Rosario Dawson loves to act, but when she's not on set, she also loves to go out in the middle of the desert and "burn."

The 34-year-old actress, whose latest film credits include Gimmie Shelter, where she plays June, a longtime drug addict and abusive mom to Apple (Vanessa Hudgens), has been a regular at Burning Man -- an annual arts festival that takes place in the Nevada desert, since 2007.

"This year's Burning Man was amazing," she told Huff Po Live. "I felt really bad last year...my dad came last year it was freezing and it was really difficult to go through the paths. And this year, it rained the entire week before so the playa was flat, and it was super warm and it was really beautiful. It was a really nice Burn."

What Is Burning Man exactly?

"Once a year, tens of thousands of participants gather in Nevada's Black Rock Desert to create Black Rock City, dedicated to community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance. They depart one week later, having left no trace whatsoever. Burning Man is also an ever-expanding year-round culture based on the Ten Principles," according to the art festival's official website.

"Burning Man isn't your usual festival, with big acts booked to play on massive stages. In fact, it's more of a city than a festival, wherein almost everything that happens is created entirely by its citizens, who are active participants in the event."

Back in 2011, Dawson appeared on "Chelsea Lately," where she shared her enthusiasm for Burning Man.

Dawson, who's attended the weeklong event nine times now, explained its appeal to Handler, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"I love that there's no cellphone reception for an entire week, I love that you're in this beautiful desert with all these really fun people with gorgeous art everywhere," Dawson said.

At the time, Dawson had an "unconventional plan in the works to beat the heat: A misting tent shaped like a vagina," according to the LA Times.

"Every year has a theme and this year's theme is rite of passage," she said. "It's the first time I'm inspired to make a tent or do something, so I'm going to  make a big misting vagina, and that will keep you cool."

While Dawson's project piqued Chelsea Handler's interest, it also got to her funny bone -- she "provided some constructive criticism, saying 'I've never heard of cold air coming out of a vagina,' she said. 'If you could build a penis, I might come.'"

But on a serious note, Burning Man means a lot to its founders and participants and is a way to foster creativity.

"There is a yet unnamed art movement that may prove to be of some significance, and Burning Man is close to its center," said Burning Man artist, Larnie Fox. 

"It often manifests itself as circus, ritual, and spectacle. It is a movement away from a dialogue between an individual artist and a sophisticated audience, and towards collaboration amongst a big, wild, free and diverse community. ... It is a rejection of spoon-fed corporate culture and an affirmation of the homemade, the idiosyncratic, the personal. It is profoundly democratic. It is radically inclusive, it is a difficult challenge, and it is beckoning."

When she's not acting or tapping into her creative side, Dawson lends her time to other great causes, such as organizations like V-Day (dedicated to fighting violence against women) and Voto Latino, a group she co-founded that registers young Latinos to vote as well as the Lower Eastside Girls Club.

After living in Los Angeles, Calif. for almost a decade, Dawson is East Coast bound. She's returning to her roots and to moving back to her native New York. In 2005, the Sin City star, who also plays Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association, in César Chávez: An American Hero, moved to LA "to avoid costly flights back and forth to Hollywood, but she is now ready to return to her Manhattan roots."

"I've lived in L.A. for nine years... and now I'm coming back," she said.

But before she returns, she's going to make sure to tap into her artistic side: "I'm gonna probably come back after Burning Man."