quite a while,” she said.

Julian Opie of London designed the artwork. It was first installed downtown in 2007, it was later moved to the Cultural Trail at the intersection of Mass Ave, Alabama Street and Vermont Street.

“It’s very mesmerizing, I just love it as a piece. It’s very mesmerizing. I like Julian Opie when he says he sits in his studio in London and just thinks about her dancing endlessly through the traffic and it’s so poetic and it’s really nice,” she said.

A Facebook Live video she posted has over 65,000 views, 600 likes, and over 700 shares, but she says she almost didn’t wear the costume.

“When I first completed the outfit, I actually was threatening to burn it, ’cause I thought it looked so terrible in daylight,” she said.

She says she usually includes lights in her costumes. She at one point went dressed as a Katamari Damacy Cousin. She also went as polar bear that had glow sticks.