Synchronized swim show: Baltimore’s annual ‘ballet sploosh’
Last week, Fluid Movement began preparing for its 9th annual water ballet, “Jason and the Aquanauts: 20,000 Legs Over the Sea.”
Above: A Fluid Movement swimmer practices choreography at one of this week’s water ballet practices.
If you can get past the shaky camera skills in the video below, you will find yourself privy to a sneak preview of one of the city’s most unusual and well-chlorinated creative treasures: Fluid Movement’s annual water ballet.
The swimmers began splashing in pools throughout the city last week, and The Brew was there to capture them in all of their aquatic and theatrical glory as they began preparing for the organization’s ninth show, “Jason and the Aquanauts: 20,000 Legs Over the Sea.”
Water ballet “is the best combination of exercise and performance, it satisfies the spotlight whore,” said Sean Finn, the show’s audio engineer. “And when you do something like this you always learn something from people you’re working with, whether it’s that your knee is bent or a life lesson.”
This year’s production, which will be performed several times beginning July 24th, is a wet and glittery adaptation of the ancient Greek legend of Jason and the Argonauts. The show will include a hunt for the Golden Fleece, warfare against skeleton armies, and some sort of talking ship.
Slideshow of one of the swimmers’ first practices last week:
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Jason’s heroic army of Argonauts, are, of course, the “Aquanauts” in this re-imagination of the myth, and they are joined by a Greek chorus of three non-swimming actors who, along with voice overs and sound effects, help the story move along outside of the water.
This is the first water ballet for many of the 60 swimmers, who practice weekly in small groups, and unlike more traditional forms of synchronized swimming, the narrative format of the water ballet allows less experienced swimmers to participate. In fact, you don’t have to be able to swim at all. “Knowing how to not drown” is one of the only criteria for the performers, said Liz S, a director and a performer in the show. Water ballet is “more interpretative,” she said. “It is a whole story told through dance.”
The larger group is split into four “scenes,” which practice separately with three different directors and producers but come together for the actual performances. The following scene is directed by 21-year-old Mary Shock, who has been performing in Fluid Movement’s water ballets since she was 13.